Relational resources and performance of Chinese third-party logistics providers

Abstract

Purpose-Drawing upon the theory of the resource-based view (RBV), this paper aims to examine the relationships among relational resources, innovation capability and firm performance in the third-party logistics (3PL) industry. Design/methodology/approach-Based on data collected from 203 3PL providers in China, this study adopts the approach of structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships among relational resources, innovation capability and firm performance. Findings-The results of this research confirm that relational resources have a positive effect on firm performance. However, the effect is not direct, but realized through the mediation of innovation capability. This study indicates that relational resources are important for 3PL providers to achieve superior performance, and innovation capability plays a mediating role between relational resources and firm performance. Originality/values-The main contributions of this paper to the literature are twofold. Firstly, it extends the extant research by highlighting the mediating mechanism of innovation capability in relational resources' influence on firm performance. Secondly, it advances the existing perspectives on 3PL firms in the Chinese context and this sheds light on logistics research on emerging markets.

Determining the Appropriate Open Innovation Model for Logistics Firms Using an Integrated Fuzzy Ahp-Vikor Approach

“…Many researchers (Germain, 1996;Richey et al, 2005;Shen et al, 2009;Grawe, 2009;Busse, 2010;Daugherty et al, 2011;Busse and Wallenburg, 2011;Rossi et al, 2013;Pedrosa et al, 2015;Shou et al, 2017;Björklund and Forslund, 2018) also focused on the relationship between innovation and logistics. However, Hossain and Anees-ur-Rehman (2016) stated that studies on OI are limited to several industries according to results of their extensive literature review.…”

Licencia para Arriesgar: un Marco Teórico para la Asignación de Riesgos en Alianzas Público - Privadas basada en la Economía de Costos de Transacción

“…Esto difiere de las ideas anteriores sobre el riesgo compartido a través de acuerdos de subcontratación (Kwak, Chih y Ibbs, 2009). Otro concepto clave es la "innovación" donde el sector público y el sector privado tienen que encontrar nuevas soluciones y trabajar juntos para lograr un objetivo común (Shou y Chen, 2017). También hay una expectativa de que la relación sea a largo plazo y más larga que una relación tradicional de servicios o contratación externa (Shou y Chen, 2017).…”

“…Sin embargo, otro conjunto de autores (véase, por ejemplo, Wu, 2010;Lin & Wu, 2014;Shou, Shao & Chen, 2017) buscaron delinear claramente entre recursos y capacidades argumentando que los recursos son accesibles para todas las empresas a precios de factor prevalecientes, mientras que las capacidades se refieren a la capacidad de una empresa para desplegar recursos. En este documento, se adoptó la última definición de capacidades organizativas.…”

The Effect of Affective Organizational Commitment Towards Innovation Capability and Its Impact to Job Performance in Family Business

“…Khan et al, (2010) in Younis and Sabra (2020), also designated job performance as the quality of employee's working behavior as a result of organizational commitment in order to fulfil the company's goals through finishing their tasks perfectly. Shou et al, (2017) who investigated the relationship among innovation capability, relational resources, and the performance of thirdparty logistic (3PL) industry in China, found out that (1) innovation capability is related positively to job performance of 3PL company (2) innovation capability intervenes fully the correlation between firm performance and relational resources (3) innovation capability is the most important factor for relational resources to have an impact on firm performance. Another previous study done by Sungu et al, (2019) with the purpose to observe why and how organizational commitment affects the job performance.…”