Purchasing managers' supplier selection decision: environmental influences on choice

Abstract

Purpose

This paper was formulated to address the impact of different individual decision modes on purchasing managers' satisfaction and find out whether different environments could influence the strength of the relationship between the sourcing managers' individual modes and their decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

A new model was built based on the variables selected from literature. Two identical surveys were sent to manufacturing firms in China and Egypt. Around 450 questionnaires have been sent to respondents, and about 300 responses have been collected in the two countries.

Findings

The key findings of this study showed that although the influence of decision modes is not changeable across decision-makers in different markets' environment, the strength of the relationship between different individual decision modes and the buying decision significantly differed across different dynamic task environments of buyers.

Originality/value

The research in this paper focused on the purchasing managers' individual decision-making. On the other hand, purchasing managers' market environment is rarely recognized as a main factor affecting their decisions. Furthermore, this research tries to understand more about the supplier selection decision-making in Eastern Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

Citation

Salem, Z., Min, Z., Sahl, S.M. and Mehmed, B. (2023), "Purchasing managers' supplier selection decision: environmental influences on choice", Management Decision, Vol. 61 No. 6, pp. 1612-1633. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-03-2022-0376