Andrea D. Ellinger and Alexander E. Ellinger
The purpose of this paper and the contribution to this special issue is to build on Kim and Watkins’ (2018) recent finding that ‘leaders mentor and coach those they lead’ is the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper and the contribution to this special issue is to build on Kim and Watkins’ (2018) recent finding that ‘leaders mentor and coach those they lead’ is the item in the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) that is most highly-correlated with performance. Given the criticality of providing strategic leadership for learning and, more specifically, the consistent associations between leaders who mentor and coach and work-related performance outcomes, a better understanding of the associations between the learning organization concept and managerial coaching is warranted. Watkins and Kim (2018, p. 22) contend that ‘future directions for learning organization research include a search for the elusive interventions that would create a learning organization’. In response to this call for research, a research agenda for assessing managerial coaching as a learning organization (LO) intervention is proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper briefly reviews literature on the learning organization and the DLOQ instrument, followed by a more in-depth review of the managerial coaching literature and suggestions for how future research could be conducted that more closely integrates these two concepts.
Findings
Existing literature suggests that to ‘provide strategic leadership for learning’, a dimension in the DLOQ, is one of the most pivotal dimensions for creating learning cultures that build learning organizations. Specifically, an item within this dimension, ‘leaders who mentor and coach’ has been recently identified as one of the most critical aspects associated with strategic leadership for learning.
Originality/value
The extant managerial coaching literature offers a solid foundation for more closely integrating and mainstreaming the developmental intervention of managerial coaching into learning organizations. Directions for future research that identifies fine-grained perspectives of the discrete facets of managerial coaching in learning organization contexts are suggested.
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Alexander E. Ellinger, Frank G. Adams, George R. Franke, Gregory D. Herrin, Tyler E. deCoster and Karli E. Filips
Supply chain management (SCM) proficiency is generally associated with superior business performance. Yet, SCM research continues to focus predominantly on the performance of…
Abstract
Purpose
Supply chain management (SCM) proficiency is generally associated with superior business performance. Yet, SCM research continues to focus predominantly on the performance of individual firms, rather than on the collective performance of multiple supply chain participants as espoused by the extended enterprise (EE) concept. In response to calls for quantitative studies that examine the collective performance of multiple supply chain participants, this research study compares the combined performance of triads comprising focal firms recognized for their relative SCM proficiency and their upstream (supplier) and downstream (customer) supply chain partners with that of their close industry competitors' triads.
Design/methodology/approach
The triadic, longitudinal examination of multiple supply chain participants' collective performance utilized archival financial data of the period 2007–2017 from the Compustat database and the supply chain (SPLC) function of Bloomberg.
Findings
Findings of this study indicated that supply chain triads that included focal firms recognized for their relative SCM proficiency experienced significantly lower sales and general administrative expenses and significantly higher productivity, return on assets and profitability over time than their close industry competitors' triads. However, contrary to expectations, the performance advantages identified did not extend to revenue growth.
Research limitations/implications
Supply chain triads cannot fully represent entire supply chains or EEs. However, this study’s triadic analysis can be viewed as a practically achievable proxy for further validating the EE concept. Moreover, based on assertions that triadic studies are suitable for SCM research and on empirical studies that consistently show individual firms recognized for their relative SCM proficiency outperform competitors, the authors contend that the study’s findings appropriately corroborate the value of the EE concept.
Practical implications
Because such empirical evidence is so rare, the consistent, collective performance advantages identified in this study should be highly significant to managers.
Originality/value
Robust, longitudinal evidence that supply chain triads which include focal firms recognized for relative SCM proficiency collectively outperform their close industry competitors' triads extends generally accepted associations between SCM proficiency and business performance, suggesting that the application of extended resource-based view (ERBV) in supply chain contexts warrants further examination and further substantiates the efficacy of the EE concept.
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Ji “Miracle” Qi, Alexander E. Ellinger and George R. Franke
In response to calls for the identification of approaches that promote frontline employee (FLE) engagement, the purpose of this paper is to extend the current understanding of the…
Abstract
Purpose
In response to calls for the identification of approaches that promote frontline employee (FLE) engagement, the purpose of this paper is to extend the current understanding of the influence of work design by testing competing mediating models that assess job resource and social exchange aspects of work design as either intermediate or antecedent mechanisms in reciprocal social exchanges between service provider firms and FLEs. Moderating effects of interactions between job resources and organizational support and customer focus on engagement are also assessed.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire is administered to 525 FLEs from multiple service industries. Structural equation modeling is used to test hypotheses and examine their robustness relative to competing models. Common method bias is assessed using a confirmatory factor analysis marker variable technique.
Findings
Organizational support and customer focus are identified as proximal mediating social exchange aspects of work design that, consistent with role-specific conceptualizations of engagement, differentially influence FLE job and organization engagement.
Practical implications
The study findings offer insight about how firms can implement job resource and social exchange aspects of work design to favorably influence FLE engagement.
Originality/value
Services marketing research continues to focus more on service recipients than on FLE service providers. The examination of reciprocal social exchanges between service provider firms and FLEs sheds light on the complexities associated with exploiting aspects of work design to more effectively engage FLEs.
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Tyler R. Morgan, Robert Glenn Richey Jr and Alexander E. Ellinger
The purpose of this paper is to create an instrument for conducting future supply chain transparency research by developing and validating a measure of supplier transparency…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to create an instrument for conducting future supply chain transparency research by developing and validating a measure of supplier transparency. Specifically, the research develops a two-dimensional measure of supplier transparency that builds on previous studies that independently examine visibility and traceability in supply chain management (SCM)/logistics.
Design/methodology/approach
The scale development process is carried out over three stages (item generation, scale purification, scale validation). Survey methods are used with two separate data collection phases involving a total of 358 managers from multiple and diverse industries.
Findings
The new supplier transparency measure is a concise, two-dimensional scale that has the potential for significant usage in the development and testing of SCM theory.
Research limitations/implications
This study implemented a purposefully general sampling procedure. However, different industries may have additional, specific constraints regarding what it means to be a transparent supplier. Additional opportunities for future research include applying the new supplier transparency measure to examine supply chain frameworks, regulatory compliance, supply chain relationships and the implementation of information technology.
Practical implications
Firms are under increasing pressure to be transparent about partner sourcing, resource utilization and other transactional issues related to the products and processes in their supply chains. The new measure may be utilized to address these issues as well as the interaction between supply chain operations and stakeholders by facilitating a quantitative assessment of supplier transparency.
Originality/value
Drawing on the established constructs of supply chain visibility and traceability, a measure of supplier transparency is developed, supported by a review of the literature, input from subject matter experts and interviews with supply chain managers. Suggestions are made for future validation of supplier transparency within established supply chain frameworks.
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Karen Chapman and Alexander E. Ellinger
Ongoing deliberation about how research productivity should be measured is exacerbated by extensive disparity between the number of citations for scholarly works reported by…
Abstract
Purpose
Ongoing deliberation about how research productivity should be measured is exacerbated by extensive disparity between the number of citations for scholarly works reported by commercial academic search engines and Google Scholar (GS), the premier web crawling service for discovering research citations. Disparities identified in citation comparison studies have also led to disagreement about the value of the higher number of citations for social sciences and business scholarly articles consistently reported by GS. The purpose of this paper is to extend previous database citation comparison studies by manually analyzing a sample of unique GS citations to a leading operations management journal (i.e. citations found only in GS and not the commercial search engines) to reveal just where these additional citations are coming from.
Design/methodology/approach
In addition to comparing citation counts for the three databases, unique GS citation data for the sample of journal articles was manually captured and reviewed. The authors’ approach provides a much more in-depth examination of the provenance of GS citations than is found in previous studies.
Findings
The findings suggest that concerns about the value of unique GS citations may not be warranted since the document types for the unique GS citing documents identified in the analysis are dominated by familiar scholarly formats. Predominantly authentic and validated journal publications, dissertations, conference papers, and book and book chapters accounted for the large majority of the unique GS citations analyzed.
Practical implications
The study lends further credence to contentions that the use of citations reported in GS is appropriate for evaluating research impact in disciplines where other formats beyond the English-language journal article are valued.
Originality/value
Developing a more informed understanding of the provenance of unique GS citations in the authors’ field is important because many scholars not only aspire to publish in elite journals with high impact factors based on citation counts provided by commercial databases to demonstrate quality, but also report the larger number of citations for their publications that are reported by GS to demonstrate impact. The in-depth manual analysis suggests that GS provides a more nuanced and comprehensive representation of research impact and international scope than the commercial databases.
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J.B. Rae‐Smith and Alexander E. Ellinger
Providing customers with online logistics service systems that enable instantaneous and continuous communication within and between firms has become a key priority for many…
Abstract
Providing customers with online logistics service systems that enable instantaneous and continuous communication within and between firms has become a key priority for many organizations. This paper focuses on a description of the roll out and initial implementation of an online logistics service system by United States Cold Storage (USCS) and on insights gained from the experience. The authors believe that USCS’s experience has wide applicability and that it will be both informative and insightful to managers at firms making similar transitions into e‐commerce. In addition, the results of a focus group held one year after implementation with USCS user customers are discussed, and lessons learned from the first year of operations are reviewed.
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Vivek Kapoor and Alexander E. Ellinger
Economic reforms that stimulate commercial activity in semi‐industrialized nations are often associated with significant increases in demand for consumer products. This paper…
Abstract
Economic reforms that stimulate commercial activity in semi‐industrialized nations are often associated with significant increases in demand for consumer products. This paper focuses on a description of the transformation of a motorcycle manufacturer’s supply chain in response to the recent liberalization of the Indian economy, and on insights gained from that experience. The authors believe that this organization’s success in applying supply chain management practices that are more commonly utilized in industrialized nations has wide applicability, and that it will be insightful as a role model for managers at firms facing similar challenges of integrating supply chain operations to meet surges in demand.
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Benjamin T. Hazen, Stanley E. Fawcett, Jeffrey A. Ogden, Chad W. Autry, R. Glenn Richey and Alexander E. Ellinger
The purpose of this paper is to bring awareness to the logistics and supply chain management (L/SCM) community’s broken review process.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to bring awareness to the logistics and supply chain management (L/SCM) community’s broken review process.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors diagnose some of the core problems that limit the L/SCM community from disseminating high-quality research in a timely manner.
Findings
Problems attributable to authors, reviewers, and editors are described, and recommendations for each review process participant are provided.
Originality/value
This editorial provides a call for further discussion and action in terms of how the community can improve the contribution to knowledge and society.