Aneesh Banerjee, Jörg M. Ries and Caroline Wiertz
Online B2B markets offer buyers a new source of information provided by social media signals about suppliers. These signals have not yet received much attention in the supplier…
Abstract
Purpose
Online B2B markets offer buyers a new source of information provided by social media signals about suppliers. These signals have not yet received much attention in the supplier selection literature. This study advances our understanding of how buyers respond to social media signals in the supplier selection process.
Design/methodology/approach
We develop a choice-based conjoint experimental design to isolate and manipulate two signals from social media: volume (the number of ratings) and valence (average evaluation of the ratings). We test how these signals are interpreted in the context of varying deal sizes and price points.
Findings
Both volume and valence are positively correlated with supplier selection. However, (1) the signals exhibit diminishing returns and (2) the efficacy of valence is interpreted in the context of volume. We also find that (3) there is no influence of the deal size and that (4) the relationships between signals and supplier selection are negatively moderated by deviations from the reference price.
Research limitations/implications
Social media signals should be considered in supplier selection decisions as they convey valuable information to the buyer. However, signals go through a process of interpretation which has implications for buyers, suppliers, and owners of online B2B markets.
Originality/value
Our research opens new lines of inquiry in behavioural operations management research regarding the mechanisms by which buyers interpret social media signals and how these ultimately influence their choice.
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Aneesh Banerjee, Florian Lücker and Jörg M. Ries
Reverse factoring (RF)–a form of supply chain finance (SCF)–is widely recognised as a win-win for both buyers and suppliers. Still, there is evidence that suppliers are often…
Abstract
Purpose
Reverse factoring (RF)–a form of supply chain finance (SCF)–is widely recognised as a win-win for both buyers and suppliers. Still, there is evidence that suppliers are often hesitant to join RF programmes initiated by their buyers. This study advances our understanding of how suppliers assess the importance of various attributes of a buyer's offer to join RF and discusses the role of programme configuration and digital technology in overcoming impediments to RF adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a choice-based conjoint experimental design validated by experts, we isolate and manipulate the main attributes of a RF programme offer. This enables us to estimate the attributes' importance and to examine suppliers' trade-off behaviour. The authors complement the experimental study with content analysis of respondents' comments.
Findings
This study reveals the importance of behavioural considerations in RF adoption. The main findings are (1) suppliers are willing to reject offers that they perceive to be unfair even if these offers benefit them financially, (2) suppliers are willing to trade-off their financial benefit for non-financial reasons–most notably attributes that relate to trustworthiness of the buyer–and (3) suppliers expect technologies to increase transparency and reduce variability in trade processes.
Research limitations/implications
Non-financial attributes that influence supplier perception need to be considered in the programme configuration. Technologies that reduce information asymmetry, increase trust and transparency, increase the speed of execution and reduce process inefficiencies will have a positive impact on RF offer acceptance.
Originality/value
This research opens new lines of inquiry on the role of digital technologies in influencing behavioural operations management specifically suppliers' adoption of digital SCF solutions.
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Highly educated and skilled contract workers come from a range of occupations, have different worker characteristics, and work under organizational practices that are precarious…
Abstract
Highly educated and skilled contract workers come from a range of occupations, have different worker characteristics, and work under organizational practices that are precarious in varied ways. Our current understanding of the experience of contract work does not fully encompass this diversity. This chapter focuses on early-career contract workers who contract across national borders – an increasingly prevalent but little understood phenomenon – to broaden our understanding of contract work. I draw on an analysis of 38 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 30 international and early-career contract workers in the United Nations (UN) system in Geneva, Switzerland. Eight participants were included in follow-up interviews. I find that my participants demonstrate flexibility to their employer. They accept uncertain and short-term contracts, because they hope to secure longer-term positions within the prestigious UN system. Demonstrating flexibility impacts them, their relationships, and has financial implications as participants center the demands of their contracts. At times, participants place limits on how much uncertainty they will bear. This chapter thus illuminates the experiences of an understudied group of contract workers – early-career workers in transnational settings – who fall within the broad umbrella of contract workers. It highlights how even elite workers experience challenges as they engage in contract work.
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Joseph Lampel, Aneesh Banerjee and Ajay Bhalla
New and radically different forms of temporary organisations often have to attract audiences in organisational fields that are dominated by temporary organisations that conform to…
Abstract
New and radically different forms of temporary organisations often have to attract audiences in organisational fields that are dominated by temporary organisations that conform to ‘taken-for-granted’ organising template. The authors argue that adopters of new temporary organisations must contend with the tensions that arise when audiences compare the new temporary organisational form to the temporary organisations that conform to the institutionalised organising template. The authors therefore argue that as new temporary organisations are introduced into new contexts, organisers often use legitimacy claims based on novelty in the context where the new temporary organisation emerged to counter the threat of illegitimacy. However, because the strength of legitimacy claims based on novelty declines in contexts that are further removed, organisers will modify the template of a new temporary organisation in these contexts. The authors examine this using the case of the so called ‘unconferences’: an alternative conference form that emerged within the software development community at the start of the millennium in conjunction with the Web 2.0 movement. The authors’ data comprise 228 distinct unconferences between 2004 – when the unconference was first launched, and 2015. The authors examine the influence of sector distance of unconferences from the original sector where it was first held, on the extent to which the pure unconference format is retained. The authors show that as adopters of the new form move away from the original sector, they are more likely to modify the unconference template. The authors conclude by identifying promising areas of research in new forms of temporary organising.
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Lujie Chen, Antonella Moretto, Fu Jia, Federico Caniato and Yu Xiong
Temporary organisations are time-limited organisations that are created with a deliberate termination point. Temporary organisations can increase flexibility, allow for innovative…
Abstract
Temporary organisations are time-limited organisations that are created with a deliberate termination point. Temporary organisations can increase flexibility, allow for innovative and transformative activities with less resource commitment, and reflect a ‘Zeitgeist’ of acceleration and time limitation in society. They also give rise to tensions and paradoxes that require new adaptive and coordinative practices. Research on temporary organisations has moved from primarily exploring the distinction between temporary and permanent organisations to using temporary organisations to study a range of phenomena such as temporality, acceleration, identity, and attachment–detachment dilemmas. This volume reflects this new orientation. We map empirical phenomena along the lines of events, projects and networks, and explore three conceptual themes that run through the nine chapters that comprise this volume: (1) temporality in temporary organisations; (2) the interaction between temporary and permanent organisations; and (3) the strategies and practices that temporary organisation develop in response to tensions and paradoxes.
This paper analyzes how information systems (IS) can serve as tools of neo-colonial control in offshore outsourcing of research and development work. It draws on critical work…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes how information systems (IS) can serve as tools of neo-colonial control in offshore outsourcing of research and development work. It draws on critical work examining business and knowledge process outsourcing.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports an empirical study of how laboratory information management systems (LIMS) shape offshore outsourcing practices involving Western client firms and Indian contract research organizations (CROs) in the pharmaceutical industry. The study adopted a multi-actor perspective, involving interviews with representatives of Western clients, Indian CROs, system validation auditors, and software vendors. The analysis was iterative and interpretative, guided by postcolonial sensitivity to themes of power and control.
Findings
The study found that LIMS act as tools of neo-colonial control at three levels. As Western clients specify particular brands of LIMS, they create a hierarchy among local CROs and impact the development of the local LIMS industry. At inter-organizational level, LIMS shape relationships by allowing remote, real-time and retrospective surveillance of CROs’ work. At individual level, the ability of LIMS to support micro-modularizing of research leads to routinization of scientific discovery, negatively impacting scientists’ work satisfaction.
Originality/value
By examining multiple actors’ perceptions of IS, this paper looks beyond the rhetoric of system efficiency characteristic of most international business research. As it explores dynamics of power and control surrounding IS, it also questions the proposition that outsourcing of high-end work will move emerging economies upstream in the value chain.
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In part-I of this review series, research from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka was reviewed. The purpose of this paper which is part-II of the…
Abstract
Purpose
In part-I of this review series, research from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka was reviewed. The purpose of this paper which is part-II of the series, is to review management research from India and Pakistan over a 25-year period from 1990 to 2014.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review approach was adopted for this research. As a quality standard for inclusion, articles were restricted to journals rated A*, A, or B by the Australian Business Deans Council in 2013 and either Q1 or Q2 in the Scopus/Imago classification system. The divisions and interest groups of the Academy of Management were used as framework to organize the search results.
Findings
A total of 1,039 articles related to India (n = 930) and Pakistan (n = 112) emerged from the search process, with three articles being related to both countries. The research was published in 163 different journals that met the quality criteria. The period under review coincides with the advent of economic liberalization in India and this emerged as a major theme in the India-related research. Other context-specific insights for these two countries are also derived from an ecological and institutional theory perspective.
Originality/value
This research represents the first comprehensive and systematic review of management research in India and Pakistan. As in part-I, the unique review approach allows for strict adherence to a predetermined quality standard while including a wide variety of journals and research traditions.