Benjamin T. Hazen

Adoption of cloud computing technologies in supply chains

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to employ organizational information processing theory to assess how a firms information processing requirements and capabilities combine to affect the intention to adopt cloud computing as an enabler of electronic supply chain management systems. Specifically, the paper examines the extent to which task uncertainty, environmental uncertainty, and inter‐organizational uncertainty affect intention to adopt cloud computing technology and how information processing capability may moderate these relationships.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a multiple method approach, thus examining the hypothesized model with both quantitative and qualitative methods. To begin, the paper incorporates a Delphi study as a way in which to choose a practically relevant characterization of the moderating variable, information processing capability. The authors then use a survey method and hierarchical linear regression to quantitatively test their hypotheses. Finally, the autho...

Diffusion of green supply chain management : examining perceived quality of green reverse logistics

Purpose – Extant research has yielded conflicting results regarding the relationship between adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices and competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to further investigate this relationship by examining the case of green reverse logistics (GRL).Design/methodology/approach – Through the lens of diffusion of innovation and resource‐advantage theory, the authors examine whether or not consumers perceive products made via GRL practices to be equivalent to brand‐new products in terms of quality. A survey method is used to gather data from a diverse sample of 533 participants. Data are analyzed via ANOVA to test the hypotheses.Findings – The findings suggest that consumers perceive products made via some GRL practices to be inferior to brand‐new products in terms of quality. However, participants indicated no perceived quality difference between products made with recycled materials and brand‐new products.Research limitations/implications – The findings...

Toward creating competitive advantage with logistics information technology

Purpose – Successfully implementing and exploiting the right information technologies is critical to maintaining competitiveness in todays supply chain. However, simply adopting off‐the‐shelf technologies may not necessarily induce this competitiveness unless the organization combines these technologies with additional complimentary resources. This study draws on the logistics innovation literature, resource‐advantage theory, and the resource‐based view of the firm with the purpose of investigating performance outcomes of logistics information technology (LIT) adoption and the proposed moderating effect of a complimentary resource. The paper posits that combining LIT with positive buyer‐supplier relationships may set the stage for organizations to achieve competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approach – A meta‐analysis of 48 studies that report outcomes of EDI or RFID adoption was performed. Regression was used to investigate the moderating effect of the buyer‐supplier relationship on the relationship...

Reverse logistics disposition decision‐making

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify the critical components of the reverse logistics (RL) disposition decision‐making process and suggest a decision framework that may guide future investigation and practice.Design/methodology/approach – The authors utilized a problem‐driven content analysis methodology. RL literature from 2000 through 2010 was content analyzed to determine which components may impact a firms RL disposition decision.Findings – The authors extrapolated seven RL disposition decision components from a compilation of 60 variables identified in the literature. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are offered, and a RL disposition decision‐making framework is presented.Research limitations/implications – Although methodological techniques were carefully followed, the nature of a content analysis may be subject to author bias. Future investigation and use of the framework presented will verify the findings presented here.Practical implications – This study i...

Supply chain innovation diffusion: going beyond adoption

Purpose – A comprehensive evaluation of the constructs that contribute to the incorporation of a supply chain innovation into an organization is markedly absent in the literature. Even in academic fields where the post‐adoption diffusion stages of acceptance, routinization, and assimilation are often investigated, no study integrates these constructs and their constituent dimensions into a unified framework. In addition, these post‐adoption activities are largely ignored in the supply chain innovation literature. This paper aims to integrate extant literature regarding acceptance, routinization, and assimilation for the purpose of clarifying the definitions and identifying the dimensions of each construct to provide guidance to scholars who are investigating innovation diffusion in the supply chain.Design/methodology/approach – Through the lens of diffusion of innovation theory, a broad base of literature both within and beyond the scope of traditional supply chain management (SCM) journals is considered ...

Reverse logistics: past research, current management issues, and future directions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the key issues faced by todays supply chain professionals when managing reverse logistics (RL) processes and compare these issues with the topics examined in extant research. By making such a comparison, the paper identifies areas of practical relevance that are being adequately addressed in the literature, as well as areas that may need further attention. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employed a Delphi method in order to uncover the most salient RL issues faced in industry, as viewed by practitioners. The paper then completed a systematic analysis of the RL literature in order to examine the degree to which topics addressed in the extant literature correspond with the framework proposed by Carter and Ellram (1998). Finally, the paper compared and contrasted the findings of the content analysis and Delphi study, which highlights areas for future investigation that may help to better align research with practice. Findings – In the Delphi study, ...

Suggested reporting guidelines for structural equation modeling in supply chain management research

Purpose – Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a data analysis method of choice for many empirical supply chain management (SCM) researchers. As the statistical technique has evolved, so have its applications and reporting guidelines. Consequently, there has been a lack of standardized reporting across the SCM literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a basis for standardizing reporting conventions. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a review of recent SEM methods literature. In addition, the authors content analyze articles from International Journal of Logistics Management, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, and Journal of Business Logistics that contained either covariance-based or partial least square structural equation models. Using the aforementioned literature review and content analysis, the authors compare and contrast what is currently reported in extant supply chain literature with suggested reporting protocols in the methods lite...

Big data and predictive analytics for supply chain sustainability

Big data/predictive analytics (BDPA) impacts financial/strategic performance in SCM.We suggest that BDPA can also be used to enhance and enable sustainable SCM.We review extant theories that can inform research in this area.A theory-based research agenda is proposed. Big data and predictive analytics (BDPA) tools and methodologies are leveraged by businesses in many ways to improve operational and strategic capabilities, and ultimately, to positively impact corporate financial performance. BDPA has become crucial for managing supply chain functions, where data intensive processes can be vastly improved through its effective use. BDPA has also become a competitive necessity for the management of supply chains, with practitioners and scholars focused almost entirely on how BDPA is used to increase economic measures of performance. There is limited understanding, however, as to how BDPA can impact other aspects of the triple bottom-line, namely environmental and social sustainability outcomes. Indeed, this area is in immediate need of attention from scholars in many fields including industrial engineering, supply chain management, information systems, business analytics, as well as other business and engineering disciplines. The purpose of this article is to motivate such research by proposing an agenda based in well-established theory. This article reviews eight theories that can be used by researchers to examine and clarify the nature of BDPAs impact on supply chain sustainability, and presents research questions based upon this review. Scholars can leverage this article as the basis for future research activity, and practitioners can use this article as a means to understand how company-wide BDPA initiatives might impact measures of supply chain sustainability.

Applying Control Chart Methods to Enhance Data Quality

As the volume and variety of available data continue to proliferate, organizations increasingly turn to analytics in order to enhance business decision-making and ultimately, performance. However, the decisions made as a result of the analytics process are only as good as the data on which they are based. In this article, we examine the data quality problem and propose the use of control charting methods as viable tools for data quality monitoring and improvement. We motivate our discussion using an integrated case study example of a real aircraft maintenance database. We include discussions of the measures of multiple data quality dimensions in this online process. We highlight the lack of appropriate statistical methods for the analysis of this type of problem and suggest opportunities for research in control chart methods within the data quality environment. This article has supplementary material online.

Factors That Influence Dissemination in Engineering Education

Although the need for new educational materials and methods in engineering education is increasing, the process of disseminating (making target groups become aware of, accept, and use) these innovations remains a challenge. A literature review shows that few studies have thoroughly investigated this area. The purpose of this article is to identify factors that may affect the adoption and use of educational innovations used in engineering education and to offer advice to educators on how they may better disseminate their materials. This study uses extant theories related to diffusion and acceptance of innovation as the basis for identifying factors that may impact the dissemination of educational innovations. These factors are tested via a Delphi study employing 21 subject-matter experts and content analysis of 410 research abstracts. The results suggest nine factors that are most important for facilitating acceptance and use of educational engineering innovations. In particular, new materials should be designed such that they demonstrate an obvious relative advantage over existing materials, are compatible with and adaptable to existing pedagogy, lack complexity, and are generally easy to use. Management support and availability of resources are found to be important environmental conditions that facilitate acceptance; logistical issues and cultural differences are the chief impediments.