James Anthony Swaim

Motivational influences on supply manager environmental sustainability behavior

Purpose Although supply chain managers serve a central role when implementing corporate environmental sustainability objectives, existing literature does not demonstrate high levels of supply manager support for such initiatives. This paper aims to investigate the potential of individual behavioral influences to explain supply manager orientation toward environmental responsibility. Methodology/approach This paper constructs a research model based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explore how personal environmental motivations influence supply manager environmental behavior in the workplace. This paper also incorporates hyperbolic discounting as a cognitive bias moderator in the model. The research hypotheses were tested with regression of survey data of practicing supply managers in the USA. Findings Support was found for the direct TPB hypotheses, revealing the importance of an individual’s personal attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control on interpreting and applying the organization’s environmental sustainability objectives. Although the interactive effect of hyperbolic discounting as a cognitive bias was not supported, a direct effect was found. Practical implications The findings can help organizations improve supply manager support for sustainability initiatives. Originality/value Prior supply chain sustainability research has examined drivers and barriers at political, legal, economical and overall firm levels. This study expands this research base by investigating individual-level barriers and drivers related to personal responsibility for environmental sustainability. As a second contribution, integration of cognitive biases in the TPB has been understudied in existing literature.

Antecedents to effective sales and operations planning

Purpose – Sales and Operations Planning (S & OP) serves as the essential cross-functional process for organizations to match supply in the form of production, inventory, and procurement with customer demand. Given recent studies revealing that S & OP is ineffective for most firms, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical antecedents of effective S & OP. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on agency theory and stewardship theory, the authors develop and test a conceptual model that includes organizational integration, organizational priorities, standardized processes, and organizational engagement. The authors apply partial least squares structural equation modeling of survey data from S & OP practitioners to test the model. Findings – The results confirm the relationships among S & OP antecedents. Organizational integration positively influences a standardized S & OP process, and both the S & OP process and prioritization lead to stronger organizational S & OP engagement. Ultimately, org...

The Use of Influence Tactics and Outcome Valence on Goal Commitment for Assigned Student Team Projects

Project teams are a mainstay in both organizations and business schools. Despite their popularity, instructors and students often express dissatisfaction regarding assigned student team projects. In this article, we examine the effects of influence tactics available to instructors (collaborative assistance and rational persuasion) and individual student outcome valence on goal commitment for assigned team projects. Data were collected from upper-division students majoring in business administration at a large public university to examine the roles that instructors and students alike can play in increasing individual student commitment for assigned team projects. Results indicate that both instructor collaborative assistance and rational persuasion are related to individual student value placed on assigned team projects and also that this value affects overall project goal commitment. We suggest these results provide insights to assist instructors and students for increasing overall levels of student goal commitment in assigned team projects.