Verónica H. Villena

Revisiting Interorganizational Trust: Is More Always Better or Could More Be Worse?

This study conducts an investigation of interorganizational trust and its positive and negative effects. We consider how positive and negative effects operate differently under two types of uncertainties—buyer dependence and market instability. Trust is studied in the buyer–supplier relationship (BSR) context from the buyer’s perspective. The analysis is conducted based on survey data and secondary archival data from a sample of 133 BSRs. Results show that trust follows an inverted-U shape with performance. There is a point at which the negative effects of trust offset its benefits, and beyond that point, performance declines. The results also suggest that the positive and negative effects of trust become more pronounced when buyers are highly dependent on suppliers or when environmental uncertainty surrounding buyers is low. Trust’s negative effects are more severe for those buyers that are highly dependent and operate in stable markets.

Is top management team-supply chain manager interaction the missing link? An analysis of risk-bearing antecedents for supply chain managers

Supply chain managers (SC managers) may make less than optimal decisions for the firm when facing compensation and employment risks. The purpose of this paper is to study two relevant factors (target setting and strategic importance of the supply chain function) that may drive SC managers to perceive more or less risk to their welfare.,The study combines survey data from 133 firms with secondary data in order to reduce source bias and enhance the validity of results. The authors also conducted interviews with supply chain and human resources managers.,The results show that top managers can alter SC managers’ perceived risks. Ambitious targets drive compensation risk but not employment risk. The supply chain function’s strategic importance, on the other hand, decreases employment risk but increases compensation risk.,The authors emphasize two ways that the top management team (TMT) influences SC managers’ perceived personal welfare but acknowledge that there may be others factors. Due to the topic sensitivity, the authors could not collect data on all variables (e.g. individual characteristics) that may affect risk perception. The findings are based on Spanish firms and may not be generalized to other contexts.,This research proposes three suggestions. First, compensation and employment risks should be considered separately when designing compensation and evaluation systems. Second, appropriate performance targets may put compensation risk in a reasonable range that is neither too high to prevent risky-yet-beneficial decisions nor too low to allow nonfeasance. Third, escalating the supply chain’s strategic importance effectively offsets employment risk.,Scholars have repeatedly shown the negative outcomes of SC managers’ perceived compensation and employment risks. Yet, little attention has been given to their antecedents. The study explores two relevant antecedents and provides integrative empirical evidence regarding actions top leaders can take to manage SC managers’ perceived risk and subsequently enhance firm performance.

Leader beliefs and CSR for employees: the case of telework provision

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of top leaders beliefs in the importance of work-family balance as a key determinant in explaining the adoption of social practices oriented toward internal stakeholders, focussing on home telework as one of these practices. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 2,388 top executive officers reported the senior leaders belief favoring work-family balance by completing a new scale developed for this purpose asking how much key decision makers were convinced of the value to employees of supportive family-friendly HR practices, modeled how to balance work and family life, and felt a personal commitment to implement family-friendly practices. They also reported the firm’s provision of telework and organizational characteristics such as industry, multinational status, and firm size. Findings – Regression analyses revealed that firm’s provision of telework is more pervasive when its top leaders believe in the importance of work-family balance, ev...

Asymmetric Buyer-Supplier Relationships: Their Consequences on Opportunism and Performance

While informative, the buyer-supplier relationship (BSR) research stream has often relied on a single side of the relationship and thus has tended to overlook situations where asymmetries between buyer and supplier exist. Dealing with a bigger supplier (buyer) or working with a supplier (buyer) that has higher levels of trust, respect and reciprocity could be frequent situations that a buyer (supplier) has to face. This research studies how two types of asymmetries, size and relational capital, affect opportunism and relationship performance. To test our hypotheses, we use dyadic data of 106 buyers and their matched suppliers collected from a survey and an archival dataset. Our research makes a number of contributions to our understanding to BSRs. First, our theorizing and results demonstrate the degree and direction of both asymmetries affect the BSR. Second, we show that these two asymmetries have profound effects (both positive and negative) on opportunism and, thus, its drivers and deterrents are more...