سوابق و پیامدهای سرمایه اجتماعی بر بهبود عملکرد خریدار

The ability to leverage social capital within strategic buyer–supplier relationships is increasingly cited as a key driver of value creation. Despite the importance of strategic partnerships, the process by which social capital accumulates within buyer–supplier relationships and contributes to buyer performance improvements is not well understood. Drawing on social capital theory, we develop a model linking positive relational capital, and its antecedents, supplier integration and supplier closeness, to buyer performance improvements. Further, we hypothesize that structural capital, as reflected in managerial communication and technical exchanges, is also positively related to buyer performance improvements. Using data provided by 111 procurement executives from the United Kingdom, we find support for our hypotheses. The study extends the supply chain management and social capital literature and suggests important implications for both research and practice.

A growing body of organizational research holds that social capital is a valuable asset that stems from access to resources made available through social relationships and that social capital can represent an enduring source of advantage (Granovetter, 1992 and Moran and Ghoshal, 1999). Indeed, McGrath and Sparks (2005) describes social capital as the ‘relational glue’ that underlies effective supply chains. However, most supply chain research that has examined the effects of buyer–supplier relationships on performance has limited its consideration of social capital to relational capital (e.g. Artz, 1999, Cousins et al., 2006 and Johnston et al., 2004). Only recently has supply chain research begun to consider the structural and cognitive aspects of social capital and their effects on various aspects of buyer and supplier performance (e.g. Krause et al., 2007). This study contributes to the stream of research that considers the potential for value creation between a buyer and their key strategic suppliers, enhancing supply chain theory by extending the application of social capital theory to buyer–supplier relationships (Artz, 1999, Cousins et al., 2006 and Johnston et al., 2004). Building on social capital and supply chain research, we emphasize the distinction between relational capital, resulting from relational embeddedness, and structural capital, resulting from structural emdeddedness, and empirically test the effects of both on buyer performance improvement in the context of strategic relationships with key suppliers (Krause et al., 2007 and Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998). In order to consider the effects of these forms of embeddedness, we investigate two related research questions: (1) What aspects of prior relationships contribute to the accumulation of relational capital? and (2) How does relational and structural embeddedness contribute to buyer performance improvement? In answering these questions, we make three key contributions to the supply chain literature. First we extend the application of social capital theory in supply chain research by explicitly recognizing both relational and structural aspects of embeddedness. Secondly, we propose two key sources of relational capital: the range and intensity of integrated activities between a buyer and its key suppliers; and, the closeness of key suppliers as reflected in their willingness historically to respond to a buyer's needs. Finally, we build on social capital theory to argue that the diversity and volume of communication between various managers and technical employees of the partners constitutes structural embeddedness, which contributes to buyer performance improvement. In the next section we begin by briefly reviewing social capital theory. In Section 3, we develop our hypotheses. First we use supply chain and social capital theory to argue that the routines previously established between partners based on the range and intensity of supplier integration and closeness of strategic suppliers is positively associated with the accumulation of relational capital, which in turn, is positively related to buyer performance improvement. We then draw on social capital theory to argue that the amount and diversity of structural embeddedness, i.e., the variety of structural linkages established between buyer and supplier managerial and technical personnel and their frequency of interaction, are also positively related to buyer performance improvement. Section 4 presents the research methodology, data collection processes and our results. The paper then provides a further discussion of the results, suggestions for future research, managerial implications and limitations in Section 5. It concludes with an overview of the contributions of the paper to the literature.

Drawing on social capital theory, we developed a model that explains the impact of relational embeddedness and structural embeddedness on buyer performance improvement. Our study contributed to the literature on a number of fronts. First, we encourage supply chain researchers to move beyond a focus on relational embeddedness, and to recognize the role of structural embeddedness in supplier relationships. Secondly, we argue that two primary sources of relational capital in strategic buyer–supplier relationships should be considered in future research: the range and intensity of supplier integration and supplier closeness. Finally, we show that structurally embedded communication at various managerial and technical levels of the organization contributes to performance improvements, and recommended that future research evaluates the differential impact of various choices of managerial communication and technical exchange on partners’ performance. To date little academic research has sought to understand the effects of managerial communication or technical exchange associated with the transfer of tacit knowledge on supply chain performance improvement. Our study suggests that careful structuring of sufficient volume and diversity of communication between managers at various levels and technical employees of partner firms may well constitute the greatest untapped potential for value creation within today's supply chains.