A matter of perspective – the role of interpersonal relationships in supply chain risk management

The purpose of this paper is to, first, explore the role of interpersonal relationships between buying and supplying firms in the management of supply chain disruptions (SCDs). Interpersonal connections are proposed as “social lubricants” that can advance the knowledge about conventional interorganizational antecedents of firm resilience. Differentiating between high- and low-complexity manufacturing industries, the study then looks into how managers from these industry clusters can leverage the efficacy of these relationships through the appropriate use of interorganizational governance mechanisms.

Structural equation modeling is conducted with data collected from 229 manufacturing firms in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Industry clusters are formed via a Q-sort exercise.

Results support the assumption of a socially embedded, interpersonal dimension in buyer-supplier relationships that impact organizational-level resilience. It is suggested that investments in interpersonal skills and interpersonal complementarity are significant antecedents of both relational and re-deployable firm resilience. Surprisingly, no support was found for a positive impact of interpersonal information sharing on firm resilience, challenging findings from previous studies on an interorganizational level. Interorganizational governance and industry affiliation each have moderating effects on the performance of the resilience efficacy of interpersonal relationship antecedents, suggesting the existence of an important managerial lever.

Integrating the supply chain and behavioral science literature, this study is the first to investigate the interplay of interpersonal and organizational antecedents and their efficacy in the management of SCDs.