Boundary spanner relational behavior and inter-organizational control in supply chain relationships

• Published in: Industrial marketing management 2019-02, Vol.77, p.143-154
• Main Authors: Dekker, Henri, Donada, Carole, Mothe, Caroline, Nogatchewsky, Gwenaëlle
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Boundary spanners; Business administration; Buyer–supplier relations; Collaboration scope; Firm performance; Humanities and Social Sciences; Inter-organizational control; Relational behavior
• ISSN: 0019-8501; 1873-2062
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2018.11.010

Boundary spanner relational behavior is considered critical in the successful management of buyer–supplier relationships and may help avoiding high costs of more formal inter-organizational controls. Yet, the influence of partners' boundary spanners on effective supply chain collaboration has had much less inquiry than the influence of broader inter-organizational controls. We use survey data of 200 buyer–supplier relationships to examine how these individual and organizational control mechanisms influence the performance effects of interfirm collaborations that vary in scope of activities undertaken. Findings show that collaboration scope as well as boundary spanner relational behavior and inter-organizational controls are positively associated with performance. The effect of collaboration scope on firm performance, however, also depends on both mechanisms but in opposite directions: while its influence on performance is enhanced by inter-organizational controls, relational behavior of partners' boundary spanners has a negative moderating effect, indicating that such behavior contributes more to the effective management of collaborations of narrow scope than those of broader scope. •We collect survey data to examine the performance effects of buyer–supplier relationships.•Performance effects of buyer-supplier relationships increase with collaborative scope.•Inter-organizational controls enhance the influence of collaborative scope on performance.•Boundary spanner relational behavior contributes more to performance of narrow scope collaboration.