Trust and commitment in supply chain management: a systematic review of literature

The effect of shared ecological value on buyer-supplier relationship within mountaineering tourism

Shared values play an important role in attracting new tourists, retaining existing ones and gaining an important competitive advantage. Building upon the Commitment-Trust model, this study tested the role of shared ecological values in the creation of tourist trust and relationship commitment, and finally tourist behavioral intention. To test the hypotheses, a sample consisting of 480 mountaineering tourists of two representative travel agencies were surveyed, and a mixed-method approach based on a quantitative survey (n = 436) and qualitative interviews (n = 60) was also adopted to examine their relationships. Results revealed that shared ecological values between tourists and travel agencies were significantly negative predictors of credibility, while credibility and benevolence emerged as significantly positive predictors of relationship commitment. Moreover, credibility and relationship commitment were partially positively predictors of tourist's behavioral intentions. The findings enrich the extant knowledge on mountaineering tourist relationship marketing and human-nature relationships and provide implications for destination management and wildlife protection.

Security screening metrics for information-sharing partnerships

Recent history has shown both the benefits and risks of information sharing among firms. Information is shared to facilitate mutual business objectives. However, information sharing can also introduce security-related concerns that could expose the firm to a breach of privacy, with significant economic, reputational, and safety implications. It is imperative for organizations to leverage available information to evaluate security related to information sharing when evaluating current and potential information-sharing partnerships. The "fine print" or privacy policies of firms can provide a signal of security across a wide variety of firms being considered for new and continued information-sharing partnerships. In this article, we develop a methodology to gauge and benchmark information security policies in the partner-selection process that can help direct risk-based investments in information sharing security. We develop a methodology to collect and interpret firm privacy policies, evaluate characteristics of those policies by leveraging natural language processing metrics and developing benchmarking metrics, and understand how those characteristics relate to one another in information-sharing partnership situations. We demonstrate the methodology on 500 high-revenue firms. The methodology and managerial insights will be of interest to risk managers, information security professionals, and individuals forming information sharing agreements across industries.

Modern-day marketing concepts based on face recognition and neuro-marketing: a review and future research directions

Purpose

Data-driven marketing is replacing conventional marketing strategies. The modern marketing strategy is based on insights derived from customer behavior information gathered from their facial expressions and neuro-signals. This study explores the potential for face recognition and neuro-marketing in modern-day marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

The study conducts an in-depth examination of the extant literature on neuro-marketing and facial recognition marketing. The articles for review are downloaded from the Scopus database, and PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) is then used to screen and choose the relevant papers. The systematic literature review method is applied to conduct the study.

Findings

An extensive review of the literature reveals that the domains of neuro-marketing and face recognition marketing remain understudied. The authors’ review of selected papers delivers five neuro-marketing and facial recognition marketing themes that are essential to modern marketing concepts.

Practical implications

Neuro-marketing and facial recognition marketing are artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled marketing techniques that assist in gaining cognitive insights into human behavior. The findings would be of use to managers in designing marketing strategies to enhance their marketing approach and boost conversion rates.

Originality/value

The uniqueness of this study lies in that it provides an updated review on neuro-marketing and face recognition marketing.

Blockchain as the "trust-building machine" for supply chain management

This paper aims to investigate the impact of blockchain application on trust levels in supply chains. Through the systematic review of the relevant literature, three dimensions of trust, i.e., the trustor-trustee perspective, forms of trust, and time orientation, are investigated. Our findings show that, first, there are three pairs of trustors and trustees involved in blockchain implementation: (a) the user and the blockchain, (b) two supply chain partners, and (c) the consumer/public and a supply chain unit. Second, the two forms of trust, namely cognition-based and institution-based trust, are likely to be enhanced by blockchain execution, while affect-based trust may not be directly impacted by the technology. Third, the presence of blockchain technology would facilitate swift trust-building between unknown supply chain partners under specific circumstances. Moreover, we also find contradicting assertions among scholars on the implications of blockchain for trust in supply chains. While some studies pointed out that blockchain will enable a trustless trusted scheme, others expected the reinforcement of interorganizational trust. To test these assertions, we develop the blockchain-entrusted supply chain models to present the three-step process of how trust is developed through the blockchain and diffused to supply chain partners and external stakeholders.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10479-022-04868-0.

Uncovering dimensions of the impact of blockchain technology in supply chain management

Supply chains around the globe are faced with difficulties and disruptions due to the worldwide pandemic situation and digital solutions are needed. There is significant research interest in the implementation of blockchain technology (BCT) for supply chain management (SCM). A challenge that remains is analyzing the interactions of BCT in different areas of SCM. This study aims to identify the influential dimensions of the impact of BCT adoption in SCM and to discuss the synergetic and counter-synergetic effects between these dimensions. Advantages, disadvantages, and constraints of adopting BCT in the SCM context are explored through a systematic literature review, which provides the foundation for identifying the dimensions of impact. The interactions between these dimensions are conceptually discussed. This study introduces three dimensions of the impact of implementing BCT in SCM: ‘operations and processes’, ‘supply chain relationships’, and ‘innovation and data access’. These dimensions are interrelated and have overlapping areas within them, which leads to synergetic and counter-synergetic effects. The overlaps and synergies of the three dimensions of impact are illustrated, and the virtuous and vicious cycles of BCT adoption in SCM cases are highlighted. This study assists scholars and practitioners by clarifying the synergetic relationships within the dimensions of the impact of BCT in SCM and by providing considerations to prevent undesirable effects and expand desired ones.

Does the perception of organizational justice determine employees' affective commitment? The mediating role of organizational trust

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify select antecedents for affective commitment (AC) and whether organizational trust (OT) mediates the relationship between dimensions of organizational justice (OJ) and AC.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a survey-based design, data were collected from employees across industry verticals who were working in various organizations and participated in an executive management program at an Indian management institute. Analysis was carried out using a partial least square-based package of ADANCO 2.2.1.

Findings

In line with cross-cultural research, the results indicated that distributive and informational justice contribute toward employees' AC. In addition, the findings confirmed that OT mediates the justice-AC relationship for distributive, interpersonal and informational justice. The role of job satisfaction (JS) as an important antecedent was also identified.

Practical implications

The evidence-based findings, as represented in importance–performance map analysis (IPMA), will help the organizational leaders understand the factors responsible for employees' AC. Leaders will appreciate the important role played by justice, fairness and OT in enhancing commitment. The importance of JS was also highlighted.

Originality/value

This is a pioneering study to provide empirical evidence of the moderating effect of trust on OJ and the AC relationship. It is also one of the first to consider all of the four dimensions of OJ as possible antecedents for AC in a non-Western context.

Decision model with quantification of buyer-supplier trust in advanced technology enterprises

Purpose

In the buyer-supplier relationship of a high-technology enterprise, the concepts of trust and risk are closely intertwined. Entering into a buyer-supplier relationship inherently involves a degree of risk, since there is always an opportunity for one of the parties to act opportunistically. Purchasing and supply managers play an important role in reducing the firm's risk profile, and must make decisions about whether or not to enter into, or remain in, a relationship with a supplier based on a subjective assessment of trust and risk.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the authors seek to explore how trust in the buyer-supplier relationship can be quantitatively modeled in the presence of risk. The authors develop a model of trust between a buyer and supplier as a risk-based decision, in which a buyer decides to place trust in a supplier, who may either act cooperatively or opportunistically. The authors use a case study of intellectual property (IP) piracy in the electronics industry to illustrate the conceptual discussion and model development.

Findings

The authors produce a generalizable model that can be used to aid in decision-making and risk analysis for potential supply-chain partnerships, and is both a theoretical and practical innovation. However, the model can benefit a variety of high-technology enterprises.

Originality/value

While the topic of trust is widely discussed, few studies have attempted to derive a quantitative model to support trust-based decision making. This paper advanced the field of supply chain management by developing a model which relates risk and trust in the buyer-supplier relationship.

The Relation Between Guanxi and Interpersonal Trust in the Workplace

The relation between guanxi (particularistic dyadic ties) and trust in the workplace is widely assumed in the management and organization literature, but little research attention has been given to directly examining the nature of this relationship, or the ways in which Chinese and Western workplace trust development might differ. I suggest two overlooked factors, culture and conceptualization, that have influenced past studies and explore their impact through an analysis of the literature. Given the nature of Chinese trust, I conclude that the division between affective and cognitive aspects of trust common in the Western organizational literature is not an appropriate model for the Chinese context. Instead, I apply a distinction between rapid trust and process trust that together form a path to development of two forms of workplace guanxi: working guanxi and backdoor guanxi. I then propose a dynamic process model of the social and psychological process of guanxi and trust development in the context of the workplace that incorporates the Chinese indigenous concepts of renqing (favor), ganqing (affection), mianzi (face/reputation), xinren (trust) and xinyong (social credit). This model aligns with the Chinese metaphysical process orientation, and has implications for trust research not only in Chinese societies but also the international community.

The interplay between the Internet of things and supply chain management: challenges and opportunities based on a systematic literature review

Purpose

This study aims to identify and analyze how Internet of things (IoT) technology affects supply chain management (SCM) performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review was conducted (using Scopus, JSTOR, Emerald, ProQuest, Science Direct and Web of Science) covering a 20-year timeframe (2000–2020). Out of 2,572 papers identified, 171 peer-reviewed papers from the most important journals were selected. Content analysis was used following the Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF) SCM framework.

Findings

Regarding the GSCF SCM framework processes, most IoT-based studies have addressed improving order fulfilment, manufacturing flow management and demand management processes. However, no studies addressing the Supplier relationship management process were identified, suggesting that IoT-based applications are perceived to add more value in downstream than upstream SCM processes. The importance of using enabling technologies to realize the potential of value generation of IoT was also revealed. Findings suggest new research avenues related to product development and commercialization process, the supplier relationship management process, the returns management process, servitization strategies, new SCM models and new business models.

Research limitations/implications

The review encompasses only academic papers from journals considered the most relevant (retrieved from specific databases), using the impact factor as the quality criterion.

Practical implications

The findings can help business managers better understand the potential of IoT technology, such as the main applications identified in the literature and their impacts on SCM processes. Their importance in enabling technologies to leverage SCM performance is identified and the emerging SCM models/business models that IoT deployment can enable are highlighted.

Originality/value

This study contributes to filling a gap in the literature using a systematic literature review of how IoT technology affects SCM performance through content analysis, using an SCM framework to clarify which SCM processes are affected. Academic articles from the most important journals from 2000 to 2020 are identified.