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An Examination of Firm-Level and Individual-Level Contracts in Buyer-Supplier Relationships

Eckerd, Stephanie Nicole

Abstract Details

2011, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Business Administration.
A psychological contract is composed of an individual’s belief regarding the reciprocal obligations that exist between that individual and another entity with which that person is engaged. Psychological contracts are important in many business relationships, such as those between a buyer and supplier. The perceptions held by one individual may not be congruent with those of the other, in which case conflict may arise within the relationship. We introduce to the operations and supply chain literatures a comprehensive view of the theory of psychological contracts, which with few exceptions has largely been omitted from research regarding inter-firm relationships. This research investigates the processes by which individuals manage conflict in inter-firm relationships, and the extent to which decisions at both tactical and strategic levels are influenced by the experience of psychological contract violation. At the tactical level, we seek to understand how the daily operational decisions that individuals make are affected by psychological contract violation, particularly when sub-optimal decision-making is observed. At the strategic level, we consider the circumstances under which relational versus written contractual governance mechanisms are leveraged in response to conflict, and how the experience of psychological contract violation may influence these broader, firm-level decisions. Our research plan uses two different methodological approaches in investigating these issues. First, to evaluate tactical behaviors, we employ an experiment. The goal of the experiment is to determine specifically how economic decisions made by those in boundary-spanning roles deviate from optimal in response to conflict and how these behaviors are influenced by the experience of psychological contract violation. To this end, we employ a 2x2x2 factorial design in which violation timing, severity, and attribution are investigated. The experiment was accompanied by an exit survey which served to assess the experience of psychological contract violation and related issues of trust and fairness. Data from 295 subjects were included in our analysis. We observe a main effect of severity occurring during the violation, and main effects of time and attribution are evident in post-violation periods. We tie these phenomena to the psychological constructs under study. Second, in order to investigate strategic-level decisions, we propose administration of an industry survey to purchasing and sales managers. The survey will allow us to more broadly characterize types of conflict experienced in inter-firm relationships and the contractual governance mechanisms leveraged in response. Models useful for investigating these issues are developed and discussed, and a survey instrument is presented. The work presented in this dissertation is among the first to incorporate both individual-level and firm-level contracts into an investigation of tactical and strategic conflict response and resolution analysis within buyer-supplier exchange relationships.
James Hill, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Kenneth Boyer, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Peter Ward, PhD (Committee Member)
Karen Donohue, PhD (Committee Member)
201 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Eckerd, S. N. (2011). An Examination of Firm-Level and Individual-Level Contracts in Buyer-Supplier Relationships [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306783185

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Eckerd, Stephanie. An Examination of Firm-Level and Individual-Level Contracts in Buyer-Supplier Relationships. 2011. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306783185.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Eckerd, Stephanie. "An Examination of Firm-Level and Individual-Level Contracts in Buyer-Supplier Relationships." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306783185

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)