The impact of social capital and technological uncertainty on strategic performance: The supplier perspective

Cees J. Gelderman*, Janjaap Semeijn, Patrique P. Mertschuweit

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Social capital is a valuable asset for companies that stems from access to resources made available through buyer-supplier relationships. Many studies have investigated the antecedents and/or the impact of cognitive, relational, and structural dimensions of social capital on some performance measure. Our study extends this research by considering the moderating effect of technological uncertainty on the relation between social capital dimensions and the strategic performance of suppliers. A sample of 88 european industrial suppliers is used to test the hypotheses. Analysis shows a positive, significant impact of cognitive social capital, but failed to confirm the expected influence of the relational and structural dimensions. No moderator effects were found in the analysis, although we did find a positive association between technological uncertainty and strategic performance. This finding suggests that technological uncertainty can stimulate suppliers to develop new products and to enter new markets.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)225-234
JournalJournal of Purchasing and Supply Management
Volume22
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2016

Keywords

  • Social capital
  • Buyers-supplier relationships
  • Technological uncertainties
  • Strategic performance

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