دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی انعطاف پذیری، همکاری و کیفیت رابطه در لجستیک صنعت خدماتی - امرالد 2018

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the relationship between competitive capabilities, including flexibility and collaboration between logistics service providers (LSPs) and their customers, and relationship quality, as measured by trust, dependence and commitment. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 309 logistics managers were invited to participate in this study and structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the measurement and structural models. Findings – The results show that both flexibility and collaboration positively influence trust and dependence. Moreover, dependence does not appear to influence commitment. Finally, we hypothesize and find that trust plays an important role in the research model and positively increase commitment. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of this study is that this study used a cross-sectional survey approach to collect data on all research variables. Compared with longitudinal data, cross-sectional data might not be able to demonstrate completely the temporal sequence of the antecedents and consequences, which might result in spurious cause–effect inferences. Practical implications – Our findings offer several important implications for LSPs. First, our findings imply that LSPs need to make their customers want to share useful information related to operations and logistics. Second, flexibility plays an important role in forming customers’ trust in logistics service industry. Originality/value – Little research has done on combining a resource-based view and relationship marketing together in logistics service context. Therefore, this study advances the resource-based view and relationship marketing and adds value to the literature by demonstrating the applicability of the observed relationships among LSPs.

Conclusion, limitations, and future research

This research mainly aims at the logistics service industry to understand the influence of flexibility and collaboration on the relationship quality elements of trust, dependence, and commitment. Drawing on the RBV and RM theories, a research model was developed and was tested using SEM. The results show the relationships among communication, collaboration, and flexibility capabilities and further confirm the relationships among the relationship quality elements. All hypotheses were supported, except for H6, suggesting that collaboration and flexibility capabilities indeed are positively associated with relationship quality in the logistics service business context. Although the findings of our study are informative, a few limitations bear mentioning. First, this study used a cross-sectional survey approach to collect data on all research variables. Compared with longitudinal data, cross-sectional data might not be able to demonstrate completely the temporal sequence of the antecedents and consequences, which might result in spurious cause–effect inferences. Further research may be needed to design a longitudinal sampling plan that runs across business years or quarters. Second, the data were collected from logistics managers and employees in Taiwan. As a result, they cannot fully represent the global logistics service market. To better understand the applicability of the proposed model, a more representative sample that covers areas in different countries is required. This study may serve as a preliminary investigation of the relationship between competitive capabilities and relationship quality for LSPs. We believe that this study provides a big picture of the relationship quality for LSPs and thereby hope that the findings may inspire further research to study deeper in related issues.