467 / 2024-04-25 15:55:25

The impact of buyer extra-role behavior on supplier unethical behavior: The mediating role of supplier identification and the moderating role of regulatory uncertainty

Supply chain unethical behavior,Supply chain extra-role behavior,Supply chain relationship management

As global competition intensifies, supply chain management has become a crucial means for firms to shape their competitive advantage. However, due to factors such as supply chain complexity and environmental dynamics, buyers often face unethical behaviors by suppliers seeking to gain their own interests, drawing attention from both managers and scholars. Therefore, a thorough exploration of the measures that buyers can take to govern supplier unethical behavior is of significant importance for maintaining the long-term supply chain relationships and ensuring the stability and security of the supply chain. This study investigates the restraining effect of buyer extra-role behavior on supplier unethical behavior, as well as the mediating role of supplier identification and the moderating effect of regulatory uncertainty, based on questionnaire data from 230 Chinese manufacturing firms. The results indicate that buyer extra-role behavior does reduce supplier unethical behavior by increasing the level of supplier identification, and this indirect effect becomes stronger in environments with higher regulatory uncertainty. Findings of this study lead to important implications for practitioners such as the buyers could enhance their ability to cope with regulatory uncertainty through extra-role behavior, and mitigate the risk of supplier unethical behavior by strengthening supplier identification. This study contributes to literature in two ways. First, it explores the antecedents of supplier unethical behavior from the buyer’s perspective, enriching the literature on supply chain unethical behavior. Second, it extends the application of social identity theory and institutional theory in the research on supply chain unethical behavior.