M-sector seminar: Finn Wynstra

The seminar will consist of two presentations/discussions:

1. The Grey Side of Procurement (work with Fanny Chen and Jan van Dalen)

In the first presentation, we discuss the first two studies of a PhD project investigating ethical behavior in buyer-supplier relations.

The first, primarily descriptive survey study, methodologically extends extant studies by estimating the prevalence of questionable purchasing practices in Europe while controlling for social desirability bias. Specifically, this study applies the recently developed Extended Crosswise Model to test for socially desirable answers and presents these prevalence estimates in comparison to estimates obtained via a direct questioning technique. In addition, the study examines how earlier and newly identified questionable practices are perceived in the current business environment. A second, experimental study, which is currently being piloted, aims to use one specific questionable practice to study under what conditions purchasing professionals are willing to let pro-organisational and personal considerations override fair and transparent purchasing decision-making.

1. Replication studies in supply chain management

(work with Mark Pagell, Julia Wortmann and Tom Gattiker)
Workshop and Special Issue, Journal of Supply Chain Management

The mission of JSCM is clear in the expectation that research published there must contribute to the building, elaboration, and testing of theory. That advance is predicated on results being valid, holding over time, and on an understanding of the other contexts where those results would (not) hold. Yet replication studies remain extremely rare in the SCM discipline, putting the veracity and usefulness of our theories, models, typologies, and predictions at significant risk.
Therefore, we build on previous pleas to call for papers that replicate prior SCM studies. We aim to encourage especially early career researchers to do replication studies by applying registered report process. The conditional decision to accept or reject will be made based on the registered report proposal, not the final paper. This process takes a great deal of risk out of the review process. In the presentation, we explain the process in more detail and discuss the requirements for what we see as potentially relevant and rigorous contributions.