Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between social media and sensing capability for supply chain management (SCM) from an environmental scanning perspective. The authors consider upstream supply and downstream customer markets as two aspects of social media-enabled environmental scanning (SMES). The moderating effects of three uncertainties are explored.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from 178 supply chain professionals through a survey. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to analyze the data.

Findings

SMES in both supply and customer markets enhance sensing capability. Interestingly, the results reveal an accelerating effect on sensing by the incremental effort of SMES-supply. However, that of SMES-customer leads to a decelerating outcome for sensing. Also, uncertainties, especially the demand- and technology-related, play a series of interacting effects according to SMES levels.

Research limitations/implications

This research contributes to the literature of operations and supply chains regarding social media strategies and dynamic capabilities. It opens the black box of environmental scanning behavior on social media and adds new knowledge on the dynamic influence of such behavior toward organizational sensing capability for SCM. In addition, further understanding on supply chain uncertainty as a moderator is also strengthened through this research.

Originality/value

This research is the first to empirically uncover the effect of social media on sensing capability for SCM through the lens of environmental scanning. The results support the employment of social networking for improving supply and demand sensing.

中文翻译：

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通过社交媒体增强供应链感知能力：环境扫描视角

目的

本研究的目的是从环境扫描的角度研究社交媒体与供应链管理 (SCM) 感知能力之间的关系。作者将上游供应和下游客户市场视为社交媒体环境扫描 (SMES) 的两个方面。探讨了三种不确定性的调节作用。

设计/方法/方法

这些数据是通过一项调查从 178 名供应链专业人士那里收集的。广义估计方程（GEE）用于分析数据。

发现

供应和客户市场中的 SMES 增强了传感能力。有趣的是，结果揭示了通过 SMES 供应的增量努力对传感产生的加速影响。然而，SMES 客户的情况导致传感结果减速。此外，不确定性，尤其是与需求和技术相关的不确定性，会根据 SMES 级别发挥一系列相互作用的影响。

研究限制/影响

这项研究为有关社交媒体战略和动态能力的运营和供应链文献做出了贡献。它打开了社交媒体上环境扫描行为的黑匣子，并增加了关于这种行为对 SCM 组织感知能力的动态影响的新知识。此外，通过本研究也加强了对作为调节者的供应链不确定性的进一步理解。

原创性/价值

这项研究是第一个通过环境扫描的镜头经验性地揭示社交媒体对 SCM 感知能力的影响的研究。结果支持使用社交网络来改善供需感知。