Little is known about the underlying product recall process that food companies go through to identify and remove tainted products from the supply chain or why this process varies. To help fill this void in the literature and close the gap between what we know and what we need to know about product recalls, we use a grounded theory approach to develop mid-range theorizing about food recalls. In doing so, our findings reveal that two manifestations of complexity—upstream and downstream—introduce recall uncertainty, which is the driving force behind why the recall process varies. Our study is also the first to propose that managers use recall options when trying to manage recall uncertainty. Furthermore, our study reveals that product recalls may not cleanly fall into recall categories as previously thought, but rather take the form of recall layering—that is, nested recalls or a recall within a larger recall. Overall, our mid-range theorizing (a) offers key insights about why the recall process varies within a massive industry that affects every person; (b) provides a detailed agenda to guide subsequent research; and (c) suggests practical steps managers can take to better manage future recalls.

中文翻译：

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深思熟虑：召回和结果

对于食品公司从供应链中识别和清除受污染产品所经历的基本产品召回过程或该过程为何会发生变化，我们知之甚少。为了帮助填补文献中的这一空白并缩小我们对产品召回的了解与我们需要了解的之间的差距，我们使用扎根的理论方法来开发有关食品召回的中度理论。在此过程中，我们的研究结果表明，复杂性的两种表现形式——上游和下游——引入了回忆不确定性，这是回忆过程变化的驱动力。我们的研究也是第一个提出管理者使用召回选项的研究当试图管理回忆不确定性时。此外，我们的研究表明，产品召回可能不像以前认为的那样完全属于召回类别，而是采取召回分层的形式——即嵌套召回或更大召回中的召回。总体而言，我们的中端理论 (a) 提供了关于为什么召回过程在影响每个人的庞大行业中变化的关键见解；(b) 提供详细议程以指导后续研究；(c) 建议管理者可以采取的实际步骤来更好地管理未来的召回。