Knowledge generation and market orientation during global crises in supply chains

Supply chains (SCs) depend on interorganizational relationships (IORs) to function optimally, yet crises may lessen the knowledge flows therein. This paper aims to address this issue by proposing a mediation effect between knowledge generation and market orientation by crisis perception in SC.

Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Data collection comprised 279 full answers of business-to-business organizations in global SCs.

The data provide evidence that, contrary to the extant literature, knowledge generation during a crisis in a SC does not mitigate crisis perception. In addition, findings suggest there are no significant differences between manufacturing and service SCs in sensemaking during crises and that during crises, SC links diminish cooperation in terms of knowledge generation and sharing and focus on individual performance.

The authors have found a conflicting theoretical issue – while extant literature posits setting IORs lead to high sunk cost, making IOR channels costly and reliable for information flows during crises, the behavioral perspective posits that when crises hit, exogenous shocks induce inwards focus diminishing information flows. The results provide insights on this seemingly inconsistent scenario and point to future avenues of research.