Evaluating the guanxi and supply chain collaborative transportation management in manufacturing industries

Abstract

Manufacturing firms can facilitate their shipping and logistics operations via cooperation by adopting collaborative supply chain transportation. Moreover, in Chinese culture, guanxi is considered crucial for fostering close partnerships. This study empirically examines the relationships between supply chain information integration (SCII), collaborative transportation management (CTM) through interaction and collaboration between trading partners and carriers (supply chain CTM), logistics performance, and guanxi in manufacturing industries. In total, 152 usable responses from the manufacturing industry were collected using a questionnaire. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to evaluate the hypotheses. The results indicate that SCII is significantly positively related to supply chain CTM and logistics performance. While supply chain CTM is significantly positively related to logistics performance for manufacturing firms, guanxi has a significant moderating effect between SCII and supply chain CTM. The moderating effect of guanxi on manufacturing firms’ supply chain CTM and logistics performance was not found in this study.