Good Partners or Good Politicians: An Exploration of Politics in Supply Chain Management

This dissertation explores the impact of politics on internal and external supply chain management initiatives. From an intra-firm perspective, the impact of organizational politics and political skill on supply chain dynamics and processes is investigated in two quantitative articles. Article 1 is a constituency-based view perspective using survey methodology that explores the impact of organizational politics and political skill on cross-functional integration and supply chain orientation. This article finds that there is a negative relationship between organizational politics and cross-functional integration and a positive relationship between organizational politics and supply chain orientation when political skill of the top supply chain executive is present. Comparatively Article 2 resource management theory perspective using survey methodology and secondary data to explore organizational politics impact on firm supply chain performance variables of cash to cash cycle and operating expense per sales dollar. This research finds that organizational politics has a positive relationship with firm supply chain performance. Alternatively, the inter-firm perspective explores supply chain politics using a grounded theory approach in article 3. The findings of article 3 suggest that there are different political strategies that are employed by supply chain employees when balancing inter-firm and intra-firm politics. Overall, this dissertation provides insight into how organizational politics impact processes and dynamics while challenging the notion that organizational politics may be detrimental for performance. Furthermore, this research introduces supply chain politics and explores the social dynamics that supply chain employees must navigate to be successful in their roles and further supply chain objectives.