Agility in humanitarian supply chain: an organizational information processing perspective and relational view

Rameshwar Dubey; David J Bryde; Cyril Foropon; Gary Graham; Mihalis Giannakis; Deepa Bhatt Mishra

doi:10.1007/s10479-020-03824-0

Agility in humanitarian supply chain: an organizational information processing perspective and relational view

Ann Oper Res. 2022;319(1):559-579. doi: 10.1007/s10479-020-03824-0. Epub 2020 Oct 23.

Authors

Rameshwar Dubey¹, David J Bryde¹, Cyril Foropon², Gary Graham³, Mihalis Giannakis⁴, Deepa Bhatt Mishra²

Affiliations

¹ Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moore's University, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3 5UG UK.
² Montpellier Business School, Montpellier Research in Management, 2300 Avenue des Moulins, 34185 Montpellier, France.
³ Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Maurice Keyworth Building, Leeds, LS2 9JT UK.
⁴ Audencia Business School, Nantes, France.

Abstract

Humanitarian organizations are increasingly facing challenges in terms of improving the efficiency and the effectiveness of their disaster relief efforts. These challenges often arise due to a lack of trust, poor collaboration and an inability to respond to disaster affected areas in a timely manner. Our study attempts to understand how these challenges are overcome by seeking answers to questions related to the topics of swift-trust, collaboration and agility in humanitarian supply chains. For instance, in our study we have attempted to examine how information sharing and supply chain visibility in humanitarian supply chains improve the swift-trust among the humanitarian actors engaged in disaster relief operations. Further, we attempt to understand how-swift trust, commitment and collaboration among the humanitarian actors improve the agility in humanitarian supply chains. In our study we provide both theoretical and data-driven answers to our stated research gaps. Our theoretical model is firmly grounded in organizational information process theory and relational view. We tested our research hypotheses using variance based structural equation modelling with survey data collected using a web based pre-tested instrument from 147 NGOs respondents drawn from the National Disaster Management Authority database. Our results help to advance the theoretical debates surrounding "swift-trust", "collaboration" and "agility" in humanitarian settings. We further provide direction to managers engaged in disaster relief operations. The humanitarian actors engaged in disaster relief often fail to understand how to build swift-trust. Moreover, how swift-trust further affects commitment and collaboration which in turn further affect agility in humanitarian supply chains. Thus humanitarian organizations must understand how information sharing and supply chain visibility is key to swift-trust among humanitarian actors and agility in humanitarian supply chains. Finally, we outline the limitations of our study and offer some future research directions for investigation.

Keywords: Collaboration; Humanitarian supply chain; Information sharing; Organizational information processing theory; Relational view; Supply chain visibility; Swift-trust.