Expanding the boundaries of buyer-supplier agency problems: Moving from dyad to triad |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Marketing and Management, College of Business Administration, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W University, El Paso, TX, 79902, USA;2. Department of Supply Chain Management, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, 300 E Lemon St, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA;1. Department of Supply Chain Management, Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University, Travis Kulpa, USA;2. Department of Supply Chain Management, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, USA;1. Department of Economics, Utrecht University, Utrecht University Centre for Public Procurement, the Netherlands;2. Department of Technology Management & Supply, University of Twente, University of Twente Initiative for Purchasing Studies, the Netherlands;1. The Department of Economics at Umeå School of Business, Economics, and Statistics at Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden;2. The National Institute of Economic Research (NIER), 103 62, Stockholm, Sweden;1. Aarhus University, School of Business and Social Sciences, Fuglesangs Allé 4, DK-8210 Aarhus V, Denmark;2. Aalborg University Business School, Fibigerstræde 11, DK-9220 Aalborg Ø, Denmark;3. Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway |
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| Abstract: | Extant agency theory addresses dyads consisting of a principal and an agent. It informs us about how to overcome agency problems in the buyer-supplier relationship. In this conceptual paper, we propose a theoretical argument that if we expand the boundary conditions from dyads to triads, we find new solutions to dealing with agency problems. To the buyer-supplier dyad, we add the supplier’s supplier, the buyer’s other supplier, the supplier’s other customer, and the buyer’s customer. As such, we consider four types of triads in supply chains and propose that the buyer as the principal could reframe agency problems with the focal supplier by moving to one of these triads. In particular, we investigate alternative mechanisms that may reduce the level of goal incongruence, information asymmetry, and power asymmetry in the buyer-supplier relationship. Our conceptualization suggests that supply managers should look outside the buyer-supplier dyad for additional opportunities to resolve agency problems. |
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| Keywords: | Agency theory Inter-organizational governance Buyer-supplier relationship Supply chain triad Conceptual theory building |
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