Effects of external uncertainties and power on opportunism in supply chains: evidence from China

Abstract

This study examines the determinants of opportunism in supply chain relationships in emerging markets. Drawing on transaction cost theory and resource dependence theory, we propose that external uncertainties (environmental uncertainty and legal unprotectability) influence opportunism through power (coercive and non-coercive). The results, based on 240 companies in China, indicate that environmental uncertainty enhances supplier opportunism directly and indirectly through the buyer’s use of coercive power over the supplier, while legal unprotectability enhances supplier opportunism directly, but reduces it indirectly through the buyer’s use of non-coercive power. While buyer coercive power increases supplier opportunism, buyer non-coercive power decreases it.

Keywords:

• environmental uncertainty
• legal unprotectability
• power
• opportunism
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71172162], [grant number 71233003], [grant number 71462008], [grant number 71473087]; the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, SCUT [grant number 2015ZZ058].