Supply chain job and vocational fit: links to supervisor ability, benevolence and integrity
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management
ISSN: 0960-0035
Article publication date: 12 January 2024
Issue publication date: 16 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Supply chain has long faced a persistent workforce shortage. To help both organizations and the field create environments that are more conducive to employee retention, the authors investigate the outcomes of supply chain employee trust in their supervisor.
Design/methodology/approach
Applying person-environment fit theory, the authors evaluate the well-established antecedents to trust in supervisor ability, benevolence and integrity (ABI) relative to person-job (P-J) fit and person-vocation (P-V) fit of US supply chain employees.
Findings
Confirmatory factor analysis indicates that ABI is best modeled as dimensions of a second-order formative trust construct rather than as its antecedents. However, PLS-SEM provides somewhat unconvincing support for the impacts of ABI-trust. Instead, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) delineates that all three ABI dimensions are not always needed for P-J and P-V fit in supply chain. Some employees respond to affective-based (i.e. benevolence) trust and others to cognitive-based (i.e. ability and integrity) trust.
Practical implications
The QCA results offer specific recommendations for supply chain organizations to enhance employee trust in supervisors to succeed in the struggle for labor.
Originality/value
The results counter extant trust theory, encouraging scholars to consider ABI as distinct dimensions of trust. The study also demonstrates the importance of considering QCA in supply chain research to meaningfully expand contributions to theory and practice.
Keywords
Citation
Meurs, J.A., Lowman, G.H., Gligor, D.M. and Maloni, M.J. (2024), "Supply chain job and vocational fit: links to supervisor ability, benevolence and integrity", International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 54 No. 1, pp. 118-135. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-05-2023-0192
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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