The effect of uncertainty avoidance and social trust on supply chain collaboration

Supply chain collaboration (SCC) is strategically important in today's business world, and the use of inter-organizational systems (IOS) much facilitates SCC. The present study examines: (1) the differential effects of two types of IOS—open and closed—on firms' use of SCC; (2) the impact of a country's uncertainty avoidance and social trust on firms' use of SCC; and (3) the moderating role of uncertainty avoidance and social trust on the firm-level relationships between open/closed IOS and SCC. Using a large dataset from twenty-four countries, a multi-level analysis suggests that, not only uncertainty avoidance and social trust affect SCC directly, but uncertainty avoidance also moderates the relationship between open IOS and SCC at the firm level. These findings are important for the research and practice of SCC, as they provide novel angles for researchers and managers to look at the factors that may affect the success of SCC.