IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/proeco/v196y2018icp335-345.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Leveraging high-involvement practices to develop mass customization capability: A contingent configurational perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Sandrin, Enrico
  • Trentin, Alessio
  • Forza, Cipriano

Abstract

This study focuses on the four human-resource-management (HRM) practices that characterize high involvement (HI), the most advanced approach to employee involvement. These practices push power, information, rewards, and knowledge down to the lowest level of an organization. The impact of these practices on a manufacturing firm's mass-customization capability (MCC) is examined, along with the way this impact is influenced by the degree of product customization (DPC) that the firm provides to its customers. Based on survey data from 195 manufacturing plants in three industries and eight countries, the study finds empirical evidence that these practices improve MCC when they are adopted jointly and, at the same time, DPC surpasses a certain threshold value. The same practices, when implemented independent of one another, do not have statistically significant effects on MCC. Furthermore, as DPC drops below the threshold, the effect of this configuration of practices becomes non-significant at conventional p levels and gradually decreases until it turns into a negative effect, which comes closer to statistical significance when the DPC reaches its minimum. This study is the first to examine the effects of HRM practices on MCC by taking full advantage of the contingent configurational perspective that is strongly advocated in the strategic HRM literature. The results of this study extend the debate on the organizational enablers of MCC and, at the same time, add to the well-established discussion on the performance outcomes of HRM practices in general and HI practices in particular.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandrin, Enrico & Trentin, Alessio & Forza, Cipriano, 2018. "Leveraging high-involvement practices to develop mass customization capability: A contingent configurational perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 335-345.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:196:y:2018:i:c:p:335-345
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2017.12.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527317304115
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijpe.2017.12.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Min & Zhao, Xiande & Qi, Yinan, 2014. "The effects of organizational flatness, coordination, and product modularity on mass customization capability," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 145-155.
    2. Gosling, Jonathan & Naim, Mohamed M., 2009. "Engineer-to-order supply chain management: A literature review and research agenda," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 741-754, December.
    3. Da Silveira, Giovani & Borenstein, Denis & Fogliatto, Flavio S., 2001. "Mass customization: Literature review and research directions," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 1-13, June.
    4. Valérie Barraud-Didier & Sylvie Guerrero, 2004. "High Involvement Practices and Performance of French Firms," Post-Print halshs-00006003, HAL.
    5. Pero, Margherita & Stößlein, Martin & Cigolini, Roberto, 2015. "Linking product modularity to supply chain integration in the construction and shipbuilding industries," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(PB), pages 602-615.
    6. Qiang Wang & Zhiqiang Wang & Xiande Zhao, 2015. "Strategic orientations and mass customisation capability: the moderating effect of product life cycle," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(17), pages 5278-5295, September.
    7. N. Venkatraman, 1990. "Performance Implications Of Strategic Coalignment: A Methodological Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 19-41, January.
    8. Bertrand, J. W. M. & Muntslag, D. R., 1993. "Production control in engineer-to-order firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 3-22, July.
    9. Trentin, Alessio & Forza, Cipriano & Perin, Elisa, 2015. "Embeddedness and path dependence of organizational capabilities for mass customization and green management: A longitudinal case study in the machinery industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 253-276.
    10. Wang, Zhiqiang & Zhang, Min & Sun, Hongyi & Zhu, Guilong, 2016. "Effects of standardization and innovation on mass customization: An empirical investigation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 48, pages 79-86.
    11. Wong, Hartanto & Lesmono, Dharma, 2013. "On the evaluation of product customization strategies in a vertically differentiated market," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 105-117.
    12. Saghiri, Soroosh S. & Barnes, Stuart J., 2016. "Supplier flexibility and postponement implementation: An empirical analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 170-183.
    13. Jarvis, Cheryl Burke & MacKenzie, Scott B & Podsakoff, Philip M, 2003. "A Critical Review of Construct Indicators and Measurement Model Misspecification in Marketing and Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 199-218, September.
    14. MacCarthy, Bart & Brabazon, Philip G. & Bramham, Johanna, 2003. "Fundamental modes of operation for mass customization," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 289-304, September.
    15. Allan P. O. Williams, 2006. "Impact of Strategies," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Rise of Cass Business School, chapter 13, pages 167-181, Palgrave Macmillan.
    16. Fang, Edward Aihua & Li, Xiaoyi & Lu, Jiajun, 2016. "Effects of organizational learning on process technology and operations performance in mass customizers," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 68-75.
    17. Uskonen, Jukka & Tenhiälä, Antti, 2012. "The price of responsiveness: Cost analysis of change orders in make-to-order manufacturing," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 420-429.
    18. Liu, Zuoming & Jayaraman, Vaidy & Luo, Yadong, 2017. "The unbalanced indirect effects of task characteristics on performance in professional service outsourcing," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 281-293.
    19. Carvalho, Andréa Nunes & Oliveira, Fabricio & Scavarda, Luiz Felipe, 2015. "Tactical capacity planning in a real-world ETO industry case: An action research," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 187-203.
    20. Fogliatto, Flavio S. & da Silveira, Giovani J.C. & Borenstein, Denis, 2012. "The mass customization decade: An updated review of the literature," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 14-25.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Na Liu & Pui-Sze Chow & Hongshan Zhao, 2020. "Challenges and critical successful factors for apparel mass customization operations: recent development and case study," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 291(1), pages 531-563, August.
    2. Cannas, Violetta G. & Gosling, Jonathan & Pero, Margherita & Rossi, Tommaso, 2019. "Engineering and production decoupling configurations: An empirical study in the machinery industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 173-189.
    3. Zhang, Linda L. & Shafiee, Sara, 2022. "Developing separate or integrated configurators? A longitudinal case study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    4. Linda Zhang & Sara Shafiee, 2022. "Developing separate or integrated configurators? A longitudinal case study," Post-Print hal-03707380, HAL.
    5. Lin, Shunzhi & Lin, Jiabao, 2023. "How organizations leverage digital technology to develop customization and enhance customer relationship performance: An empirical investigation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    6. Cannas, Violetta G. & Gosling, Jonathan & Pero, Margherita & Rossi, Tommaso, 2020. "Determinants for order-fulfilment strategies in engineer-to-order companies: Insights from the machinery industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    7. Shao, Xiao-Feng, 2020. "What is the right production strategy for horizontally differentiated product: Standardization or mass customization?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    8. Cannas, Violetta Giada & Gosling, Jonathan, 2021. "A decade of engineering-to-order (2010–2020): Progress and emerging themes," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Na Liu & Pui-Sze Chow & Hongshan Zhao, 2020. "Challenges and critical successful factors for apparel mass customization operations: recent development and case study," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 291(1), pages 531-563, August.
    2. Ng, Irene & Scharf, Kimberley & Pogrebna, Ganna & Maull, Roger, 2015. "Contextual variety, Internet-of-Things and the choice of tailoring over platform: Mass customisation strategy in supply chain management," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 76-87.
    3. Daniela D. Viana & Iris D. Tommelein & Carlos T. Formoso, 2017. "Using Modularity to Reduce Complexity of Industrialized Building Systems for Mass Customization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Liu, Weihua & Wang, Qian & Mao, Qiaomei & Wang, Shuqing & Zhu, Donglei, 2015. "A scheduling model of logistics service supply chain based on the mass customization service and uncertainty of FLSP’s operation time," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 189-215.
    5. Giannikas, Vaggelis & McFarlane, Duncan, 2021. "Examining the value of flexible logistics offerings," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 290(3), pages 968-981.
    6. Cannas, Violetta G. & Gosling, Jonathan & Pero, Margherita & Rossi, Tommaso, 2019. "Engineering and production decoupling configurations: An empirical study in the machinery industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 173-189.
    7. Sardana, Deepak & Terziovski, Mile & Gupta, Narain, 2016. "The impact of strategic alignment and responsiveness to market on manufacturing firm's performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 131-138.
    8. Li, Wei & Sun, Hui & Tong, Meng & Mustafee, Navonil & Koh, Lenny, 2024. "Customizing customization in a 3D printing-enabled hybrid manufacturing supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    9. Aurelio Montalto & Serena Graziosi & Monica Bordegoni & Luca Di Landro & Michael Johannes Leonardus Tooren, 2020. "An approach to design reconfigurable manufacturing tools to manage product variability: the mass customisation of eyewear," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 87-102, January.
    10. Fogliatto, Flavio S. & da Silveira, Giovani J.C. & Borenstein, Denis, 2012. "The mass customization decade: An updated review of the literature," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 14-25.
    11. Cannas, Violetta Giada & Gosling, Jonathan, 2021. "A decade of engineering-to-order (2010–2020): Progress and emerging themes," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    12. Laurent Lim, Lâm & Alpan, Gülgün & Penz, Bernard, 2014. "Reconciling sales and operations management with distant suppliers in the automotive industry: A simulation approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 20-36.
    13. Lyons, Andrew Charles & Um, Juneho & Sharifi, Hossein, 2020. "Product variety, customisation and business process performance: A mixed-methods approach to understanding their relationships," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    14. Gedas Baranauskas & Agota Giedrė Raišienė & Renata Korsakienė, 2020. "Mapping the Scientific Research on Mass Customization Domain: A Critical Review and Bibliometric Analysis," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, September.
    15. Saghiri, Soroosh S. & Barnes, Stuart J., 2016. "Supplier flexibility and postponement implementation: An empirical analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 170-183.
    16. A. Arrighetti & F. Landini, 2018. "Eterogeneità delle imprese e stagnazione del capitalismo italiano," Economics Department Working Papers 2018-EP01, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    17. Neumann, Anas & Hajji, Adnene & Rekik, Monia & Pellerin, Robert, 2022. "A model for advanced planning systems dedicated to the Engineer-To-Order context," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    18. Weihua Liu & Yi Yang & Shuqing Wang & Enze Bai, 2017. "A scheduling model of logistics service supply chain based on the time windows of the FLSP’s operation and customer requirement," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 257(1), pages 183-206, October.
    19. Jost, Peter-J. & Süsser, Theresa, 2020. "Company-customer interaction in mass customization," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    20. Dandan He & Zhongfu Li & Chunlin Wu & Xin Ning, 2018. "An E-Commerce Platform for Industrialized Construction Procurement Based on BIM and Linked Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:196:y:2018:i:c:p:335-345. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.