Personal relationships and supply chain communication: an exploratory case study of buyers and suppliers of logistics service provider

Personal relationships have been the subject of much research in supply chains, with most studies suggesting that these relationships have a positive effect on supply chain communication. Nevertheless, it is important to realise that a lack of a personal relationship will adversely affect the communication process between the individuals of supply chain member firms. This research fills this important gap in supply chain communication literature. As there is limited research in this field and qualitative approaches are considered ideal for evaluating emerging research phenomena, a case study approach is employed. Overall, 20 semi-structured interviews with senior managers from ten different firms engaged in the process of buying and selling logistics services are undertaken. The results show that the absence of a personal relationship between buyers and suppliers of logistics service providers negatively affects the communication process between the managers of focal firms in five distinct ways. The study concludes by discussing its implications for theory and practice, alongside limitations and future research directions.