Building knowledge integration in buyer-supplier
relationships
There are two major objectives in the research. First, the authors investigate the impact of
knowledge integration in terms of joint decision-making and joint sense-making, on relational
performance, including operational efficiency and innovation. Second, the authors examine the key
antecedents that might facilitate knowledge integration: strategic supply management and trust. The
paper aims to discuss these issues.
The results suggest that both integrative mechanisms, joint decision making and joint
sense making, affect performance although in different ways. This study also finds that while trust has
multiple significant influences and consequently must be viewed as an organizing principle, strategic
supply management is required to jointly understand the dynamic and complex context but not to
jointly make ongoing decisions.