The impact of buyer-supplier relationships’ social capital on bi-directional information sharing in the supply chain

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how the development of social capital can promote buyer’s bi-directional (inflow and outflow) information sharing. The authors examined buyers’ perceptional differences in information sharing: when they receive information from suppliers and when they provide information to suppliers, and how such inequivalent perception in information sharing can be resolved by the level of social capital and its’ sub-dimensions. Design/methodology/approach Theoretical model and the hypotheses were developed through literature review. Data were collected from Korean manufacturers in supply chains and structural equation modelling was used for analysis. Findings The results show that each dimension of social capital has a different effect on bi-directional information sharing. For the information inflow, all of the facets of social capital were significant; for the information outflow, however, only relational capital was significant. That is, with cognitive and structural capital, buyers perceive that they can receive appropriate information from suppliers yet be reluctant to provide information to suppliers. Practical implications Given that relational capital is essential for the balanced information sharing in buyer-supplier relationship, firms should pay attention to having social interactions with partners to promote trust in the relationship for efficacy in information sharing. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to explore the role of social capital in facilitating equivalent information sharing. This study develops a framework that social capital can provide valuable guidance in achieving equivalency of bi-directional information sharing.