Willingness to share information in a supply chain: A partnership-data-process perspective

To achieve an efficient and effective supply chain, information needs to be shared. Most current information-sharing studies address the benefits gained from shared data, but neglect the effect of willingness to share, in which the benefits of sharing data may be discounted. This study looks into the factors that affect the extent of the willingness of companies to share information from a partnership-data-process perspective. To distinguish the mode of sharing, we differentiate information sharing into template based and proactive. Our results suggest that when partnerships become closer, the willingness to share template-based information increases and consequently the willingness to proactively share additional information. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.