The impacts of structured and unstructured information sharing on supply chain performance: the roles of information system connectivity, relationship commitment, and demand uncertainty

This research investigates the information sharing (IS) activities between firms and their customers and inquiries into their impacts on supply chain performance (SCP). Following the information processing theory, this study illuminates a less-explored yet crucial classification of IS activities, structured IS and unstructured IS, and investigates their impacts on SCP under different levels of demand uncertainty. We also probe into the influence of relationship commitment (a relational antecedent) and information system connectivity (an information system antecedent) on structured IS and unstructured IS. Using data of 410 Chinese manufacturers, our research finds that information system connectivity enables both structured and unstructured IS, whereas relationship commitment merely supports unstructured IS, which positively affects structured IS. Furthermore, structured IS improves SCP, while this impact can’t hold for unstructured IS. Finally, demand uncertainty negatively moderates the relationship between structured IS and SCP, while positively moderating the relationship between unstructured IS and SCP.