Research
The full paper can be accessed as:
Purpose – A perception gap refers to the differences in perception among the stakeholders regarding any aspect of the supply chain relationship. The purpose of this research is to investigate the perception gap among service supply chain partners relating to the relative importance of key performance indicators (KPIs) and the association of this gap with service performance.
Design/methodology/approach – The research develops an integrative framework that combines statistical methods and data envelopment analysis for computing perception and performance gaps, and for identifying the association between the gaps. The study follows a middle-range theorizing research approach where general inferences are induced from instances, and a theory can be developed from the observation of empirical reality.
Findings – Analysis of data from a leading global insurance service supply chain suggests that perception gap exists and can be recognised as a factor associated with performance gaps. The results suggest that the perception gap not only affects performance but can also be tracked as a meta-KPI to improve performance throughout the service supply chain.
Practical implications – The key implication of the presented research is that service companies can identify and resolve the differences in perceptions regarding the importance of the KPIs, by methodologically computing the gaps and tracking them as meta-KPIs.
Originality/value – The study extends the theoretical boundary of supply chain performance management by introducing the perception and performance gaps as novel meta-KPIs. These meta-KPIs can be computed through the integrative framework developed in the study.
This research was conducted by Dr. Dawei Lu (University of Warwick, UK), in collaboration with Dr. Sean Asian (La Trobe University, Australia), Dr. Gurdal Ertek (Abu Dhabi University, UAE), and Mete Sevinç (Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, Netherlands). The project team collaborated with a leading UK-based insurance company to improve their supply chain performance in three phases:
First, they investigated the existence of perception and performance gaps along the supplier-buyer interface; Second, examined the association between the perception gaps and the performance; And, third, constructed an integrative framework that factors-in the perception gap into service supply chains and measures them through meta-KPIs.
The presented research confirmed that perception gaps do exist and can have significant association with the performance gaps along the service supply chain. The development of the presented analytical framework for quantifying the gaps extends the theoretical boundary of supply chain performance management and offers a new window to both researchers and practitioners. The results have been published as a research paper in the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management (Impact Factor 2018: 6.86).
The full paper can be accessed as:
Please feel free to visit the page for this research at Research Gate.
Our earlier research on the perception & performance gaps: