Individual decision-making for social value - Understanding behavior in purchasing and supply management

Purchasers play an important role in sustainable supply chain decisions. With little legal oversight and varying regulations, they have flexibility in their boundary spanning role. Yet what drives individual purchasers to choose products with social value in mind is not often explored. In order to address a discovered limitation of existing SSCM literature, this led me to ask the overarching question: What role can or do individuals play in achieving social outcomes at an inter-organizational level? This dissertation explores the nuances of decision makers within three different contexts, using two behavioral theories and two methods. In Essay I, we sought to understand factors driving high prevalence of low-cost pricing strategies in healthcare vs value-based procurement. Agency the-ory was used to identify (1) cost-saving incentives, (2) risk-sharing contracts, and (3) stronger (versus weaker) clinical evidence as factors influencing deci-sion-making. We conducted a 2x2x2 between-subjects scenario-based vignette experiment and found the negative effects of intra-organizational cost saving incentives on value-based purchasing (VBP) adoption; the positive impact of inter-organizational risk-sharing contracts, and the challenge of leveraging clinical evidence to support value claims. In Essay II, risk preferences of decision-makers were explored via their assessment of financial and social risks. The association between gender and risk is oft studied in behavioral economic contexts yet our understanding of how/why remains lacking in supply chain management. Gender role theory (GRT) was used to identify the potential relationship between gender effects of risk probability ambiguity and social issue specificity. A 2x2x2 scenario-based role-playing experiment found that when given an ambig-uous probability of an issue occurring, female students tend to choose the more sustainable product choice when compared to the choices made by males in our student sample. However, similar results do not replicate in the professional sample. Economic and social assumptions regarding gendered behavior were thus not fully supported in this context. Essay III quantitatively explored the intersection of gender role stereotypes and sustainable purchasing and supply management (SPSM) using Q-sorting. Results showed preliminary agreement that certain behaviors were perceived as feminine and others masculine. Because practitioners perceived SPSM behaviors according to gender role stereotypes, further investigation of the intersection between gender and SPSM is supported. Recognizing patterns in how we categorize certain purchasing behaviors as masculine or feminine is important for understanding and combatting our implicit biases that inhibit women's advancement in PSM and how that may concern sustainability integration. Overall, the nuances of PSM decisions which can have social impacts were discussed.