Influence of power and trust on the intention to adopt electronic supply chain management in China

Electronic supply chain management (eSCM) has become a popular Web-based seamless supply chain process. Given that Chinese firms are important parts of global supply chains, it is imperative to investigate factors that would affect eSCM adoption in China. In this study, we examine the impact of three power sources – non-mediated, coercive-mediated and reward-mediated power – on the three dimensions of trust – competence, goodwill and contractual – and their influence in turn on a firm’s eSCM adoption intention in China. We collected data through a survey of 131 manufacturing and service firms in China. Our results show that non-mediated power is positively associated with competence and goodwill trust but negatively related to contractual trust. Coercive-mediated power only negatively affects competence and goodwill trust. Reward-mediated power does not affect any type of trust significantly. The results also provide empirical support for the positive effects of competence and contractual trust on the intention to adopt eSCM. This paper contributes knowledge about the power–trust relationship in China from a supply chain perspective and presents a multi-dimensional explanation of the relationships between power, trust and intention to adopt eSCM.