Uncertainty, supply risk management and their impact on performance

• We use transaction cost theory as explanation for supply risk management performance.
• High environmental- and behavioral uncertainty lead to low supply risk management performance.
• Supply risk management process maturity is key for successful supply risk management.
• Supply risk monitoring and mitigation improve supply risk management performance.

The purpose of this research is to identify the antecedents of supply risk management performance. Speed consortium benchmarking is used to explore the concepts of supply risk monitoring and mitigation. In addition, a survey yielding 207 responses is used to test our hypothesized antecedents of supply risk management performance. Findings indicate that the transaction cost constructs environmental- and behavioral uncertainty have a negative effect on supply risk management performance. In addition, supply risk mitigation and supply risk management process maturity positively influence supply risk management performance, the latter having the strongest influence. Furthermore, supply risk monitoring, supply risk mitigation and supply risk management process maturity all moderate the effect of environmental uncertainty, whereas only risk monitoring has an influence on the relationship between behavioral uncertainty and supply risk management performance. This research identified not only the antecedents of supply risk management performance, but also the moderating effect of different supply risk management principles on the relation between uncertainty and supply risk management performance. Most importantly, our study shows the relevance of developing general supply risk management structures and capabilities (i.e. supply risk management process maturity) in order to manage supply risks successfully. Our findings indicate that even more important than the proper selection of individual risk monitoring and mitigation strategies is the implementation of a risk management process.