Inter-firm relations and resource-based performance: a contingent relational view of small-scale farmers in Zambia

Ayobami Adetoyinbo and Dagmar Mithöfer

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, 2023, vol. 15, issue 4, 738-759

Abstract: Purpose - Effective and flexible organizational models have become an avenue for driving smallholder competitiveness in the agricultural sector. However, little is understood about the processes by which resource-constrained actors deploy their organizational networks to generate and retain value in rapidly changing agrifood environments. This study examines the moderating effects of business contingencies on the interplay between organizational relationships and the resource-based performance of small-scale farmers in a developing country. Design/methodology/approach - The authors propose a novel conceptual framework grounded in the relational view, netchain and contingency theories. Cross-sectional data obtained from 330 maize farmers in rural Zambia were analyzed using variance-based structural equation modeling, which involves mediation-moderation analysis. Findings - The results show that all relational networks – vertical, horizontal and lateral – positively mediate the effects farm resources and social capital have on farmers' performance. However, these effects change depending on the predominant agency situations. Specifically, asymmetric power from customers and reputable competitors weakens the positive effect of closer horizontal relationships on business performance, while the positive effect of tighter informal vertical relationships on farmers' performance weakens under conditions of high affective trust. Moreover, the gender-based multigroup analyses highlight variations in the contingent relational view of men- and women-headed households. Research limitations/implications - The study relies on cross-sectional data from one agribusiness sector in Zambia, thus generalizations should be cautious. Originality/value - The uniqueness of this study lies in the proposed theoretical framework and new empirical insights, which extend the scope of the relational view to small-scale farming households in developing countries.

Keywords: Relational view; Contingency theory; Organizational relationships; Farm performance; Maize farmers; Africa; Zambia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jadeep:jadee-06-2023-0134

DOI: 10.1108/JADEE-06-2023-0134

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies is currently edited by Anthony N. Rezitis

More articles in Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().