Customer integration and customer value: contingency roles of innovation capabilities and supply chain network complexity

Purpose Prior research assumes that customer integration enhances customer value. However, the mechanisms and conditions under which customer integration contributes to customer value are less understood. This study aims to draw insight from the resource-based view (RBV) to conceptualize customer integration as an input resource that triggers product and process innovation capabilities to enhance customer value. The study further draws on the contingent RBV to examine supply chain network complexity (SCNC) conditions under which customer integration contributes to customer value through product and process innovation capabilities. Design/methodology/approach This study’s conceptual framework is tested on primary data from 335 firms in Ghana. PROCESS and ordinary least square regression analyses were used to test the study hypotheses. Additional analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling and two-stage least square regression analysis. Findings This study finds that, beyond the significant direct positive association between customer integration and customer value, product and process innovation capabilities mediate the association between customer integration and customer value. Evidence further shows that the indirect associations between customer integration and customer value through product and process innovations are strengthened when SCNC increases. Originality/value This research validates the presumed relationship between customer integration and customer value and provides theoretical arguments and empirical evidence to demonstrate how process and product innovation capabilities uniquely and in interaction with SCNC transform this relationship.