Supplier selection, control mechanisms, and firm innovation: Configuration analysis based on fsQCA

Previous studies have examined the impact of organizational control and partner selection on firm innovation separately. This paper incorporates supplier selection into the framework of interorganizational control systems. It investigates the impact of different combinations of supplier selection (efficiency-oriented and innovation-oriented) and control mechanisms (outcome controls, behavior controls, and trust) on a firm’s radical and incremental innovation by applying fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Using survey data from 203 firms in China, we found that combining innovation-oriented supplier selection and trust can promote radical innovation; combining efficiency-oriented supplier selection with all three kinds of control (outcome controls, behavior controls, and trust) can promote incremental innovation. Our results suggest that trust is the core causal condition for both radical and incremental innovation.