Toward a theory of the linkages between safety and quality
Ajay Das
Zicklen School of Business, Baruch College, The City University of New York, New York, NY 10010, USA
Tel.: +1 646 312 3646.
Search for more papers by this authorMark Pagell
Operations Management and Information Systems, Schulich School of Business, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorMichael Behm
Occupational Safety Program, East Carolina University, 231 Slay Hall, Greenville, NC 27858, USA
Tel.: +1 252 328 9674.
Search for more papers by this authorAnthony Veltri
College of Health and Human Sciences, Environment, Safety and Health Program, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
Tel.: +1 541 737 3831.
Search for more papers by this authorAjay Das
Zicklen School of Business, Baruch College, The City University of New York, New York, NY 10010, USA
Tel.: +1 646 312 3646.
Search for more papers by this authorMark Pagell
Operations Management and Information Systems, Schulich School of Business, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorMichael Behm
Occupational Safety Program, East Carolina University, 231 Slay Hall, Greenville, NC 27858, USA
Tel.: +1 252 328 9674.
Search for more papers by this authorAnthony Veltri
College of Health and Human Sciences, Environment, Safety and Health Program, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
Tel.: +1 541 737 3831.
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
The role of employee safety in supply chain performance has inexplicably been overlooked by operations management literature. With a few notable exceptions, there is no guidance in the literature for operations managers trying to understand the role that employee safety at their own or a suppliers could play in quality outcomes. This manuscript takes a first step to rectify this oversight by using cognitive dissonance theory to build a series of propositions that link safety perceptions to quality outcomes. Empirical tests of these propositions provide initial evidence that safety does indeed contribute to quality outcomes in the supply chain.
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