What's in it for me? The occurrence of supplier innovation contribution in the context of supplier-dominant innovation: The supplier's perspective

Prior studies have pointed out the pivotal role supplier innovation contribution plays in supporting buyers' product innovation. Many studies focus on situations where the buyer occupies a dominant position; they posit that the dominant buyer can secure supplier innovation resources through collaborative relationships. However, the buyer may lose the privilege to mobilize supplier innovation contribution in the supplier-dominant innovation context. The issue of why the "dominant" supplier attempts to contribute innovation resources is less extensively explored. To fill this gap, this study examines the issue from the viewpoint of the supplier as the provider of innovation contributions. A survey of 358 paired firms in China indicates that black-box supplier involvement can induce supplier innovation contribute, only if the supplier has perceived relationship benefits. Moreover, the relationship between relationship benefits and supplier innovation contribution becomes stronger as renqing, xinyong, or supplier innovation value increase, but becomes weaker as ganqing or mianzi increase. This study provides practical guidance to buying firms regarding how they can mobilize the dominant supplier's innovation resources more effectively.