Study on the Stability of Mixed Alliance in Fresh Produce Supply Chain from the Perspective of Psychological Fit

Abstract

Background: In the process of market circulation of fresh agricultural products, information asymmetry between production and marketing often leads to low psychological fit of fresh agricultural supply chain parties, and the problem of instability with the supply chain is intensified. The key to solve this problem is to establish fresh agricultural supply chain alliance, and the stability of fresh agricultural supply chain alliance directly maps the survival competitiveness of the alliance. Contractual coordination has been applied to the study of improving the psychological fit of members and maintaining the stability of hybrid alliances in fresh produce supply chains. Subjects and Methods: this paper focuses on fresh produce supply chain alliances, constructs longitudinal and cross-sectional alliance models, and uses system dynamics to realize model simulations under formal contracts to explore the psychological fit of alliance partners' profit changes, deviations of alliance partners' behaviors from the expected goals of the alliance, and satisfaction of alliance partners, so as to determine which contract can improve the psychological fit of the alliance and achieve hybrid alliance stability. Results: under the perspective of alliance members' profits, the optimal preference of suppliers and mid- and high-end sellers is a revenue sharing-quality differentiation combination contract, while the optimal preference of mid- and low-end sellers is a revenue sharing contract; the psychological fit of members is optimal under the combination contract, and the coordination effect of revenue sharing contract on increasing alliance members' satisfaction with the alliance is better than that of quality differentiation contract under a single contract, while the coordination effect on alliance expectation fulfillment effect is reversed. The combination contract has the strongest coordination effect on enhancing the stability of mixed supply chain alliances, followed by the quality differentiation contract and finally the revenue sharing contract. Conclusions: under the mixed alliance model of "supplier + mid- to high-end seller + mid- to low-end seller", the combination contract is most helpful to improve the stability of the alliance; Based on the design of contract parameters in this paper, the combination contract is more attractive to suppliers and mid- and high-end sellers, while the mid- and low-end sellers are more concerned about the revenue sharing contract; The operation of the mixed alliance of fresh produce supply chain achieves the active matching between the quality of fresh produce at different levels and the demand of consumers. The following aspects of this paper are still worthy of further research in follow-up: first, quantify the contribution of each member of the alliance in the alliance collaboration to realize the change of benefit sharing mechanism, so as to monitor the change of fresh produce supply chain alliance stability. Second, consider the change of alliance stability when comparing alliances under the impact of external environment. Finally, consider comparing the impact on fresh agricultural products supply chain alliance stability after amending and optimizing the formal contract and the relationship contract.