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This study is aimed at improving the purchasing cycle time in a buyer–supplier relationship by integrating the facets of strategic leadership, social exchange, and social capital theories. We developed and tested a conceptual model that postulated relationships among strategic leadership behavior, relational trust and commitment, structural capital, and purchasing cycle time. Data were collected from purchase managers and their employees working in 105 manufacturing companies and analyzed using structural equation modeling technique. Our findings indicated that strategic leadership behaviors are positively related to trust in the buyer–supplier relationship. In addition, trust enhances relational commitment between buyer and supplier, which in turn positively relates to information sharing and supplier development. Further, increased information sharing in the relationship results in reduced purchasing cycle time. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed in depth, and directions for future research are suggested.

This study focuses on integrating the premises of social capital theory and the theory of organizational learning to improve the operational performance of firms nurturing the buyer–supplier relationship. Social capital theory highlights the importance of developing social relationships between firms to create valuable resources and collectively access critical resources. Organizational learning theory highlights that the learning capacity of an organization strongly depends on top-level leaders’ behaviors, organizational structure, culture, and flexibility, and uncertainties in the environment in which the organization functions. Though many studies have focused on the impact of social capital on performance improvements in the buyer–supplier relationship, the interlinkages between social capital and organizational learning have not been given much attention. Based upon these theories, a system-focused perspective, which showcases the antecedents and outcome of the relationship between collaborative communication and learning, has been proposed in this study. A literature review has been carried out to support the linkages in the proposed conceptual model. Findings suggest that transformational buyers support creating cognitive capital with suppliers. This cognitive capital influences the structural capital, which supports improving the understanding of each party’s processes in the buyer–supplier relationship when parties have high long-term orientation. Improved learning capability reshapes organizations into flexible systems capable of responding quickly to customer requirements, and consequently, they realize a higher performance level.

Organizations striving to improve cycle time concentrate on developing long-term relationship with suppliers. In order to support organizational efforts, this study develops a conceptual model that explores the relationships among leadership behaviors, relational commitment and trust, information exchange, and cycle time. Although the supply chain management literature mentions leadership behavior in the context of supply chain, there are no studies that examine the impact of leadership behaviors on cycle time. This study proposes that transformational and transactional leadership behaviors of buyers increase the flow of information to suppliers directly as well as indirectly through relational commitment and trust, and these relationships also influence cycle time. However, it also proposes that the impact of transformational leadership behaviors on relational commitment and trust and information exchange is stronger than the impact of transactional leadership behaviors. Additionally, both uncertain environment and supplier base have potential to play moderation roles in the relationship between transformational leadership and relational commitment and trust and between transformational leadership and information exchange.

Purpose – Studies are rare in operations management literature showcasing how leaders ethically influence their employees to perceive safety performance through motivating them to participate in the quality management (QM) program. To bridge this research gap, this study has been carried out (1) to investigate the relationship between ethical leadership and incentives for participating in QM program to predict perceived safety performance and (2) to examine the relationship between ethical leadership and incentives for QM implementation to predict job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Responses of 185 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration employees who participated in the Office of Personnel Management's Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey 2019, taken from public release data file, were used to test the proposed hypotheses using structural equation modelling. Findings – Results show that ethical leaders motivate their employees to participate in the QM program. Such motivation for QM implementation supports public sector employees to perceive high safety performance and attain job satisfaction with their work agency. Further, employees attain high satisfaction with their job when they work under ethical leaders. Theoretical and practical implications were also offered in this study. Originality/value – This study is the first of its kind to contribute providing evidence that ethical leaders working in a hazardous environment motivate employees to get involved in QM implementation. Another contribution of this study, encouraging employees to participate in the QM initiatives leads employees to attain a high level of job satisfaction and safety performance, also adds value to the QM literature. © 2026 Emerald Publishing Limited

Mapping of spatiotemporal distribution of evapotranspiration becomes important for sustainable water management as water scarcity is nowadays a growing concern in almost all the continents. In general, researchers estimate evapotranspiration by multiplying the computed reference evapotranspiration (ETo) with the corresponding crop coefficient. Such estimation of ETo requires data related to spatiotemporal meteorological and vegetation field characteristics, and however, these data are rarely available in most developing countries such as India. Thus, researchers constantly develop various methods and evaluate the applicability of these methods to accurately capture spatiotemporal distribution. The purposes of this study are to (a) examine the applicability of Hargreaves and MODIS ETo method to map the spatiotemporal distribution over Thamirabarani basin located in Southern India and (b) evaluate the performances of Hargreaves and MODIS ETo methods and compare it to FAO 56 Penman–Monteith method. To achieve these purposes, ETo data of Hargreaves method and MODIS ETo method over Cheranmadevi meteorological observatory are extracted and performances of these methods are compared with FAO 56 Penman–Monteith method. Results show that a match exists among all the three ETo datasets, and no major deviations have been observed. However, this study suggests local calibration of Hargreaves and MODIS ETo method as considerable mismatch has been observed at ETo daily value. Overall, the conclusion of this study encourages the application of the Hargreaves method and MODIS ETo method in developing countries, where the data shortage condition prevails.