The Importance of Crowdsourced Employer Reviews to Customer-Supplier Relationships

About the seminar topic

We examine the effect of crowdsourced employer reviews on customer-supplier relationships. Leveraging the timing of Glassdoor coverage across suppliers, we find that increased customer access to employee-generated information is associated with a lower likelihood of customer-supplier relationship termination. Cross-sectional analyses reveal 2 underlying mechanisms including:

1. Glassdoor reviews provide unique information about suppliers’ operational activities and workforce policies, thereby reducing uncertainty for customers
2. the disciplinary effect of public employee disclosure incentivises suppliers to improve operating efficiency and workplace practices

Additional analyses indicate that the effect of Glassdoor reviews on supply chain stability is stronger when they are more favourable or posted by employees in operational roles. Further, we show that suppliers exposed on Glassdoor secure more contracts and attract a larger customer base. On the customer side, doing business with Glassdoor-covered suppliers reduces customers’ supply chain risk. Overall, our findings highlight the role of crowdsourced reviews in enhancing supply chain stability and operating efficiency.

Speaker bio

Ole-Kristian Hope is the Deloitte Professor at Rotman. He teaches Commerce, MBA and PhD courses in accounting. He has broad research interests in financial disclosure, financial reporting quality, corporate governance, analysts, valuation, auditing, private firms, corporate finance and international business issues. He has published extensively in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Management Science and several other journals including JIBS, JCF, JAPP, JBFA, JBE, Auditing, JMAR, JAAF and AH. Hope is Editor at Journal of International Business Studies, where he handles accounting, governance and sustainability. He has been awarded the Haim Falk Award for Distinguished Contribution to Accounting Thought, the American Accounting Association Best Dissertation Supervision Award (twice), the American Accounting Association Outstanding International Educator Award, the American Accounting Association Best Paper Award and the American Accounting Association Outstanding International Dissertation Award, as well as several other awards. He has supervised a number of PhD students who are now teaching at top business schools. He is founder and organiser of the annual Scandinavian Accounting Research Conference and Doctoral Consortium. Hope’s research findings are regularly cited by leading media outlets (such as The Economist, Financial Times and Wall Street Journal) and he regularly presents his research at workshops, conferences and consortia around the world.