Influencing Factors of Channel Collaboration in Multi-channel Supply Chain: A Contextual Ambidexterity-Based Analysis from the Perspective of Traditional Retailer

In multi-channel supply chain (SC), the traditional retailer can get service returns through collaboration with the direct sales channel of the manufacturer.It is very meaningful to identify the influencing factors of the channel collaboration and disclose their impacts.This paper firstly considers the cross-channel behavior of consumers, which stimulates the traditional retailer to improve its service level, and in turn exerts a spillover effect on the demand for the direct sales channel.Hence, a Stackelberg game model was set up between the manufacturer and the retailer to explore the spillover effect on pricing and service decisions.The results show that the spillover effect promotes the retailer's service level, lowers the manufacturer's wholesale price, and increases the profits of both sides.Next, an empirical model was built based on contextual ambidexterity, which covers multiple variables and mediators.The model was applied to examine the correlations of channel collaboration and collaboration performance with cross-channel behavior and other key factors.The empirical analysis was based on the data collected from 221 traditional retailers in multi-channel SCs across China.Through the analysis, it is confirmed that the collaboration performance is greatly promoted by the cross-channel behavior (on the level of environmental adaptation), as well as channel complementation and trust (on the level of task alignment), and the promoting effects are mediated by the three dimensions of channel collaboration, namely, special investment, information sharing and joint action.The research findings provide new insights into the channel collaboration between the traditional retailer and the manufacturer in multi-channel SC, and offer new empirical evidence to studies on contextual ambidexterity and channel behavior.