Integration, uncertainty and information: how do they affect planning performance?

Abstract

Purpose – Effective planning requires the participation of different functions and may be hampered by lack of
integration and information quality (IQ). This paper aims to investigate the relationships among integration,
uncertainty, IQ and performance, in the context of the production planning and control function. The literature
lacks in-depth studies that consider these factors altogether, showing how they interact and how they
contribute to improve business performance.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors introduce the variable of planning performance, which
represents the quality of the production plans/planning process and is related to the frequency and causes of
modifications to these plans. The relationships among the mentioned constructs are investigated by means of
multiple case studies.
Findings – The results illustrate that integration is positively related to planning performance, and this
relationship is mediated by IQ and moderated by uncertainty.
Originality/value – The presented analysis may help practitioners to foster interfunctional integration,
better cope with uncertainty and improve information management, aiming to achieve better planning
performance. The managers can choose integration and IQ improvement mechanisms that better fit to their
environment/reality, using the four different cases as a benchmark. Moreover, this research contributes to the
literature exploring this contingency perspective by means of in-depth case studies, considering that most of
the existing research adopting this perspective is survey-based.