Research foundation
SSA operationalises a peer-reviewed framework for measuring supplier satisfaction, preferred customer status, and preferential treatment — developed and empirically validated across two decades of research by Vos, Schiele, Arentsen and colleagues.
Vos et al. (2016) and Schiele et al. (2011) together establish a causal chain: the buyer's behavior shapes supplier satisfaction, which determines whether the buyer is awarded preferred customer status, which in turn unlocks tangible preferential treatment — including innovations from suppliers.
β = standardized path coefficient; ** p < 0.01 (one-sided). Statistics drawn from the Vos et al. (2016) and Schiele et al. (2011) papers cited below.
Nine dimensions of buyer behavior act as antecedents of supplier satisfaction. Together they explain up to 61% of variance in supplier satisfaction (Vos et al. 2016, direct-procurement sample, n = 171). Effect sizes (β) below are from the Vos et al. (2016) revised model for direct procurement — some antecedents act directly on satisfaction, others through a related antecedent (shown with an arrow).
The supplier's perceived potential to grow through the relationship — new product lines, new markets, scaling volume.
β = 0.20**The supplier's perception that the relationship is, or will be, economically profitable. Strongest direct antecedent in both procurement contexts.
β = 0.38**The buyer's openness, trustworthiness, reciprocity, and cooperative conduct toward the supplier.
β = 0.34**The buyer's efficiency and reliability in day-to-day operational processes — ordering, billing, delivery handling. Particularly important in indirect procurement.
β = 0.18* (indirect)The buyer's perceived innovative capability, which signals long-term growth opportunity to the supplier.
→ growth opportunity (β = 0.60**)The buyer's predictability and dependability in commitments. Strongest driver of relational behavior in indirect procurement.
→ relational behavior (β = 0.57**)The buyer's assistance with supplier development — training, knowledge sharing, problem-solving.
→ relational behavior (β = 0.22**)The buyer's active participation in the supplier's processes, including early supplier integration in development.
→ relational behavior (β = 0.20**)The availability and responsiveness of buyer contact persons. The dominant driver of perceived operative excellence.
→ operative excellence (β = 0.40**)The framework now used in SSA was developed across a series of peer-reviewed contributions:
SSA implements the validated Vos et al. (2016) framework directly — the questionnaire dimensions, scaling, and analytical model used in the platform map one-to-one onto the peer-reviewed constructs.
SSA is built and maintained by the researchers who developed the underlying framework.
Supplier satisfaction expert
Professor of Technology Management — Innovation of Operations at the University of Twente. Habilitation focused on innovations from and with suppliers. Foundational contributor to the preferred customer concept in academic supply management research, with over 9,000 citations.
Co-author of the papers underpinning the SSA framework (Schiele et al. 2011, Hüttinger et al. 2012, Vos et al. 2016, Arentsen et al. 2025).
Supplier satisfaction expert
Assistant Professor of Logistics and Supply Chain Management at Portland State University. PhD from the University of Twente. Associate Editor of the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management. Executive Committee member of IPSERA. Co-founder of suPlay.
Lead author of the Vos et al. (2016) replication and extension that established the revised supplier satisfaction model.
Supplier satisfaction researcher
Procurement consultant at Supply Value and researcher in purchasing & supply management. MSc in Business Administration specialising in Purchasing & Supply Management; his thesis on early supplier involvement in ICT tenders won the Sourcing Netherlands Thesis Award (2021).
Lead author of Arentsen et al. (2025), linking joint purchasing and R&D involvement to innovation-related supplier satisfaction and preferential access to supplier innovation.
The peer-reviewed publications and conference research behind the SSA framework. Where available, links point to the publisher's canonical version (DOI) and, where permitted, to a freely accessible postprint.
SSA implements this validated framework as a turnkey assessment platform — scientifically grounded surveys, automated analysis, benchmarking, and reporting.
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