Employees’ perceptions of buyer–supplier relationships and supply chain performance of Century Bottling Company (Cocacola Beverages Uganda)

Abstract

The study investigated employees’ perceptions of buyer–supplier relationships and supply chain performance at Century Bottling Company, with a specific focus on trust, communication, and cooperation. The objectives were to establish employees’ perceptions regarding the influence of trust and mutual understanding, examine employees’ views on the role of information sharing, and assess employees’ perceptions of how cooperation affects supply chain performance. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was employed, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study targeted 170 employees across various managerial levels and departments, and data were collected from 86 respondents through structured questionnaires and key informant interviews. Reliability of the research instruments was confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha, with all variables exceeding the acceptable threshold of 0.70, while validity was ensured through expert review and the Content Validity Index. Findings indicated that employees perceived buyer–supplier trust, communication, and cooperation as having positive relationships with supply chain performance. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive associations between employees’ perceptions of trust (r = 0.896), communication (r = 0.744), and cooperation (r = 0.652) with supply chain performance, all significant at the 0.01 level. Multiple regression analysis further showed that employees perceived trust (β = 0.512), communication (β = 0.284), and cooperation (β = 0.193) as positively influencing supply chain performance, with an overall model R² of 0.762, indicating that these variables explain 76.2% of the variation in supply chain performance. Communication emerged as the most consistently significant predictor. Multicollinearity diagnostics confirmed that the independent variables were sufficiently distinct. The study concludes that employees perceive strong buyer–supplier relationships characterized by effective communication, trust, and cooperation as critical in enhancing supply chain performance at Century Bottling Company. The study recommends strengthening structured communication systems, promoting collaborative supply chain practices, fostering trust-based supplier partnerships, and establishing effective performance monitoring systems. However, the study was limited to one organization and a relatively small sample size, suggesting the need for further research across different industries and larger samples to improve the generalizability of the findings.