ISSN: 2225-8329
Open access
This study examines whether replenishment decision uncertainty (RDU) conditions the association between decision information use (DIU) and perceived replenishment decision effectiveness (RDE) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Grounded in Organisational Information Processing Theory, a survey of 360 SME respondents in Selangor, Malaysia, using purposive sampling in October 2026 was analysed through standardised composite-score regression, heteroskedasticity-consistent inference and 2,500-resample percentile bootstrap intervals. DIU was positively associated with RDE at mean uncertainty (? = 0.371), and the DIU × RDU interaction was positive (? = 0.115; 95% bootstrap CI [0.017, 0.206]). Adding the interaction increased explained variance from 0.137 to 0.151 (?R² = 0.014). Conditional DIU slopes were 0.256, 0.371 and 0.485 at low, average and high uncertainty. However, the RDU measure exhibited limited measurement quality (Cronbach’s ? = 0.662; composite reliability = 0.683; average variance extracted = 0.433). The findings offer a cautious, decision-specific illustration of uncertainty as a statistical boundary condition rather than proof of causal inventory-performance gains. Further measurement refinement and independent operational outcomes are important for corroboration.
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