Hey Tim.

You are right of course.   It becomes even more important with GMAWP or synergic operations with voltage sensing adaptive feedback engineering.

We fight this battle constantly (work lead connection quality) with both GMAW and SAW.

Here is a visualization I try to communicate to anybody who will listen........... GMAW and DC SAW run DCEP, meaning electrode positive.  Any schematic of the welding/arc circuit will show electrons running from negative to positive right?  (anode ---> cathode)  Electrons go up, Ions go down; always an exchange.

What this means is that while we always spend time maintaining the whip/stinger/torch assembly to make sure its in good condition, THE WORK LEAD IS THE ACTUAL PATH FOR THE JUICE! and therefor must be maintained with equal diligence for consistent welding to occur.

Here is some text from the operators manual for a Lincoln S500 Multi-process power supply.

CABLE INDUCTANCE AND ITS
EFFECTS ON WELDING
Excessive cable inductance will cause the welding
performance to degrade. There are several factors
that contribute to the overall inductance of the cabling
system including cable size, and loop area. The loop
area is defined by the separation distance between
the electrode and work cables, and the overall welding
loop length. The welding loop length is defined as the
total of length of the electrode cable (A) + work cable
(B) + work path (C)  

<I think the work path is the distance of fixturing between the work clamp connection and the arc>

To minimize inductance always use the appropriate
size cables, and whenever possible, run the electrode
and work cables in close proximity to one another to
minimize the loop area. Since the most significant factor
in cable inductance is the welding loop length,
avoid excessive lengths and do not coil excess cable.
For long work piece lengths, a sliding ground should
be considered to keep the total welding loop length as
short as possible.

Common sense and "hot lugs" validate your position, if one is to just stop and think about it :)

If you have any old welding journals this article MAY have some info.

Power Characteristics GMAW: Experimental and Numerical Investigation -Welding Journal; Journal Volume: 74; Journal Issue: 3; Mar 1995.

I have not read the paper but it may be worth a look. I am looking through some other databases for something that may help.  have you looked in the welding handbooks?

https://app.aws.org/wj/article_results?mv_action=search&st=text&sp=wj%2Farticle_results&fi=articles.txt&sf=name%2Cauthor%2Cdate&rl=year&tf=year%2Cmonth&to=nr&rf=*&se=Experimental+and+numerical+investigation&mv_range_min=0&mv_range_max=0&mv_matchlimit=50&su=1 $10.00 but I am sure someone has this WJ or free at

https://app.aws.org/wj/supplement/WJ_1995_03_s93.pdf Glanced through it though, probably no help.
Have a good one Tim

Also, an article from Bernard http://www.bernardwelds.com/are-conductivity-problems--p152391#.VcT-RflVhBc

Gerald