Abstract
PurposeIn the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates a variety of approaches to supply disruption risk management for achieving effective responses for resilience at the supply management subunit level (e.g. category of items). Drawing on the attention-based view of the firm, the authors model the attentional antecedents of supply resilience as (1) attentional perspectives and (2) attentional selection. Attentional perspectives focus on either supply risk sources or supply network recoverability, and both are hypothesised to have a direct positive association with supply resilience. Attentional selection is top down or bottom up when it comes to disruption detection, and these are hypothesised to moderate the association between disruption risk management perspectives and resilience.Design/methodology/approachConducted at the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study employs a hierarchical regression analysis on a multicountry survey of 190 procurement professionals, each responding from the perspective of their own subunit area of supply responsibility.FindingsBoth attentional disruption risk management perspectives are needed to achieve supply resilience, and neither is superior in terms of achieving supply resilience. Both the efficiency of the top down and exposure to the unexpected with the bottom up are needed – to a balanced degree – for improved supply resilience.Practical implicationsThe results encourage firms to purposefully develop their supply risk management practices, first, to include both perspectives and, second, to avoid biases in attentional selection for disruption detection. Ensuring a more balanced approach may allow firms to improve their supply resilience.Originality/valueThe results contribute to the understanding of the microfoundations that underpin firms' operational capabilities for supply risk and disruption management and possible attentional biases.
Highlights
Global supply disruption because of COVID-19 and its aftermath has been unprecedented in its scale and severity, and practitioners and scholars have been reminded of the criticality of supply risk management, which has led to renewed interest and appreciation in the subject (e.g. Butt, 2021; Chowdhury et al, 2021; Harland, 2021; Ivanov and Das, 2020; Sarkis, 2020)
In this vein and inspired by recent anecdotal accounts, the current study considers the antecedents of resilience under supply disruptions at the supply management subunit level
Because the literature confirms the heterogeneity in supply disruption risk management and performance outcomes, we aim to provide a nuanced understanding of the antecedent capability of microfoundations to explain why different managers, acting within their area of supply responsibility, arrive at different supply disruption outcomes and resilience
Summary
Global supply disruption because of COVID-19 and its aftermath has been unprecedented in its scale and severity, and practitioners and scholars have been reminded of the criticality of supply risk management, which has led to renewed interest and appreciation in the subject (e.g. Butt, 2021; Chowdhury et al, 2021; Harland, 2021; Ivanov and Das, 2020; Sarkis, 2020). The focus of the current study is on understanding the variety of approaches to supply disruption risk management for achieving effective responses to resilience, in the COVID-19 context. In the context of COVID-19, the recent discourse has emphasised the complexities at play at the micro, meso and macro levels in managing supply disruption risk (Azadegan and Dooley, 2021). In this vein and inspired by recent anecdotal accounts, the current study considers the antecedents of resilience under supply disruptions at the supply management subunit level (e.g. category of items as an area of supply management responsibility). We suggest that a more nuanced understanding is needed regarding how managers approach the task of managing and mitigating supply disruption risk within their areas of supply responsibility for improved resilience
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Operations & Production Management
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
