How do Supply Chain Mangers Affect Supply Chain Resilience? An Advice-Seeking Perspective

Abstract

Research on supply chain resilience has successfully established flexibility as a firm-level antecedent that contributes to supply chain resilience. However, little is known about the mechanisms that develop flexibility within a firm. Drawing on the social capital theory and social network theory, the authors claim that supply chain managers’ advice-seeking plays a critical role in developing this antecedent. Specifically, the authors hypothesize that supply chain managers’ structural and relational embeddedness in their reference network, comprised of individuals from whom they seek advice, are instrumental to developing supply chain flexibility, which subsequently enhances the firm’s supply chain resilience. The authors use survey data collected from 385 manufacturing firms in Australia and employ Hayes and Preacher’s (2014) mediator model to test the hypotheses empirically. Results provides overall support for our theoretical model.