Let’s talk about bad experiences instead of forgetting them: An empirical study on the importance of memory for supply chain disruption management

Abstract

Few studies have been concerned about the role of previous knowledge in supply chain disruption management. Based on the premise that supply chain resilience and robustness impact supply chain performance, this paper aims to expand this knowledge by conceptually and empirically establishing the role of supply chain memory for supply chain disruption management performance. A survey receiving 290 valid responses was conducted with supply chain managers. Quantitative data were analyzed with structural equation modeling. In addition, a mixed-methods approach was conducted to validate and explore the quantitative results. This paper contributes to theory and practice showing that experience, familiarity, and knowledge about dealing with disruptions improve supply chain resilience and robustness efficiency. The moderation effect of memory reveals that high memory leverages the impact of supply chain resilience on supply chain performance. Moreover, it brings important insights into the impact of robustness on supply chain performance since it is conditional to memory levels. The full model was able to explain 37.19% of supply chain performance.