Measuring Supplier Resilience in Supply Networks

Abstract

This study is an attempt to conceptualize and develop a supplier resilience scale in the context of supplier–buyer relations. There has been a surge in scholarly attention to understand and conceptualize organizational resilience at the theoretical level. Yet, there are also only a few empirical studies investigating organizational resilience in relation to organizational performance. Despite the growing acknowledgement that organizations operate within networks of suppliers, organizational resilience has not been studied at the supplier level and in supplier–buyer relations. Driven by the need to fill this gap, this study aims at adapting the construct of resilience for the context of supplier–buyer relations management and to develop a supplier resilience measurement scale. Supplier resilience is operationalized through an index and its dimensions are measured by data obtained from a sample of 183 supplier firms. The findings of this study conclude that the scale is an adequate and empirically validated measure of supplier resilience across manufacturing and services industries. Further empirical and theoretical implications for supplier resilience measure are discussed.