Does Resilience Matter for Supply Chain Performance in Disruptive Crises with Scarce Resources?

Abstract

In today's disruptive world, firms and supply chains are facing massive disruptions, primarily owing to resource scarcity. We develop a model supported by the resilience and resource-based theories to assess supply chain decision-makers in the United States. We validate the model by employing partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. We find that supply chain agility and flexibility can support supply chain resilience, which in turn sustains supply chain performance. Furthermore, we find a mediation effect of supply chain resilience in the relationship between agility and supply chain performance, as well as between flexibility and supply chain performance. Furthermore, the findings suggest that supply chain performance under severe disruptions can be achieved when supply chains are resilient based on the combination of agility and flexibility. Our study contributes to the supply chain resilience and resource-based theory literature by identifying that resource configuration plays a decisive role in resilience and performance in severe disruptions due to resource scarcity. Our findings suggest that not all resilience-related resources are necessary to build resilience and support performance. Therefore, when confronted by a disruptive crisis, managers, practitioners and policymakers should identify the best resource configurations to create resilience and support performance.