Exploring the factors influencing the adoption of supply chain finance in supply chain effectiveness: evidence from manufacturing firms

Abstract

Purpose Several manufacturing firms are facing various internal concerns such as financial and operational issues, which strongly pushed the firms to search for solutions (e.g. supply chain finance; SCF) to sustain their supply chain operations and supply chain effectiveness (SCE). In this view, this study attempts to explore four key factors influencing the adoption of SCF, which, in turn, impacts SCE in Chinese manufacturing firms. Therefore, this study aims to propose that how information sharing, external collaboration, digitization and financial institutions enable manufacturing firms’ to adopt SCF that subsequently enhances SCE. Moreover, how supply chain risk (SCR) mediates the association between SCF adoption and SCE. Design/methodology/approach The current research recruited 177 Chinese manufacturing firms administrating a questionnaire to supply chain managers and tested the proposed conceptual model and associations using structural equation modeling. Findings The results reveal that all four factors are positively related to the adoption of SCF, which consequently improves the SCE of manufacturing firms. Moreover, the findings show that the effect of SCF significantly and positively impact SCE. Further, the result also confirmed that SCF significantly mitigates SCR, thereby leads to improves SCE. Research limitations/implications The current study mainly focuses on Chinese manufacturing firms, which may generate low generalizability. In addition, this study was based on a cross-sectional research design which may generate common method bias. Therefore, more comparative studies are needed between developed and developing countries to enhance the generalizability of the study findings. Practical implications This study provides significant new insights about how marketing managers and practitioners can adopt SCF in manufacturing firms via information sharing, external collaboration, digitization and financial institutions to mitigate firm risk and enhance SCE. Originality/value The approach used in this research differs from many of the previous studies and investigates the factors of adoption of SCF and their impact on SCE in the manufacturing firm sector within the context of the Chinese economy. Therefore, this research is an important guide for scholars, managers and executives of marketing, while providing them with a new model, significant insights which are significant in their organizations.