How Do Uncertainties Affect Supply-Chain Resilience? The Moderating Role of Information Sharing for Sustainable Supply-Chain Management

Abstract

Uncertainties caused by many internal and external factors can lead to supply-chain disruptions, increasing the vulnerability and cost of operations. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic, whose worldwide emergence was not foreseen, has become a major threat to supply-chain resilience and has caused the disruption of global network connections. The purpose of this study is to examine in depth the impact of uncertainty on supply-chain resilience and to determine whether information sharing has a moderating effect on this interaction. The relationships proposed in the research model are tested through empirical analyses in SEM applied to 244 survey data points from internationally operating manufacturing firms in Turkey. The findings reveal several key insights. First, it is concluded that all dimensions of uncertainty, except technological uncertainty, negatively affect supply-chain resilience. Second, although no direct effect of technological uncertainty on supply-chain resilience is found, technological uncertainty has a negative effect on resilience when the moderating role of internal and supplier information sharing is taken into account. Low-level information sharing, as opposed to high-level, creates variation in the severity of supply-chain resilience at different levels of technological uncertainty. In addition, it is worth noting that a high level of information sharing with suppliers under high-uncertainty conditions negatively affects supply-chain resilience. The results of this study, conducted within the framework of the Contingent Resource-Based Theory, demonstrate compatibility with the theory. Based on all the findings, this study suggests that managers should adopt proactive strategies to maintain high supply-chain resilience, considering today’s highly uncertain conditions.