Exploring the Relationship between Data Analytics Capability and Competitive Advantage: The Mediating Roles of Supply Chain Resilience and Organization Flexibility

Abstract

In today’s business environment, data analytics capability has gained popularity among organizations as a source of competitive advantage. Furthermore, due to the current business outsourcing, supply chain management is known to be an extremely challenging task. Most previous studies focused on the relationship between data analytics capability and competitive advantage regardless of the role of organizational characteristics, particularly supply chain resilience. This paper aimed to assess the impact of data analytics capability on competitive advantage in the textile industry concerning the mediating role of supply chain resilience and organizational flexibility. To this end, a new conceptual model was developed to investigate the relationships and partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied for analysis. The population of this study comprised 450 qualified persons and four well-known brands of sleep products. In addition, a pilot survey was conducted with 30 respondents before the questionnaire was used for the final survey. Based on the results, data analytics capability positively affected competitive advantage, supply chain resilience, and organizational flexibility. Additionally, supply chain resilience and organizational flexibility played mediating roles in the relationship between data analytics capability and competitive advantage. Finally, some management insights are presented that are of interest to top managers. However, the results of this study were limited to the area of the textile industry (sleeping goods manufacturers) in Iran in order to maintain the uniformity of the research constructs.