Does supply chain concentration improve sustainability performance: the role of operational slack and information transparency
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
ISSN: 0144-3577
Article publication date: 4 December 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the increasing interest in the role of supply chain concentration (SCC) in improving performance, its influence on firms' sustainability performance remains unexplored, as do the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. Drawing on resource dependence theory, the authors investigate the relationship between SCC and manufacturing firms' sustainability performance and the moderating roles of operational slack and information transparency.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use secondary data from 3,581 manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share stock markets from 2006 to 2020 to conduct an empirical analysis using panel data regression models.
Findings
Manufacturing firms' SCC is negatively related to sustainability performance until it reaches a certain point, where SCC positively affects sustainability performance, presenting a U-shaped relationship. In addition, operational slack represented by a quick ratio moderates the relationship between SCC and sustainability performance by flattening the curve. Operational slack represented by receivable turnover ratio moderates the relationship between SCC and sustainability performance by steepening the curve and shifting the turning point left. Information transparency strengthens the effect of SCC on the sustainability performance by steepening the curve.
Originality/value
This investigation provides a comprehensive view of the SCC– sustainability performance relationship.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71671056), the Humanity and Social Science Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (20YJA630024), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M700380), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71729001, 72025101), the Humanity and Social Science Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (20YJA630024), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (FRF-DF-20-11) and Natural Science Foundation of China (71902159).
Since submission of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliation(s): Fu Jia is at the College of Business Administration, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing, China.
Citation
Jia, F., Xu, Y., Chen, L. and Fernandes, K. (2023), "Does supply chain concentration improve sustainability performance: the role of operational slack and information transparency", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-12-2022-0807
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited