The impact of cloud-enabled process integration on supply chain performance and firm sustainability: the moderating role of top management
ISSN: 1359-8546
Article publication date: 30 October 2018
Issue publication date: 13 November 2018
Abstract
Purpose
Theorising from the intersection of supply chain and information systems (IS) literature, this study aims to investigate supply chain integration (SCI) as a multidimensional construct in the context of cloud-based technology and explores the effect of cloud-enabled SCI on supply chain performance, which will eventually improve firm sustainability from a resource-based view (RBV). In addition, the moderating effect of top management is explored.
Design/methodology/approach
Using cross-sectional survey data collected from a sample of 105 Australian retail firms, this study used structural equation modelling to test the hypothesised relationship of cloud-enabled SCI with performance in a theoretical model.
Findings
Results show that cloud-based technology has positive effect on SCI, and the cloud-enabled SCI is positively related to supply chain performance which eventually influenced firm sustainability. Further, top management intervention moderates the relationship between supplier and internal integration with supply chain performance. But it is found to have no moderating effect on the relationship between customer integration and supply chain performance.
Practical implications
Recognising the potential benefits of emerging cloud-based technologies reported in this study, retail managers need to understand that higher order SCI requires the support of cloud-based technology to improve supply chain performance and firm sustainability.
Originality/value
This research extends prior research of information and communication technologies-enabled SCI and its effect on supply chain performance which overly remains inconsistent. In addition, IS literature abounds with discussion on cloud computing technology per se, and its adoption in supply chain is overly rhetoric. This study fills this gap by conceptualising the multiple dimensions of SCI enabled by cloud-based technology and the way it affects supply chain and firm sustainable performance. Investigating SCI in context of cloud-based technology is a unique contribution in this study. The moderating effect of top management in this decision also adds to the current body of literature.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Victoria University and Metcash Australia for funding this empirical research, which is a part of a larger project (vide grant No: CRGS 14/15, Dt.5/12/2014). The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their time and valuable feedback to improving the overall quality of the paper. The authors sincerely thank the editor for facilitating the review process. The authors acknowledge Ian Sadler for his constructive feedback to improve the paper.
Citation
Shee, H., Miah, S.J., Fairfield, L. and Pujawan, N. (2018), "The impact of cloud-enabled process integration on supply chain performance and firm sustainability: the moderating role of top management", Supply Chain Management, Vol. 23 No. 6, pp. 500-517. https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-09-2017-0309
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited