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The purpose of this study is to empirically explore the influence of supply chain information integration (SCII) on supply chain innovativeness (SCI) and supply chain resilience (SCRE).

Data from 403 manufacturing companies in Uganda were analyzed using Analysis of Moments of Structures version 27. Unmeasured common latent factors were used to minimize the bias of common methods.

SCII, SCI and SCRE have significant positive relationships. About 41% of SCII and SCRE are partially mediated by SCI.

Considering variations in perception of SCRE, the cross-sectional nature of the study limits generalizability and transferability. Experiments and interviews are recommended to explore differences between firms in SCRE.

SCII and SCI capabilities buffer a firm’s SCRE.

This study establishes SCI as a mediator between SCII and SCRE by studying manufacturing firms in a developing country context.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between information technology (IT) capabilities, information integration and supply chain resilience within the context of a developing country.

Employing a structured questionnaire survey, the study collected cross-sectional data from 205 agro-food processing firms in Uganda, drawn from a sample of 248. The data were subsequently analyzed using SPSS version 27 to validate the hypothesized relationships.

The study findings revealed that IT capabilities and information integration are positively and significantly associated with supply chain resilience. Moreover, it established a positive and significant link between IT capabilities and information integration. The results further revealed both IT capabilities and information integration account for 62.2% of the variance in supply chain resilience (SCRES) in agro-food processing firms in Uganda. Notably, the findings revealed the partial mediating role of information integration, addressing the need to understanding the mechanisms through which IT capabilities influence SCRES.

First, the study used a cross-sectional design which makes it difficult to test causality. Some of the study variables need to be studied over time due to their inherent behavioral elements such as collaboration and information sharing. Hence, future research that could, where possible, collect longitudinal data on the study variables would add value to the findings. Second, the study was limited to agro-food processing firms in Uganda in selected districts of Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono and Jinja. Further research needs to be done in other sectors such as service industry and other geographical locations in Uganda and other developing economies to provide more generality of the findings. Third, the study was based on IT capabilities, information integration and supply chain resilience. There are other variables that affect supply chain resilience such as business continuity planning strategy, interactions between teams within an organization in building resilience, supply chain velocity, system orientation and flexibility among others which can be interesting for further research.

Managers are advised to motivate their IT-related personnel. Efficient use of IT systems by staff, especially who are skillful at self-study, enhances their ability to respond to disruptions accordingly. This enhances SCRES. Additionally, to get feedback from supply chain stakeholders, agro-food processing firms should assess the quality of their supply chain services through using IT capabilities as well as integrating their information.

This study contributes to existing literature by adopting information processing perspective to provide an empirical understanding of IT capabilities and information integration as key resources and capabilities essential for information processing in building SCRES. Furthermore, the study introduces the novel insight of the mediating role of information integration as a pathway in which IT capabilities enhance SCRES in agro-food processing firms in Uganda.

In few prior empirical studies on supply chain resilience (SCRES), the focus has been on the developed world. Yet, organisations in developing countries constitute a significant part of global supply chains and have also experienced the disastrous effects of supply chain failures. The purpose of this paper is therefore to empirically investigate SCRES in a developing country context and to show that this also provides theoretical insights into the nature of what is meant by resilience.

Using a case study approach, a supply network of 20 manufacturing firms in Uganda is analysed based on a total of 45 interviews.

The perceived threats to SCRES in this context are mainly small-scale, chronic disruptive events rather than discrete, large-scale catastrophic events typically emphasised in the literature. The data reveal how threats of disruption, resilience strategies and outcomes are inter-related in complex, coupled and non-linear ways. These interrelationships are explained by the political, cultural and territorial embeddedness of the supply network in a developing country. Further, this embeddedness contributes to the phenomenon of supply chain risk migration, whereby an attempt to mitigate one threat produces another threat and/or shifts the threat to another point in the supply network.

Managers should be aware, for example, of potential risk migration from one threat to another when crafting strategies to build SCRES. Equally, the potential for risk migration across the supply network means managers should look at the supply chain holistically because actors along the chain are so interconnected.

The paper goes beyond the extant literature by highlighting how SCRES is not only about responding to specific, isolated threats but about the continuous management of risk migration. It demonstrates that resilience requires both an understanding of the interconnectedness of threats, strategies and outcomes and an understanding of the embeddedness of the supply network. Finally, this study’s focus on the context of a developing country reveals that resilience should be equally concerned both with smaller in scale, chronic disruptions and with occasional, large-scale catastrophic events.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between geographical traits consisting of institutional traits and cultural traits, and supply chain agility in third-party logistics providers.

A theoretical model was developed and assessed through a structured questionnaire survey using cross-sectional data from 170 third-party logistics providers registered in Uganda. To validate the suggested model, data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, correlations and regressions.

Correlation results revealed that all institutional and cultural geographical traits in the model, i.e. infrastructural frameworks, regulatory frameworks, organisational culture and national culture are positively and significantly associated with supply chain agility. However, a further analysis using regression revealed that regulatory framework and organisational culture are the only significant predictors of supply chain agility and together, all the four traits account for 28.1% variance in supply chain agility.

This study applies the institutional theoretical framework to provide an empirical understanding of the role of institutional and cultural factors in supply chain management practice. Furthermore, it confirms and expands on the existing theories about supply chain agility.

The findings provide firm ground for managerial decisions regarding emphasis on external factors in building firms' supply chain agility. Managers should scan the macro-environment and make conscious firm decisions regarding institutions and culture in certain geographical locations. The host countries should also be aware of their role in building firms' supply chain agility.

Distinctive from the literature on antecedents of supply chain agility, which predominantly focuses on the firm and supply chain capabilities, this study utilises the paradigm of institutional fit to empirically show how managers in a developing country wishing to build supply chain agility should not only focus on their supply chains and internal operations, but go beyond and consider geographical traits when making firm location and/or operational decisions for certain geographical contexts in order to achieve fit.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it intends to explore the link between internal social capital, logistics capabilities, supply chain risk management (SCRM) capabilities and supplier performance. Second, the mediating effect of logistics capabilities between internal social capital and SCRM capabilities, and that of SCRM capabilities between logistics capabilities and supplier performance are also examined.

A theoretical model developed from the extant literature was empirically validated through a cross-sectional survey of 122 respondents in 52 public healthcare facilities in Uganda. The data were analysed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The study found that internal social capital and SCRM capabilities are significant predictors of supplier performance. Internal social capital is positively and significantly related to logistics capabilities, and logistics capabilities are positively and significantly related to SCRM capabilities. The authors also found non-significant relationships between internal social capital and SCRM capabilities, and between logistics capabilities and supplier performance. Furthermore, it was revealed that logistics capabilities play a partial mediating role in the relationship between internal social capital and SCRM capabilities, while SCRM capabilities fully mediate between logistics capabilities and supplier performance.

Further to providing empirical evidence of the antecedents of supplier performance in the public healthcare in a developing economy, which has been evidently scant, this study provides initial empirical evidence of the mediating role of logistics capabilities in the relationship between internal social capital and SCRM capabilities and that of SCRM capabilities in the relationship between logistics capabilities and supplier performance. This is important for understanding the mechanism through which supplier performance can be enhanced.

Procuring relief products and services is a challenging process for humanitarian organizations (HOs), yet it accounts for approximately 65% of relief operations’ costs (Moshtari et al., 2021). This paper aims to examine how procurement internal controls, materials and purchasing procedure standardization influence information integration and procurement performance.

In this study, partial least square structural equation models and multigroup analysis were used to analyze data collected from 170 HOs.

Procurement internal controls and material and purchasing procedure standardization fully mediate between information integration and procurement performance.

The study focuses only on HOs. Since humanitarian procurement projects take place over a period of several years, it is difficult to capture the long-term effects of information integration, procurement internal controls, material and purchasing procedure standardization and procurement performance. In this regard, a longitudinal study could be undertaken, provided that the required resources are available.

Procurement managers should implement information integration practices within acceptable procurement internal controls and standardize material and purchasing procedures to boost procurement performance.

By integrating information through procurement internal controls and standardizing material and purchasing procedures, procurement performance in a humanitarian setting can be systematically optimized.

This study aims to examine the influence of entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge management orientation on participation of women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in public procurement. The research also aimed at examining the influence of knowledge management orientation on entrepreneurial orientation, and the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between Knowledge management orientation and participation of women-owned SMEs in public procurement.

The study used a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected using a drop-off pick-up method. The determined sample size for the women-owned SME firms was 123, while an effective sample size of 103 was obtained, and covariance-based structural equation modelling was used to test the research hypotheses.

Findings indicated that entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge management positively and significantly influenced both the search for tender opportunities and the number of times the firm submitted bids. Knowledge management orientation had a significant positive influence on entrepreneurial orientation, while entrepreneurial orientation partially mediated the relationship between knowledge management orientation and participation of women-owned SMEs in public procurement, thus implying that both knowledge management orientation and entrepreneurial orientation contribute to search for tender opportunities and the number of times a woman-owned SME firm submits bids.

The study was cross-sectional and quantitative in nature, yet it involved behaviour aspects such as participation in public procurement. Further, a wholistic approach is taken when studying the SMEs disregarding the industrial characteristics to which the SME belongs.

Almost 30% to 38% of SMEs in developing countries are owned by women. Focusing on increasing the number of women owned SMEs participating in public procurement will improve the nations’ GDP and increase the number of the citizens in the labour force due to increased employability.

Previous research takes a wholistic approach when examining SMEs participation in public sector procurement disregarding the impact of gender. Further, knowledge management orientation and entrepreneurial orientation in women-owned SMEs are studied for the first time in a public procurement setting.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between top management commitment and energy management in small and medium manufacturing firms in a developing country context.

This study was executed through a survey of 66 manufacturing firms in Kampala, Uganda. The data collected were analysed using SPSS v.26.

The results show that top management commitment influences energy management. A further probe of its three dimensions of top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs reveals that all of them positively and significantly predict energy management in manufacturing firms.

The current study results were obtained from manufacturing small and medium firms in Kampala, Uganda. Therefore, caution should be taken prior to generalization. Furthermore, this study only focuses on top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs as the dimensions of top management commitment. This study thus provides the foundation for future studies to test other dimensions of top management commitment, particularly in other sectors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the contribution of top management commitment dimensions top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs to energy management in a developing country context. Although all dimensions are significant, top management beliefs contribute more to energy management.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between supply chain management practices, logistics capabilities, logistics integration and competitive advantage of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in a developing country.

Using a structured questionnaire survey, cross-sectional data collected from 204 SMEs in Kampala – Uganda were analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS version 26 to validate the theorised relationships.

The study findings revealed that both supply chain management practices and logistics integration are positively and significantly associated with competitive advantage. Also, both supply chain management practices and logistics capabilities are positively and significantly associated with logistics integration. Additionally, the authors found that logistics integration partially mediates in the relationships between supply chain management practices and competitive advantage, and logistics capabilities and competitive advantage. Conclusively, the three independent variables collectively account for 11% variance in competitive advantage of SMEs.

Given the general observation that SMEs are fundamental to socio-economic development, yet resource constrained, this study uses Resource-based and dynamic capabilities theoretical perspectives to provide an empirical understanding of the supply chain and logistics resources and capabilities necessary for building competitive advantage of SMEs in the context of a developing economy.

Some scholars argue that ethical awareness increases alongside work experience,whereas others agree that ethics education shapes ethical awareness and that cheating in college predicts unethical behaviour in subsequent professional environment. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate the level and antecedents of ethical sensitivity of future procurement professionals.

An exploratory descriptive survey of a sample of 303 final year procurement students from the two largest public Universities in Uganda was conducted. Using Statistical Package for (SPSS) and Amos Version 27, data were analysed by using means, standard deviations, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and correlation analysis.

The study revealed that future procurement professionals exhibit low levels of ethical sensitivity. However, contrary to the general observations from the extant literature, gender and family background of students do not determine both ethical sensitivity and cynicism. Moreover, this study establishes that cynicism is positively associated with instances that depict low ethical sensitivity.

This paper contributes to providing an empirical understanding of the derivation of unethical behaviour in procurement practice. Grounded in Aristotle’s organic theory of state and moral habituation, this argues that future procurement professionals posses natural proclivities that trigger their social instincts and membership to multiple associations in actualising their innate potential for ethical behaviour. This supports the notion that humans are potentially virtuous, whereby morality is learned, imitated, emerges and perfects through repetitive actions and is therefore incremental.

The findings mirror what prevails in practice in Uganda, where procurement practitioners have been implicated in unethical practices regardless of their gender and family background. This signals that managers should not recruit or deploy procurement personnel based on gender or family background.

While research on ethical sensitivity of students has been focussed on other disciplines such as accounting, nursing and other business studies, this paper focusses on ethical sensitivity of procurement students aspiring to join a professional environment that is severely marred with unethical practices. Further, Aristotle’s moral habituation and organic theory of state invoked in this study underline the synergies of both nature and nurturing in inculcating ethicality in procurement professionals.