Modeling the antecedents of sustainable supply chain management on sustainable innovation ambidexterity and competitive advantage.

Abstract

This study examines the interorganizational learning processes through which managerial capabilities become sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), sustainable innovation ambidexterity (SIA), and competitive advantage (CA). Sustainable supply chain practices are enacted across firm boundaries, so they depend on managers in separate firms holding compatible interpretations of environmental requirements, which places shared mental models and cognitive integration at the center of the conversion. Social network and ambidexterity theories are integrated at that cognitive level to specify three antecedents: supply chain ambidexterity (SCAX), the managerial capacity to hold refinement and search together; networking capabilities (NC), exposure to partner knowledge; and relationship learning (RL), the joint sensemaking through which exposure becomes shared understanding. Data from 334 top-level managers in Taiwanese manufacturing firms were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). RL is the strongest antecedent of SSCM (β = 0.365), ahead of NC (β = 0.276) and SCAX (β = 0.205). Where network access is widely shared, the capability that differentiates firms is not network position but the interorganizational learning that converts access into jointly held knowledge. SSCM shows its largest association with SIA (β = 0.574), the only large effect, and its smaller effect on CA is partly transmitted through SIA, which raises CA (β = 0.313). Shared cognition across firm boundaries converts relational access into sustainable practice, and SIA is the mechanism through which that practice reaches competitiveness. For managers, the results point to building joint interpretation with suppliers and customers rather than expanding the relationship base.