Dynamic digital capabilities and supply chain resilience: The role of government effectiveness

Organizations in recent times are increasingly investing in building supply chain resilience following disruptions due to natural disasters, geo-political crises, and pandemics. Lack of government support has exacerbated disruptions in supply chains in some regions of the world. The influence of digitalization on social inclusion, government accountability, and creating a more open environment is well understood. Despite this, different countries have shown varying degrees of responsiveness during the pandemic resulting from the various COVID strains. The influence of government policies on the supply chain has not been examined in the literature so far and, hence, to address this research gap in existing literature, we examine the interaction effect of government support effectiveness i.e., tax credits, interest deferral, digital investment, soft loans on dynamic capabilities i.e., digital adaptabilities and digital agilities and on supply chain resilience, using a multi-method approach. To understand how digital adaptability and agility improve supply chain resilience, we conducted 13 semi-structured interviews. Additionally, we pretested our measurement instrument using qualitative semi-structured interviews to validate our hypothesized relationships. We collected data at one point in time using a survey-based instrument (N=203) to address our research questions. Based on data analyses of both qualitative and survey-based data, the findings indicate that digital adaptability is an important driver of digital agility. Furthermore, our results indicate that government effectiveness is crucial to enhancing supply chain resilience by enhancing digital adaptability and agility. Our research makes some useful contributions to the dynamic capability view by enhancing our theoretical understanding of the role of government in building digital capabilities in uncertain times to improve supply chain resilience. It bridges the research gaps between macro and micro perspectives, as desired by management scholars. Lastly, we noted our weaknesses and further offered multiple research directions that could help take our current study of ours to the next level.