The role of social capital, resilience, and network complexity in attaining supply chain sustainability

Abstract Supply chain social capitals argued to be the driver for attaining sustainability along the supply chain. However, the role of network complexity and supply chain resilience to transform supply chain social capitals into sustainability remains poorly understood. We draw from social capital theory to argue that supply chain resilience is the mechanism to curb negative effects of network complexity to transform supply chain social capital into supply chain sustainability. Hypotheses were tested employing structural equation modeling technique on a sample ( n = 274) of Bangladeshi apparel suppliers, and supplemented by the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to identify all plausible underlying causal configurations. Our results suggest that supply chain social capitals positively influence supply chain sustainability both directly and indirectly via supply chain resilience. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that network complexity in the presence of supply chain resilience positively influences social capitals to bolster supply chain sustainability. Findings of this research imply that supply chain resilience is a crucial conduit that facilitates leveraging supply chain social capitals as well as withstanding challenges that emerge from network complexity to embolden supply chain sustainability. Findings of this research provide novel insights to existing literature by exploring the complex dynamisms and reaffirming the interrelationships among the four vital constructs of supply chain literature. Our finding can help supply chain managers to improve resilience and sustainability.