Developing and validating an instrument to measure the impact of digital supply chain activities on sustainable performance

In the age of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), digital technologies (DTs) and the technologies' application in supply chain activities have become more important. On the other hand, global pressures for corporate social responsibility in the sustainable production of products are increasing. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to develop and validate an instrument to measure the impact of digital supply chain (DSC) activities on the sustainable performance of manufacturing companies.

In the first step, through an in-depth study of the relevant literature, a conceptual model was developed and a questionnaire containing 51 indicators was designed. The questionnaire was distributed among 356 top managers and experts of the Iranian manufacturing companies, whereby finally 233 sound questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate of about 64%. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to identify constructs and sub-constructs and the relationship between them was investigated using the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) method.

Based on the obtained results, three constructs were identified, namely main activities (including sub-constructs: digital supplier, digital manufacturing, digital logistics and innovation and digital customer), support activities (with sub-constructs digital performance, DT and digital human resources) and sustainable performance (with sub-constructs of economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and social sustainability). The designed tool has excellent psychometric properties. The values of t-statistic = 11.07 and β = 0.602 indicate the positive impact of the DSC main activities on sustainable performance. Similarly, t = 2.42 and β = 0.149 prove that DSC support activities have a positive impact on sustainable performance. Also, based on the obtained values (t = 13.16 and β = 0.629), support activities have a significant impact on the main activities of the DSC. Finally, based on the calculated goodness-of-fit (GoF) index value (0.522), this paper concluded that the proposed model has high credibility.

Validation of the model is based on the answers received from the Iranian manufacturing companies. Therefore, caution should be taken regarding the generalizability of the results.

The proposed model presents a holistic view of the application of DTs in the supply chain and the DTs' impact on sustainable performance which might help manufacturing companies, particularly the Iranian companies to obtain a broader knowledge of the importance of DTs and DTs' usage toward responding to the challenges of today's complex business environment.

This study is among the first of the study's kind that attempts to develop and validate an instrument to measure the impact of DSC activities on the sustainable performance of manufacturing companies.