Does online–offline channel integration matter for supply chain resilience? The moderating role of environmental uncertainty
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-06-2022-0361 |
| Published date | 21 March 2023 |
| Date | 21 March 2023 |
| Pages | 1496-1522 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
| Author | Xia Wu,Yang Li,Zujun Zhu |
Does online–offline channel
integration matter for supply chain
resilience? The moderating role
of environmental uncertainty
Xia Wu
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
Yang Li
Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China, and
Zujun Zhu
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
Abstract
Purpose –Drawing on dynamic capability theory, this study investigates how online–offline channel
integration (OOCI) affects a firm’s supply chain resilience and how such an effect is moderated by market
turbulence and regulatory uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach –A sample of 273 Chinese firms that conduct online and offline business
and hierarchical regression analysis were used to examine the research model.
Findings –The results suggest that the effect of OOCI on supply chain resilience differs in terms of its
dimensions (i.e. information integration, transaction integration and service integration). While information
integration and service integration were positively associated with supply chain resilience, transaction
integration had a non-significant relationship with supply chain resilience. Moreover, market turbulence
negatively moderated the effect of transaction integration and positively moderated the effect of service
integration. Regulatory uncertainty positively moderated the effect of transaction integration and negatively
moderated the effect of service integration. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Originality/value –This study examines the effect of OOCI on supply chain resilience. It further explores the
influence of market turbulence and regulatory uncertaintyon the relationship between OOCI and supply chain
resilience.
Keywords Online–offline channel integration, Supply chain resilience, Environmental uncertainty,
Dynamic capability theory
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Driven by the increasing change in the market environment and distribution network, firms
are urged to take action to avoid supply chain disruptions (Xu et al., 2021). A recent report by
McKinsey & Company indicates that only 21% of firms believed that they had a highly
resilient supply chain [1]. Thus, establishing supply chain resilience has become an important
requirement for sustainable supply chain management (John and Raman, 2020). Online-
offline channel integration (OOCI), which encourages online and offline channels to share
market information, facilitate customer transactions and maintain customer relationships
(Luo et al., 2016;Yan et al., 2010), has been posited as a firm’s capability to enhance supply
chain resilience. OOCI helps firms resist unexpected supply chain disruption (Chatterjee et al.,
2021) by integrating all available channel resources to track market change and timely
responses to customer demands (Cao and Li, 2015;Saghiri et al., 2017). Next, a leading fashion
IMDS
123,5
1496
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China under Grant No.
2020AAA0103804 and National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 72002062.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0263-5577.htm
Received 9 June 2022
Revised 7 December 2022
26 January 2023
Accepted 13 February 2023
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 123 No. 5, 2023
pp. 1496-1522
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-06-2022-0361
retailer in the U.K. survives during the COVID-19 pandemic through a high level of supply
chain resilience because of its successful implementation of an omnichannel strategy (Zhang
et al., 2021b). As COVID-19 continues, using OOCI to achieve supply chain resilience becomes
a top priority for firms. Given the promising role of OOCI in supply chain resilience,
practitioners want to know how OOCI can be managed to facilitate supply chain resilience.
The literature has indicated that the effect of OOCI mightdiffer in terms of its dimensions
(Oh et al., 2012;Zhu, 2004), particularlyfor its effect on supply chain resilience (Al Naimi et al.,
2020;Liu and Lee, 2018). Specifically, information integration, transaction integration and
service integration are proposed as three corecomponents of OOCI (Li and Gong, 2022;Zhu,
2004). Some researchers have argued the three components are of equal conceptual
importance (Oh et al., 2012;Song et al., 2019), whereas others have argued information
integration and transaction integration may be more fundamental to OOCI and that service
integration is more complementary (Saghiri and Mirzabeiki, 2021). Researchers have also
found firms’support for informational,transactional and relational competencies can differ in
terms of organizational performance outcomes (Vafaei-Zadeh et al., 2020). Given these
arguments, scholars call for empirical research on how different integration dimensionslead
to organizational performance outcomes (Jiang et al.,2015). Thus, the first research question
arises: whether theeffect of OOCI on supply chain resilience differs in terms of its dimensions?
The literature further indicates that environmental uncertainty, particularly market
turbulence and regulatory uncertainty, may affect the effectiveness of channel integration
strategy (Cadeaux and Ng, 2012). Noordewier et al. (1990) have asserted environmental
uncertainty reflects the “unanticipated changes in circumstances surrounding an exchange.”
In this view, firms seeking supply chain resilience should pay attention to different channel
initiatives under different levels of environmental uncertainty. A high level of market
turbulence could push firms to actively seek opportunities for cross-channel product sales
through OOCI in an ever-widening marketplace (Bijmolt et al., 2021). Moreover, a high level of
regulatory uncertainty could make firms unsure about channel initiatives, which in turn leads
firms to be conservative in applying OOCI. Although some scholars have explored the
moderating effect of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between integration
activities and firm performance (Wong et al., 2011), research on the role of environmental
uncertainties (e.g. market turbulence and regulatory uncertainty) in the relationship between
OOCI and supply chain resilience remains limited. Investigating the moderating effect of
environmental uncertainty is thus necessary to clarify the initial findings from previous
studies (Akturk et al., 2018;Zhang et al., 2021b). Thus, the second research question is: how
environmental uncertainty moderates the effect of OOCI on supply chain resilience?
To answer the above research questions, this study draws on the dynamic capability
theory to proposea research model that associates OOCI with supply chain resilience,wherein
environmental uncertainty (i.e. marketturbulence, regulatory uncertainty) was considered as
the contingent factor. According to dynamic capability theory, a firm’s dynamic capability
contributes to competitive advantage by facilitating resource integration and reallocation
(Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000). In omnichannel marketing, OOCIhas been defined as a firm’s
dynamic capability to integrate online and offline channel resources to achieve channel
synergy and broaden customer options in e-commerce transformation (Hossain et al., 2020).
Moreover, dynamic capability theoryargues that the effectiveness of dynamic capabilities in
deriving value from resource utilization depends on the environmental context (Brandon-
Jones et al., 2014). Market turbulence and regulatory uncertainty have been proposed as two
typical environmental uncertainties that can complicate the process of resource exploitation
(Tseng and Lee, 2010). We thus propose that OOCI helps to achieve supply chain resilience,
and the effect of such influence processes depends on the external environment conditions.
Specifically, OOCI was conceptualized as a dynamic capabilityconstruct consisting of three
dimensions: online-offline information integration, transaction integration and service
Online–offline
channel
integration
1497
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