How does buffering-bridging alignment influence supply chain resilience? A polynomial regression analysis

Although supply chain resilience has been suggested as a critical factor in coping with supply chain disruptions, our understanding of what factors influence supply chain resilience remains limited. Drawing upon resource orchestration theory, this study examines how a firm’s buffering-bridging alignment influences supply chain resilience and how this relationship is further moderated by the firm’s balanced and combined information technology (IT) capability. Using match-paired data from 531 Chinese firms, we employ polynomial regression analysis and response surface methodology to test our model. The findings reveal a positive relationship between buffering-bridging alignment and supply chain resilience, while a negative relationship between buffering-bridging misalignment and supply chain resilience. Furthermore, we find that balanced IT capability strengthens the positive relationship between buffering-bridging alignment and resilience yet exacerbates the negative relationship between buffering-bridging misalignment and resilience. However, we do not find a significant moderating role of combined IT capability on the relationship between buffering-bridging alignment or misalignment and supply chain resilience. This study represents one of the initial explorations into the impact of buffering-bridging alignment and structural IT capability on supply chain resilience, offering both theoretical insights and practical implications for the information systems and supply chain literature.