How Supply Chain Integration Affects Innovation in a Digital Age: Moderating Effects of Sustainable Policy

Qiang Xu, Qianqian Hu, Tachia Chin, Chen Chen, Yi Shi and Jianxin Xu
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Qiang Xu: School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Qianqian Hu: School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Tachia Chin: School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Chen Chen: School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Yi Shi: School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Jianxin Xu: School of Management, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310023, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 19, 1-17

Abstract: With the rapid development of digital technologies and increasing public attention on environmental problems, it has become a new challenge for global enterprises to manage supply chains responsibly, so as to improve their innovation performance for sustainability. Prior works have identified the effects of supply chain integration on firm innovation in advanced economies; however, so far, there has been limited research on the relationships between supply chain integration and firm innovation in emerging and developing countries. Hence, building upon transaction cost and resource dependence theories, this study used China’s manufacturing industry as the research setting, probing the dynamic mechanisms between supply chain integration and firm innovation. The results show that the degree of supply chain integration positively relates to firms’ patent output but negatively relates to their innovation efficiency, and that a sustainable policy moderates the foregoing associations. Our study enriches the body of knowledge regarding responsible supply chain integration in a new digital age with growing ecological concerns and thereby offers insightful practical implications for practitioners and policy makers.

Keywords: supply chain integration; policy; innovation efficiency; sustainable development; patent (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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