This study quantifies how digital technologies enhance business process resilience across supply chain stages, addressing a critical gap in process management literature on technology-enabled continuous improvement.
A random-effects meta-analysis of 70 studies (218 effect sizes) maps digital technologies (sensing, analytics, collaboration) to three supply chain resilience process stages (preparedness, response and recovery), with moderator analysis of economic and cultural factors.
Digital technologies are positively associated with resilience (r = 0.331), preparedness (r = 0.332) and response (r = 0.322) gain more than recovery (r = 0.273). Analytics tools yield largest benefits in early stages (r = 0.36); recovery processes rely more on sensing technologies (r = 0.299). Effects are stronger in developing economies (r = 0.350) than developed ones (r = 0.267) and diminish as digital maturity rises (r = −0.007). Notably, long-term orientation culture (r = 0.003) positively moderates technology effectiveness, demonstrating how cultural factors shape digital transformation trajectories in business processes.
Organizations should adopt stage-specific technology deployment strategies while balancing technological implementation with governance mechanisms. In digitally mature environments, process managers should prioritize institutional improvements over additional technology investments to overcome diminishing returns and achieve sustainable resilience.
Our analysis reveals digital technologies more effectively support the “risk perception–dynamic response” process loop than “post-disruption reconfiguration–adaptive learning” processes. The identified “diminishing digital dividend” phenomenon challenges assumptions that technology alone ensures process resilience.
