This study investigates how digital transformation (DT) enhances organizational resilience in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It develops and tests a model that positions supply chain coordination (SCC) and supply chain dependence (SCD) as dual mediating mechanisms, and examines the contextual role of regional cultural tightness.
The research framework integrates dynamic capability theory with cultural tightness-looseness theory. The model is validated using multi-source data from 331 Chinese SMEs and a provincial-level cultural tightness index in China.
DT strengthens organizational resilience through both SCC and SCD. Moreover, cultural tightness positively moderates the effects of DT on SCC and SCD, thereby strengthening the mediating effects of both pathways in tighter cultural regions.
This study offers a relational, dual-pathway perspective that moves beyond the internal-firm focus to explain how DT builds resilience through external supply chain dynamics. By theorizing and demonstrating how cultural tightness differentially moderates these pathways (acting as a governance booster for SCC and a risk mitigator for SCD), it provides a nuanced contingency view of the DT-resilience relationship and theoretically expands the application of cultural tightness-looseness theory to supply chain management.
