Technological capability strength/asymmetry and supply chain process innovation: The contingent roles of institutional environments

Abstract

Despite the importance of process innovation in fostering supply chain competitiveness, existing studies primarily emphasize product innovation and overlook institutional environments. This study builds on the dyadic capability-based view and institutional theory to investigate how buyer's and supplier's technological capabilities jointly affect supply chain process innovation in China. We differentiate between two distinct dimensions, technological capability strength and technological capability asymmetry, and propose that technological capability strength negatively influences supply chain process innovation whereas technological capability asymmetry promotes such innovation. We also examine how formal (i.e., government intervention) and informal (i.e., guanxi importance) institutional factors moderate the effects of technological capability strength and asymmetry on supply chain process innovation. Empirical analyses based on 157 buyer–supplier dyads in China offer strong support for our hypotheses, which provide important implications for the supply chain innovation collaboration literature and managerial practice.