The impact of sustainable leadership on supply chain resilience: The mediating roles of employee resilience and knowledge sharing

Abstract

Supply chain resilience has emerged as a critical organizational capability in an era of increasing global disruptions, yet the human capital mechanisms through which it is built remain poorly understood. This study investigates how sustainable leadership influences supply chain resilience, and specifically examines the mediating roles of employee resilience and knowledge sharing comprising knowledge donating and knowledge collecting in this relationship. Grounded in Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the proposed research model positions sustainable leadership as a transforming capability that cultivates human capital level sensing and seizing capabilities, which in turn contribute to system level supply chain resilience outcomes. A quantitative survey design was employed, and data were collected from 301 employees and managers working in the animal feed industry in Vietnam. The collected data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling with SmartPLS 4.0 software and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results confirm a direct positive effect of sustainable leadership on supply chain resilience, as well as significant indirect effects through employee resilience and knowledge sharing. These findings demonstrate that sustainable leadership not only exerts a direct strategic influence on supply chain resilience but also operates through human capital pathways that are both theoretically distinct and empirically significant. The study contributes to the literature by bridging sustainable leadership and supply chain management scholarship through the lens of Dynamic Capabilities Theory, offering the first empirical test of employee resilience and knowledge sharing as simultaneous mediators in this relationship. Practical implications are discussed for supply chain managers seeking to design leadership and human capital investment strategies that build adaptive supply chain capacity in volatile and disruption prone environments