TITLE:
Bridging Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Operational Performance: Indirect Associations through Supply Chain Integration from a Dynamic Capabilities Perspective
AUTHORS:
Kwame Asamoah, Wisdom Nchor Akannobe
KEYWORDS:
Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Integration, Operational Performance, Dynamic Capabilities, Structural Equation Modelling, Manufacturing
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Industrial and Business Management,
Vol.16 No.10,
October
12,
2026
ABSTRACT: Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is increasingly expected to improve operational outcomes, yet the organisational mechanism through which sustainability practices are converted into cost and logistics benefits remains insufficiently specified. Drawing on the dynamic capabilities perspective, this study examines supply chain integration (SCI) as a capability-based conversion mechanism linking environmental management practices (EMP), social practices (SP) and economic practices (EP) with operational performance (OP). Cross-sectional survey data from 475 organisational informants in food-products, apparel and furniture manufacturing were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and latent structural equation modelling in R. The five-factor measurement model exhibited excellent fit under robust maximum likelihood, χ2 (109) = 117.700, p = 0.268, CFI = 0.997, TLI = 0.997, RMSEA = 0.014 and SRMR = 0.024. EMP, SP and EP were positively associated with SCI, while SCI was positively associated with OP. EMP and SP retained positive direct associations with OP, whereas the direct EP-OP association was not statistically supported. All three indirect associations through SCI were positive and their 5000-resample percentile-bootstrap confidence intervals excluded zero. The findings show that sustainability practices are not operationally equivalent and that integration is a consequential conversion mechanism, particularly for economic practices whose operational relevance was expressed principally through SCI. Because the design is cross-sectional and the retained records do not establish temporal ordering, the indirect estimates are interpreted as model-consistent associations rather than causal mediation effects.