Industry 4.0 adoption for healthcare supply chain performance during COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil and India: the mediating role of resilience abilities development

Abstract

This research investigates the mediation of resilience abilities on the relationship between Industry 4.0 technologies adoption and healthcare supply chain performance during the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil and India. We surveyed 179 practitioners from organizations at different tiers of the healthcare supply chain (e.g., manufacturers, distributors, and care providers) in July 2021. Multivariate data techniques are used to the collected data to verify the hypotheses anchored on concepts from resource dependence theory. We identify two constructs of Industry 4.0 technologies (named after their predominant roles) and two constructs of resilience abilities (named according to the main abilities encompassed). Our findings indicate that resilience abilities mediate the impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on the performance of the healthcare supply chain since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the role played by adaptive and restorative abilities seems more prominent than the one played by anticipation and monitoring abilities. Further, sensing and communication technologies directly affect the healthcare supply chain’s performance. Our study brings together three emerging topics related to the literature on the healthcare supply chain (Industry 4.0 adoption, resilience abilities development, and the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic). Although digitalization of the healthcare supply chain does improve its performance, our research indicated that its impact could be significantly enhanced when resilience abilities are concurrently developed, particularly in the Indian and Brazilian contexts.

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