The Influence of Technological Innovation Capability on Sustainable Supply Chain Management Implementation—Evidence from Patent-Intensive Industries

Abstract

The technological innovation capability of enterprises has many functions and many influences on the implementation of sustainable supply chain management. The study aims to shed light on how technological innovation capabilities (TICs) affect the implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and how they can help organizations overcome internal barriers to SSCM implementation. This descriptive survey was conducted in the context of Iran. The survey was carried out with 27 responses, which were analyzed by one-sample t-test to determine the relationships between variables, and the Friedman test to rank the results. This study employs SPSS for statistical analysis. The study reveals that all TICs have a substantial effect on SSCM implementation in general, especially the learning capability, resource allocation capability, and manufacturing capability, which all have an almost identical positive and significant effect on SSCM implementation. Interestingly, organizing capability had the least influence on SSCM implementation. In addition, the results demonstrating improved TICs could assist firms in overcoming internal barriers to SSCM implementation. From a practical standpoint, the relationship between TICs and SSCM implementation and its barriers may give insight into how organizations can enhance their SSCM implementation by improving TICs. Moreover, policymakers and sustainable supply chain managers in Iran can benefit from the identified relationships in this study. This study is one of the first to analyze the impact of TICs on SSCM implementation, and the findings provide a novel paradigm for understanding how TICs influence the implementation of SSCM.