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What is a Literature Review? How to Write It (with Examples)

A literature review is a critical analysis and synthesis of existing research on a particular topic. It provides an overview of the current state of knowledge, identifies gaps, and highlights key findings in the literature. 1 The purpose of a literature review is to situate your own research within the context of existing scholarship, demonstrating your understanding of the topic and showing how your work contributes to the ongoing conversation in the field. Learning how to write a literature review is a critical tool for successful research. Your ability to summarize and synthesize prior research pertaining to a certain topic demonstrates your grasp on the topic of study, and assists in the learning process. 

Table of Contents

• What is the purpose of literature review? 
• a. Habitat Loss and Species Extinction: 
• b. Range Shifts and Phenological Changes: 
• c. Ocean Acidification and Coral Reefs: 
• d. Adaptive Strategies and Conservation Efforts: 

How to write a good literature review 

• Choose a Topic and Define the Research Question: 
• Decide on the Scope of Your Review: 
• Select Databases for Searches: 
• Conduct Searches and Keep Track: 
• Review the Literature: 
• Organize and Write Your Literature Review: 
• How to write a literature review faster with Paperpal? 
• Frequently asked questions 

What is a literature review?

A well-conducted literature review demonstrates the researcher’s familiarity with the existing literature, establishes the context for their own research, and contributes to scholarly conversations on the topic. One of the purposes of a literature review is also to help researchers avoid duplicating previous work and ensure that their research is informed by and builds upon the existing body of knowledge.

What is the purpose of literature review?

A literature review serves several important purposes within academic and research contexts. Here are some key objectives and functions of a literature review: 2  

1. Contextualizing the Research Problem: The literature review provides a background and context for the research problem under investigation. It helps to situate the study within the existing body of knowledge. 

2. Identifying Gaps in Knowledge: By identifying gaps, contradictions, or areas requiring further research, the researcher can shape the research question and justify the significance of the study. This is crucial for ensuring that the new research contributes something novel to the field. 

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3. Understanding Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks: Literature reviews help researchers gain an understanding of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks used in previous studies. This aids in the development of a theoretical framework for the current research. 

4. Providing Methodological Insights: Another purpose of literature reviews is that it allows researchers to learn about the methodologies employed in previous studies. This can help in choosing appropriate research methods for the current study and avoiding pitfalls that others may have encountered. 

5. Establishing Credibility: A well-conducted literature review demonstrates the researcher’s familiarity with existing scholarship, establishing their credibility and expertise in the field. It also helps in building a solid foundation for the new research. 

6. Informing Hypotheses or Research Questions: The literature review guides the formulation of hypotheses or research questions by highlighting relevant findings and areas of uncertainty in existing literature. 

Literature review example

Let’s delve deeper with a literature review example: Let’s say your literature review is about the impact of climate change on biodiversity. You might format your literature review into sections such as the effects of climate change on habitat loss and species extinction, phenological changes, and marine biodiversity. Each section would then summarize and analyze relevant studies in those areas, highlighting key findings and identifying gaps in the research. The review would conclude by emphasizing the need for further research on specific aspects of the relationship between climate change and biodiversity. The following literature review template provides a glimpse into the recommended literature review structure and content, demonstrating how research findings are organized around specific themes within a broader topic. 

Literature Review on Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity:

Climate change is a global phenomenon with far-reaching consequences, including significant impacts on biodiversity. This literature review synthesizes key findings from various studies: 

a. Habitat Loss and Species Extinction:

Climate change-induced alterations in temperature and precipitation patterns contribute to habitat loss, affecting numerous species (Thomas et al., 2004). The review discusses how these changes increase the risk of extinction, particularly for species with specific habitat requirements. 

b. Range Shifts and Phenological Changes:

Observations of range shifts and changes in the timing of biological events (phenology) are documented in response to changing climatic conditions (Parmesan & Yohe, 2003). These shifts affect ecosystems and may lead to mismatches between species and their resources. 

c. Ocean Acidification and Coral Reefs:

The review explores the impact of climate change on marine biodiversity, emphasizing ocean acidification’s threat to coral reefs (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007). Changes in pH levels negatively affect coral calcification, disrupting the delicate balance of marine ecosystems. 

d. Adaptive Strategies and Conservation Efforts:

Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the literature review discusses various adaptive strategies adopted by species and conservation efforts aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change on biodiversity (Hannah et al., 2007). It emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches for effective conservation planning. 

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Writing a literature review involves summarizing and synthesizing existing research on a particular topic. A good literature review format should include the following elements. 

Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for your literature review, providing context and introducing the main focus of your review. 

• Opening Statement: Begin with a general statement about the broader topic and its significance in the field. 
• Scope and Purpose: Clearly define the scope of your literature review. Explain the specific research question or objective you aim to address. 
• Organizational Framework: Briefly outline the structure of your literature review, indicating how you will categorize and discuss the existing research. 
• Significance of the Study: Highlight why your literature review is important and how it contributes to the understanding of the chosen topic. 
• Thesis Statement: Conclude the introduction with a concise thesis statement that outlines the main argument or perspective you will develop in the body of the literature review. 

Body: The body of the literature review is where you provide a comprehensive analysis of existing literature, grouping studies based on themes, methodologies, or other relevant criteria. 

• Organize by Theme or Concept: Group studies that share common themes, concepts, or methodologies. Discuss each theme or concept in detail, summarizing key findings and identifying gaps or areas of disagreement. 
• Critical Analysis: Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each study. Discuss the methodologies used, the quality of evidence, and the overall contribution of each work to the understanding of the topic. 
• Synthesis of Findings: Synthesize the information from different studies to highlight trends, patterns, or areas of consensus in the literature. 
• Identification of Gaps: Discuss any gaps or limitations in the existing research and explain how your review contributes to filling these gaps. 
• Transition between Sections: Provide smooth transitions between different themes or concepts to maintain the flow of your literature review. 

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Conclusion: The conclusion of your literature review should summarize the main findings, highlight the contributions of the review, and suggest avenues for future research. 

• Summary of Key Findings: Recap the main findings from the literature and restate how they contribute to your research question or objective. 
• Contributions to the Field: Discuss the overall contribution of your literature review to the existing knowledge in the field. 
• Implications and Applications: Explore the practical implications of the findings and suggest how they might impact future research or practice. 
• Recommendations for Future Research: Identify areas that require further investigation and propose potential directions for future research in the field. 
• Final Thoughts: Conclude with a final reflection on the importance of your literature review and its relevance to the broader academic community. 

Conducting a literature review

Conducting a literature review is an essential step in research that involves reviewing and analyzing existing literature on a specific topic. It’s important to know how to do a literature review effectively, so here are the steps to follow: 1  

Choose a Topic and Define the Research Question:

• Select a topic that is relevant to your field of study. 
• Clearly define your research question or objective. Determine what specific aspect of the topic do you want to explore? 

Decide on the Scope of Your Review:

• Determine the timeframe for your literature review. Are you focusing on recent developments, or do you want a historical overview? 
• Consider the geographical scope. Is your review global, or are you focusing on a specific region? 
• Define the inclusion and exclusion criteria. What types of sources will you include? Are there specific types of studies or publications you will exclude? 

Select Databases for Searches:

• Identify relevant databases for your field. Examples include PubMed, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. 
• Consider searching in library catalogs, institutional repositories, and specialized databases related to your topic. 

Conduct Searches and Keep Track:

• Develop a systematic search strategy using keywords, Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), and other search techniques. 
• Record and document your search strategy for transparency and replicability. 
• Keep track of the articles, including publication details, abstracts, and links. Use citation management tools like EndNote, Zotero, or Mendeley to organize your references. 

Review the Literature:

• Evaluate the relevance and quality of each source. Consider the methodology, sample size, and results of studies. 
• Organize the literature by themes or key concepts. Identify patterns, trends, and gaps in the existing research. 
• Summarize key findings and arguments from each source. Compare and contrast different perspectives. 
• Identify areas where there is a consensus in the literature and where there are conflicting opinions. 
• Provide critical analysis and synthesis of the literature. What are the strengths and weaknesses of existing research? 

Organize and Write Your Literature Review:

• Literature review outline should be based on themes, chronological order, or methodological approaches. 
• Write a clear and coherent narrative that synthesizes the information gathered. 
• Use proper citations for each source and ensure consistency in your citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.). 
• Conclude your literature review by summarizing key findings, identifying gaps, and suggesting areas for future research. 

Whether you’re exploring a new research field or finding new angles to develop an existing topic, sifting through hundreds of papers can take more time than you have to spare. But what if you could find science-backed insights with verified citations in seconds? That’s the power of Paperpal’s new Research feature!  

How to write a literature review faster with Paperpal?

Paperpal, an AI writing assistant, integrates powerful academic search capabilities within its writing platform. With the Research feature, you get 100% factual insights, with citations backed by 250M+ verified research articles, directly within your writing interface with the option to save relevant references in your Citation Library. By eliminating the need to switch tabs to find answers to all your research questions, Paperpal saves time and helps you stay focused on your writing.   

Here’s how to use the Research feature:  

• Ask a question: Get started with a new document on paperpal.com. Click on the “Research” feature and type your question in plain English. Paperpal will scour over 250 million research articles, including conference papers and preprints, to provide you with accurate insights and citations. 
• Review and Save: Paperpal summarizes the information, while citing sources and listing relevant reads. You can quickly scan the results to identify relevant references and save these directly to your built-in citations library for later access. 
• Cite with Confidence: Paperpal makes it easy to incorporate relevant citations and references into your writing, ensuring your arguments are well-supported by credible sources. This translates to a polished, well-researched literature review. 

The literature review sample and detailed advice on writing and conducting a review will help you produce a well-structured report. But remember that a good literature review is an ongoing process, and it may be necessary to revisit and update it as your research progresses. By combining effortless research with an easy citation process, Paperpal Research streamlines the literature review process and empowers you to write faster and with more confidence. Try Paperpal Research now and see for yourself.  

Frequently asked questions

A literature review is a critical and comprehensive analysis of existing literature (published and unpublished works) on a specific topic or research question and provides a synthesis of the current state of knowledge in a particular field. A well-conducted literature review is crucial for researchers to build upon existing knowledge, avoid duplication of efforts, and contribute to the advancement of their field. It also helps researchers situate their work within a broader context and facilitates the development of a sound theoretical and conceptual framework for their studies.

Literature review is a crucial component of research writing, providing a solid background for a research paper’s investigation. The aim is to keep professionals up to date by providing an understanding of ongoing developments within a specific field, including research methods, and experimental techniques used in that field, and present that knowledge in the form of a written report. Also, the depth and breadth of the literature review emphasizes the credibility of the scholar in his or her field.  

Before writing a literature review, it’s essential to undertake several preparatory steps to ensure that your review is well-researched, organized, and focused. This includes choosing a topic of general interest to you and doing exploratory research on that topic, writing an annotated bibliography, and noting major points, especially those that relate to the position you have taken on the topic. 

Literature reviews and academic research papers are essential components of scholarly work but serve different purposes within the academic realm. 3 A literature review aims to provide a foundation for understanding the current state of research on a particular topic, identify gaps or controversies, and lay the groundwork for future research. Therefore, it draws heavily from existing academic sources, including books, journal articles, and other scholarly publications. In contrast, an academic research paper aims to present new knowledge, contribute to the academic discourse, and advance the understanding of a specific research question. Therefore, it involves a mix of existing literature (in the introduction and literature review sections) and original data or findings obtained through research methods. 

Literature reviews are essential components of academic and research papers, and various strategies can be employed to conduct them effectively. If you want to know how to write a literature review for a research paper, here are four common approaches that are often used by researchers.  Chronological Review: This strategy involves organizing the literature based on the chronological order of publication. It helps to trace the development of a topic over time, showing how ideas, theories, and research have evolved.  Thematic Review: Thematic reviews focus on identifying and analyzing themes or topics that cut across different studies. Instead of organizing the literature chronologically, it is grouped by key themes or concepts, allowing for a comprehensive exploration of various aspects of the topic.  Methodological Review: This strategy involves organizing the literature based on the research methods employed in different studies. It helps to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of various methodologies and allows the reader to evaluate the reliability and validity of the research findings.  Theoretical Review: A theoretical review examines the literature based on the theoretical frameworks used in different studies. This approach helps to identify the key theories that have been applied to the topic and assess their contributions to the understanding of the subject.  It’s important to note that these strategies are not mutually exclusive, and a literature review may combine elements of more than one approach. The choice of strategy depends on the research question, the nature of the literature available, and the goals of the review. Additionally, other strategies, such as integrative reviews or systematic reviews, may be employed depending on the specific requirements of the research.

The literature review format can vary depending on the specific publication guidelines. However, there are some common elements and structures that are often followed. Here is a general guideline for the format of a literature review:  Introduction:   Provide an overview of the topic.  Define the scope and purpose of the literature review.  State the research question or objective.  Body:   Organize the literature by themes, concepts, or chronology.  Critically analyze and evaluate each source.  Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the studies.  Highlight any methodological limitations or biases.  Identify patterns, connections, or contradictions in the existing research.  Conclusion:   Summarize the key points discussed in the literature review.  Highlight the research gap.  Address the research question or objective stated in the introduction.  Highlight the contributions of the review and suggest directions for future research.

Both annotated bibliographies and literature reviews involve the examination of scholarly sources. While annotated bibliographies focus on individual sources with brief annotations, literature reviews provide a more in-depth, integrated, and comprehensive analysis of existing literature on a specific topic. The key differences are as follows: 

References 

• Denney, A. S., & Tewksbury, R. (2013). How to write a literature review.  Journal of criminal justice education ,  24 (2), 218-234. 
• Pan, M. L. (2016).  Preparing literature reviews: Qualitative and quantitative approaches . Taylor & Francis. 
• Cantero, C. (2019). How to write a literature review.  San José State University Writing Center . 

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Writing a Literature Review

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A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels and plays). When we say “literature review” or refer to “the literature,” we are talking about the research ( scholarship ) in a given field. You will often see the terms “the research,” “the scholarship,” and “the literature” used mostly interchangeably.

Where, when, and why would I write a lit review?

There are a number of different situations where you might write a literature review, each with slightly different expectations; different disciplines, too, have field-specific expectations for what a literature review is and does. For instance, in the humanities, authors might include more overt argumentation and interpretation of source material in their literature reviews, whereas in the sciences, authors are more likely to report study designs and results in their literature reviews; these differences reflect these disciplines’ purposes and conventions in scholarship. You should always look at examples from your own discipline and talk to professors or mentors in your field to be sure you understand your discipline’s conventions, for literature reviews as well as for any other genre.

A literature review can be a part of a research paper or scholarly article, usually falling after the introduction and before the research methods sections. In these cases, the lit review just needs to cover scholarship that is important to the issue you are writing about; sometimes it will also cover key sources that informed your research methodology.

Lit reviews can also be standalone pieces, either as assignments in a class or as publications. In a class, a lit review may be assigned to help students familiarize themselves with a topic and with scholarship in their field, get an idea of the other researchers working on the topic they’re interested in, find gaps in existing research in order to propose new projects, and/or develop a theoretical framework and methodology for later research. As a publication, a lit review usually is meant to help make other scholars’ lives easier by collecting and summarizing, synthesizing, and analyzing existing research on a topic. This can be especially helpful for students or scholars getting into a new research area, or for directing an entire community of scholars toward questions that have not yet been answered.

What are the parts of a lit review?

Most lit reviews use a basic introduction-body-conclusion structure; if your lit review is part of a larger paper, the introduction and conclusion pieces may be just a few sentences while you focus most of your attention on the body. If your lit review is a standalone piece, the introduction and conclusion take up more space and give you a place to discuss your goals, research methods, and conclusions separately from where you discuss the literature itself.

Introduction:

• An introductory paragraph that explains what your working topic and thesis is
• A forecast of key topics or texts that will appear in the review
• Potentially, a description of how you found sources and how you analyzed them for inclusion and discussion in the review (more often found in published, standalone literature reviews than in lit review sections in an article or research paper)
• Summarize and synthesize: Give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: Don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically Evaluate: Mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: Use transition words and topic sentence to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts.

Conclusion:

• Summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance
• Connect it back to your primary research question

How should I organize my lit review?

Lit reviews can take many different organizational patterns depending on what you are trying to accomplish with the review. Here are some examples:

• Chronological : The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time, which helps familiarize the audience with the topic (for instance if you are introducing something that is not commonly known in your field). If you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order. Try to analyze the patterns, turning points, and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred (as mentioned previously, this may not be appropriate in your discipline — check with a teacher or mentor if you’re unsure).
• Thematic : If you have found some recurring central themes that you will continue working with throughout your piece, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic. For example, if you are reviewing literature about women and religion, key themes can include the role of women in churches and the religious attitude towards women.
• Qualitative versus quantitative research
• Empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the research by sociological, historical, or cultural sources
• Theoretical : In many humanities articles, the literature review is the foundation for the theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts. You can argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach or combine various theorical concepts to create a framework for your research.

What are some strategies or tips I can use while writing my lit review?

Any lit review is only as good as the research it discusses; make sure your sources are well-chosen and your research is thorough. Don’t be afraid to do more research if you discover a new thread as you’re writing. More info on the research process is available in our "Conducting Research" resources .

As you’re doing your research, create an annotated bibliography ( see our page on the this type of document ). Much of the information used in an annotated bibliography can be used also in a literature review, so you’ll be not only partially drafting your lit review as you research, but also developing your sense of the larger conversation going on among scholars, professionals, and any other stakeholders in your topic.

Usually you will need to synthesize research rather than just summarizing it. This means drawing connections between sources to create a picture of the scholarly conversation on a topic over time. Many student writers struggle to synthesize because they feel they don’t have anything to add to the scholars they are citing; here are some strategies to help you:

• It often helps to remember that the point of these kinds of syntheses is to show your readers how you understand your research, to help them read the rest of your paper.
• Writing teachers often say synthesis is like hosting a dinner party: imagine all your sources are together in a room, discussing your topic. What are they saying to each other?
• Look at the in-text citations in each paragraph. Are you citing just one source for each paragraph? This usually indicates summary only. When you have multiple sources cited in a paragraph, you are more likely to be synthesizing them (not always, but often
• Read more about synthesis here.

The most interesting literature reviews are often written as arguments (again, as mentioned at the beginning of the page, this is discipline-specific and doesn’t work for all situations). Often, the literature review is where you can establish your research as filling a particular gap or as relevant in a particular way. You have some chance to do this in your introduction in an article, but the literature review section gives a more extended opportunity to establish the conversation in the way you would like your readers to see it. You can choose the intellectual lineage you would like to be part of and whose definitions matter most to your thinking (mostly humanities-specific, but this goes for sciences as well). In addressing these points, you argue for your place in the conversation, which tends to make the lit review more compelling than a simple reporting of other sources.

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What is a literature review

“A literature review is a description of the literature relevant to a particular field or topic. It gives an overview of what has been said, who the key writers are, what are the prevailing theories and hypotheses, what questions are being asked, and what methods and methodologies are appropriate and useful" (Emerald Insight).

A literature review  is not  just a summary of everything you have read on the topic.  It is a critical analysis of the existing research relevant to your topic, and you should show how the literature relates to your topic and identify any gaps in the area of research. Our Learning Hub has lots of useful guidance for carrying out a  Literature Review .

How is it different?

It's on a much larger scale from your research for previous modules.

You may need to devise new ways of searching and managing your results.

Think about:

• Using RefWorks to manage your references
• Setting up alerts to retrieve new results for your searches

How to carry out a review

• Devise a search strategy
• Search systematically
• Read critically – i.e. deconstruct the material
• Put it all back together – reconstruct

1. Devise a search strategy

Think about the sort of research that would help your project.

1. What subject areas does you topic fall into?

2. What possible sources could you use? Think broadly, for example:

• Company reports
• Industry profiles
• Market research
• Financial reports
• Newspaper articles
• Journal articles

3. What don't you want?  What are the limits? For example, geographical restrictions or time periods.

2. Search systematically

• Plan your search first, thinking about your keywords
• Use the pages on this LibGuide to identify quality resources
• Use the tutorials and advice on those pages to improve your searches
• Use the  Inter Library Loans service  to borrow books or to obtain copies of papers which aren't in the library
• Speak to the Business Librarians for help with your searches, or to recommend new items for library stock
• Look at the programme of  Succeed @ Tees workshops , and attend any which are relevant.

3. Read critically - i.e. deconstruct your results

Read critically, argument: .

• What is the main argument?
• Is the main argument clear and logical?
• What is the evidence?
• Is the evidence valid?
• Does the evidence support the conclusions?

4. Put it all back together – reconstruct

• Group your topic areas – develop themes
• Briefly summarise key findings

- See Phrasebank for suggestions of how to phrase your sentences.

• Use the academic papers as examples of the style of academic writing as well as for their content
• Check your referencing

Succeed@Tees Workshops: Writing a Literature Review

The following workshop will help you to develop your skills in writing a literature review :

Writing a literature review

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BA 302 Business Communication - Research: Literature Reviews

• Research Process
• Literature Reviews
• Evaluating Resources
• Search Techniques

Steps to Creating a Literature Review

Step 1: Planning your search

Step 2: Selecting a database

Step 3: Conducting your search

Step 4: Evaluating your results

Step 5: Managing your references

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is a systematic survey of the scholarly literature published on a given topic.  Rather than providing a new research insight, a literature review lays the groundwork for an in-depth research project analyzing previous research. Type of documents surveyed will vary depending on the field, but can include:

• journal articles,
• dissertations.

A thorough literature review will also require surveying what librarians call "gray literature," which includes difficult-to-locate documents such as:

• technical reports
• government publications
• working papers

Purpose of the Lit Review

What's the point, purposes of the literature review.

• Delimit the research problem
• Avoid fruitless approaches
• Identify avenues of future research
• Seek new lines of inquiry
• Gain methodological insight

Reasons for Conducting a Literature Review

• Distinguishing what has been done from what needs to be done
• Discovering important variables relevant to the topic
• Synthesizing and gaining new perspective
• Identifying relationships between ideas and practices
• Establishing the context of the topic
• Rationalizing the significance of the problem
• Enhancing and acquiring subject vocabulary
• Understanding the structure of the subject
• Relating ideas and theory to applications
• Identifying main methodologies and research techniques that have been used
• Placing research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-art development

Questions to consider

• What is the overarching question or problem your literature review seeks to address?
• How much familiarity do you already have with the field? Are you already familiar with common methodologies or professional vocabularies?
• What types of strategies or questions have others in your field pursued?
• How will you synthesize or summarize the information you gather?
• What do you or others perceive to be lacking in your field?
• Is your topic broad? How could it be narrowed?
• Can you articulate why your topic is important in your field?

Adapted from Hart, C. (1998).  Doing a literature review : Releasing the social science research imagination. London: Sage. As cited in Randolph, Justus. “A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review.” Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation , 14(13), p. 2.

Acknowledgements

Merinda Hensley gave permision for content to be  borrowed by permission from Literature Review: Demystified LibGuide from the University of  Illnois  at Urbana-Champaign.

Getting Started

Once you've decided what you want to write about you will need to conduct a systematic review of journal literature to establish what has been written in your field.

Databases enable you to combine search terms and locate high quality journal articles, conference papers and proceedings from a wide range of sources. Have a look at the Accessing Databases tab to choose the right one for your subject area. There are links to brief online tutorials or pdf guides to help you with using each of the databases there too.

• Brilliant for conducting a thorough, systematic & exhaustive search of the literature
• You can cross concepts together and so be more precise about what you are searching for
• Some databases (BREI, PsycINFO) include a thesaurus so you can check terminology
• The results are valid, reliable and authoritative (academic articles)

What about Google?

G o o g l e and G o o g l e Scholar are not the most efficient or effective tools for searching the literature. Here are a few reasons why:

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• Published: 15 May 2024

Supply chain transformational leadership and resilience: the mediating role of ambidextrous business model

• Taiwen Feng 1   na1 ,
• Zhihui Si 1   na1 ,
• Wenbo Jiang 2 &
• Jianyu Tan 3  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  628 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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The global prevalence of COVID-19 has caused many supply chain disruptions, which calls for firms to build resilient supply chains. Prior research primarily examined the effects of firm resources or capabilities on supply chain resilience (SCR), with limited attention given to the critical role of supply chain transformational leadership (SCTL). Based on social learning theory, we explore how SCTL impacts SCR via an ambidextrous business model and the moderating role of paradox cognition. We employ hierarchical regression analysis to verify the hypotheses with data from 317 Chinese firms. The results show that SCTL has a positive impact on proactive and reactive SCR, and the ambidextrous business model mediates this relationship. Furthermore, paradox cognition strengthens the effect of SCTL on the ambidextrous business model. This study contributes to literature and practices in the field of transformational leadership and SCR by providing unique insights into how to improve SCR from a leadership perspective.

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Introduction.

Affected by the global prevalence of COVID-19, frequent supply chain disruptions have occurred (Nikolopoulos et al., 2021 ; Jiang et al., 2023 ; Shen and Sun, 2023 ). Since supply chains are increasingly complex, firms are more likely to suffer from supply chain disruptions (Lechler et al., 2019 ; Spieske and Birkel, 2021 ; Xi et al., 2024 ). It will be difficult for a firm lacking resilient supply chains to survive and compete within a dynamic and uncertain condition. Supply chain resilience (SCR) reflects the capability of a system to maintain desirable functions before/during disruptions and/or timely recover to its normal functions after disruptive events (Gu et al., 2021 ). Understanding the enablers of SCR would help the firm better respond to potential risks caused by supply chain disruptions (Vanpoucke and Ellis, 2020 ).

Firm leaders could play critical roles in reducing disruption risk in supply chains and building a more resilient supply chain (Khunwishit et al., 2018 ). However, little research has checked the effect of transformational leadership within the supply chain context. We define supply chain transformational leadership (SCTL) as a continual influence that the focal firm demonstrates modeling values and reformative behaviors, which motivates its supply chain partners to act similarly with inspiration and close relationships.

While previous studies mainly focused on the roles of specific resources or capabilities on SCR, such as agility, redundancy, and collaboration (Al Naimi et al., 2021 ; Tukamuhabwa et al., 2015 ), the strategic role of SCTL has largely been ignored. Previous studies suggest that transformational leadership encourages employees’ reaction to changes in a firm (Peng et al., 2021 ) and increases team resilience (Dimas et al., 2018 ). Hence, high levels of SCTL could operate as role-modeling behaviors for the focal firm’s partners and foster a more resilient supply chain. According to social learning theory (Bandura, 1977 ; Brown et al., 2005 ), the focal firm with high levels of SCTL acts as a reliable role model whom its followers trust and attempt to emulate. That is to say, supply chain partners can learn transformative behaviors by observing the focal firm. As a result, the focal firm with high levels of SCTL acts as a benchmark for its supply chain followers to build a resilient supply chain. Therefore, we propose that SCTL may strengthen SCR.

Firms throughout supply chains often face conflicting objectives while implementing organizational learning to improve SCR (Lee and Rha, 2016 ). That is, they must balance different types of learning strategies, such as exploring potential opportunities to transform supply chains while also exploiting current resources to optimize supply chains. The tension of balancing exploitation and exploration is termed organizational ambidexterity (Kristal et al., 2010 ). According to an ambidexterity perspective (Aslam et al., 2022 ; Eng et al., 2023 ), the focal firm with high levels of SCTL prefers to deal with supply chain disruptions through both exploring external opportunities and exploiting internal resources. However, little is known about how SCTL affects SCR via organizational ambidexterity.

Our research devotes to filling this research gap through clarifying the mediating effect of an ambidextrous business model that encompasses both novelty and efficiency within the SCTL–SCR link. We define an ambidextrous business model as a firm’s boundary-spanning transaction mode developed to create and capture value by both balancing activities of redesigning a novel business model and reorganizing elements of an existing one. Specifically, a novelty-centered business model could help firms explore a new value proposition to meet changing demands in disruptions, whereas an efficiency-centered business model improves inter-organizational transaction efficiency by facilitating supply chain visibility and reducing transaction cost (Wei et al., 2017 ; Zott and Amit, 2008 ). Drawing on social learning theory (Ojha et al., 2018 ), the focal firm with high levels of SCTL may demonstratively build an ambidextrous business model by fostering a supportive organizational context. Then, the ambidextrous business model in the focal firm motivates other supply chain partners to emulate and actively take a similar business model, improving SCR through shared supply chain ambidexterity. In this manner, an ambidextrous business model may mediate the SCTL–SCR relationship.

Furthermore, the focal firm with paradoxical thinking and cognition could also influence its learning strategies (Brusoni and Rosenkranz, 2014 ). That is, paradoxical thinking and cognition would affect the focal firm’s attitude and identification towards tensions (explore or exploit) arising from its contrasting strategic agendas (Smith and Lewis, 2011 ). When the focal firm possesses high levels of paradox cognition, it is more likely to recognize and embrace tensions, making well-balanced strategic decisions through developing transformational leadership. Hence, we propose that paradox cognition enhances the impact of SCTL on an ambidextrous business model.

In sum, this study explores three questions to uncover the impact of SCTL on SCR. First, whether SCTL is positively related to SCR? Second, does ambidextrous business model mediate the SCTL–SCR relationship? Third, does paradox cognition strengthen the role of SCTL on ambidextrous business model? By answering the above questions, this study makes a contribution to research and practices in the field of transformational leadership and SCR.

Literature review and hypotheses development

Supply chain resilience.

Resilience, a multidisciplinary construct originating from engineering, ecology, and psychology (Holling, 1973 ; Novak et al., 2021 ). Although most scholars have viewed resilience as an ability to resist and/or rebound from disruptive events (El Baz and Ruel, 2021 ; Namdar et al., 2018 ), there still lacks a normative definition widely accepted. Later, resilience is extended and applied to the field of social sciences, such as supply chain management and operational management. Due to the prevalence of COVID-19, resilience is particularly valued in global supply chains as supply chains become increasingly complex (Spieske and Birkel, 2021 ).

The major divergences of SCR concentrate on two aspects: influencing scope and attributive level. With regard to the influencing scope, some authors only treat SCR as a reactive capability (Brandon-Jones et al., 2014 ; El Baz and Ruel, 2021 ), while others propose that both reactive and proactive components are indispensable (Gu et al., 2021 ). With regard to the attributive level, SCR is often viewed as a firm’s capability (Ambulkar et al., 2015 ); however, it is more acceptable to belong to a whole supply chain system (Scholten et al., 2020 ). Hence, we define SCR as the capability of a system to maintain its expected functions before disruptions and timely recover to its normal functions during facing interruptions.

SCR has been segmented into various dimensions corresponding to different nodes, disruptive phases, or sub-capabilities. For example, Pournader et al. ( 2016 ) argue that SCR could be divided by the organizational boundary into supplier, internal, and customer resilience. Han et al. ( 2020 ) suggest that SCR could be classified into stages of readiness, response, and recovery. Jüttner and Maklan ( 2011 ) propose that flexibility, velocity, visibility, and collaboration are essential sub-capabilities comprising SCR. Following Cheng and Lu’s study ( 2017 ), we divide SCR into two dimensions: proactive and reactive SCR. Proactive SCR is the capability of a supply chain system to mitigate shocks and keep its normal state before/during possible disruptions. Reactive SCR means the capability of a supply chain system to quickly respond and return to its normal state after experiencing disruptions.

Although previous research has revealed diverse factors in formulating SCR (Razak et al., 2023 ; Scholten and Schilder, 2015 ), transformational leadership is rarely discussed. Prior studies mainly examine the roles of four groups of resources and capabilities in building SCR, including reengineering, collaboration, agility, and risk management culture (Belhadi et al., 2022 ). First, supply chain reengineering is positively related to SCR. Resources and capabilities, such as network structure, security, redundancy, efficiency, innovation, contingency planning, and market position, usually contribute to the realignment of structures and processes within supply chains (Han et al., 2020 ; Tukamuhabwa et al., 2017 ), which could help firms deal with new changes. Second, supply chain collaboration is valuable to build SCR. By developing information sharing, risk and revenue sharing, trust, communication, coordination, and integration, the cooperation among different supply chain partners becomes mutually high-quality (Ali et al., 2017 ; Dubey et al., 2021 ; Zhu et al., 2024 ). Third, supply chain agility facilitates the construction of SCR. Flexibility, velocity, visibility, ambidexterity, market sensitiveness, and disruption mitigation (El Baz and Ruel, 2021 ; Gu et al., 2021 ; Jain et al., 2017 ; Kochan and Nowicki, 2018 ) can increase the responsiveness of a supply chain system when facing dynamic business environment. Fourth, supply chain risk management culture, which involves risk awareness, knowledge management, and training and development of a risk management team, can create a proper culture atmosphere in favor of SCR (Belhadi et al., 2022 ).

Beyond four fostering factors, some research has also identified the interactive effects of mixed resources or capabilities on SCR, like industry 4.0 technologies, social capital, leadership, and business model (Belhadi et al., 2024 ; Gölgeci and Kuivalainen, 2020 ; Shashi et al., 2020 ; Shin and Park, 2021 ). However, we still lack knowledge about the strategic role of transformational leadership in fostering SCR. Antecedents of SCR in existing literature are shown in Table 1 .

Supply chain transformational leadership and supply chain resilience

Transformational leadership refers to leaders’ suitable behaviors that drive their followers’ reformative behaviors through continuous motivation and partnership (Bass, 1985 , 1999 ). Existing literature demonstrates that transformational leadership could affect employee attitude (Peng et al., 2021 ) and team resilience in a firm (Dimas et al., 2018 ), while the strategic role of transformational leadership across an entire supply chain system needs more explanation. According to social learning theory (Brown et al., 2005 ), we regard the focal firm with high levels of SCTL as a credible role model whom other supply chain partners respect, trust, and emulate. In this manner, other supply chain partners are likely to learn transformative behaviors by observing the focal firm.

We view the development of SCTL as a role modeling-learning process. That is, the focal firm with high levels of SCTL has an exemplary influence on other supply chain partners via observing and learning from benchmarks. Specifically, SCTL includes three elements: inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Defee et al., 2010 ). Inspiration implies that the focal firm with high levels of SCTL often articulates a compelling vision about a desirable future for the supply chain system. The focal firm, with intellectual stimulation, tends to stimulate other supply chain partners to solve issues by adopting creative and innovative methods. Individualized consideration helps the focal firm understand differentiated demands of supply chain followers, and assists them respectively. Based on social learning theory (Bommer et al., 2005 ), the focal firm’s transformative behaviors benefit its followers by the conveyance of competence. Before/during disruptive events, the focal firm clarifies a reliable vision and motivates followers to observe what it does to improve firm resilience. Targeted support makes it easier for other supply chain partners to master and emulate the focal firm’s resilient actions. In addition, coordination and trust among firms are developed in the social learning process (Mostafa, 2019 ), constructing closer supply chain relationships. Therefore, SCTL could enhance the proactive dimension of SCR.

The focal firm with high levels of SCTL would not only strengthen the proactive dimension of SCR, but also contribute to the reactive dimension of SCR. Drawing on social learning theory (Bommer et al., 2005 ), the focal firm’s transformative behaviors increase the self-efficacy of other supply chain partners. After supply chain disruptions, the focal firm demonstrates its response and encourages followers to achieve quick recovery through their differentially new insights. Besides, as firms in the supply chain are closely connected, all members’ resilient actions would transform into SCR when there are common goals and effective interactions (Gölgeci and Kuivalainen, 2020 ). In this manner, SCTL contributes to the reactive aspect of SCR. Hence, we hypothesize:

H1: SCTL has a positive influence on (a) proactive dimension and (b) reactive dimension of SCR.

Supply chain transformational leadership and ambidextrous business model

Ambidexterity is a special dynamic ability balancing exploration and exploitation simultaneously (Kristal et al., 2010 ; Lee and Rha, 2016 ). Previous literature has identified that different leadership styles, such as transformational leadership, could foster ambidexterity in firms (Jansen et al., 2008 ; Tarba et al., 2020 ). Ambidextrous business model means a firm’s boundary-spanning transaction mode developed to create and catch business value by balancing activities of redesigning novel governance, content, and structure and reorganizing elements of an existing business model. Miller ( 1996 ) identifies that novelty and efficiency are classic themes of designing business models. Specifically, a novelty-centered business model aims to create value and catch potential opportunities by redesigning a new business model, while an efficiency-centered business model devotes to increasing efficiency and decreasing operational cost by reconstructing the current business model (Feng et al., 2022 ; Wei et al., 2017 ; Zott and Amit, 2008 ). Under the context of plurality, change, and scarcity, leaders in firms have more intentions to make decisions from an ambidexterity perspective (Smith and Lewis, 2011 ). According to social learning theory (Wang and Feng, 2023 ), leaders in the focal firm with high levels of SCTL tend to express a committed attitude and take exemplary actions to maintain balancing operations. In other words, employees would be guided to conduct certain transformative behaviors, raising a flexible organizational culture with their leaders’ values.

SCTL, which is viewed as a role model-building process, includes three components: inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Defee et al., 2010 ). First, the focal firm with high levels of SCTL often articulates a compelling vision and sets high-quality standards. Inspiration by the focal firm’s leaders shows necessary confidence in their subordinates’ abilities and encourages employees to recognize the importance of individual effort in creating and capturing value through exploring and exploiting business opportunities. Additionally, the focal firm’s leaders promote collective goal-setting and collaboration among employees based on a shared vision, creating a supportive organizational context characterized by discipline, stretch, and trust (Ojha et al., 2018 ; Xi et al., 2023 ). Second, the focal firm with high levels of SCTL pays much attention to meeting emerging challenges. Intellectual stimulation by the focal firm’s leaders demonstrates transformative ideas and stimulates their employees to provide new insights under a challenging but supportive atmosphere, increasing organizational creativity and contributing to a stretch context (Elkins and Keller, 2003 ). Third, the focal firm with high levels of SCTL actively understands and helps its internal members. Individualized consideration by the focal firm’s leaders offers differentiated support via one-to-one knowledge exchange and creates a heartwarming condition that promotes more assistance among employees, fostering a culture of support and trust (Bommer et al., 2005 ). While a supportive organizational context is developed (Pan et al., 2021 ), a firm with high levels of SCTL prefers to design an ambidextrous business model. Thus, we hypothesize:

H2: SCTL has a positive influence on an ambidextrous business model.

Ambidextrous business model and supply chain resilience

The development of an ambidextrous business model could be recognized as a role model-engaging process. According to social learning theory (Wang and Feng, 2023 ), the focal firm with high levels of ambidextrous business model would serve as an example that provides a flexible business model for its followers. Then, supply chain followers are likely to trust and attempt to emulate the focal firm’s business model when sensing or experiencing frequent supply chain disruptions.

In detail, the focal firm with a high level of ambidextrous business model shows its supply chain partners how to maintain agility before/during disruptions through a proper organization arrangement. A novelty-centered business model could help other firms realize that they must create and capture value through designing new activities of governance, content, and structure to predict/respond to changing environments before/during disruptions. An efficiency-centered business model guides followers to continuously change the current supply chain into a more robust system (Wei et al., 2017 ; Zott and Amit, 2008 ). Besides, when all firms with high levels of ambidextrous business models tend to balance novelty and efficiency simultaneously, they would contribute to a more robust supply chain by preventive supply chain ambidexterity. Therefore, the ambidextrous business model enhances the proactive dimension of SCR.

The focal firm with high levels of the ambidextrous business model provides other supply chain members a valuable frame to quickly react after disruptions as well. Specifically, a novelty-centered business model stimulates other firms to adopt new ideas and norms in solving issues after disruptive events, improving their adaptability and responsiveness. An efficiency-centered business model helps followers achieve greater transaction efficiency and lower transaction costs, facilitating the adjustment of actions and strategies to rapidly respond to disruptions. In addition, firms with high levels of ambidextrous business models jointly balance novelty and efficiency, establishing a more resilient supply chain through responsive supply chain ambidexterity. SCTL contributes to the reactive dimension of SCR. Hence, we hypothesize:

H3: Ambidextrous business model has a positive influence on (a) proactive dimension and (b) reactive dimension of SCR.

In sum, the ambidextrous business model serves as a proper mediator within the role modeling-learning process. Drawing on social learning theory, the focal firm with high levels of SCTL demonstrates an ambidextrous business model through fostering a supportive organizational context. And then other supply chain partners would actively learn and emulate the focal firm’s typical business model based on their trust and common values, improving SCR by supply chain ambidexterity. An ambidextrous business model could transform SCTL into proactive and reactive dimensions of SCR. Thus, we hypothesize:

H4: Ambidextrous business model mediates the relationship between SCTL and (a) proactive dimension and (b) reactive dimension of SCR.

The moderating role of paradox cognition

Paradox cognition refers to an epistemic framework and process recognizing and juxtaposing contradictory demands, which could make latent tensions within organizations more explicit (Smith and Tushman, 2005 ). The focal firm with paradoxical thinking and cognition could influence learning strategies (Brusoni and Rosenkranz, 2014 ; Sheng et al., 2023 ). That is, paradox cognition may affect the focal firm’s attitude and identification towards tensions (explore or exploit) arising from its contrasting strategic agendas (Smith and Lewis, 2011 ). Based on social learning theory (Bandura, 1977 ), when the focal firm possesses high levels of paradox cognition, it is more likely to recognize the importance of ambidexterity. In this manner, leaders’ transformative behaviors in the focal firm with high levels of SCTL would be more easily accepted and emulated by employees to balance both explorative and exploitive learning activities (Han et al., 2022 ), which may help build an ambidextrous business model. By contrast, when the focal firm has low levels of paradox cognition, it tends to choose either novelty or efficiency in designing a business model. The SCTL-ambidextrous business model relationship becomes less important because contradictions in the focal firm are latent. Hence, we hypothesize:

H5: Paradox cognition enhances the impact of SCTL on an ambidextrous business model.

Combining the hypotheses above, we build a conceptual model to check the influence of SCTL on SCR (including proactive and reactive SCR), the mediating role of the ambidextrous business model within the SCTL–SCR relationship, and the moderating effect of paradox cognition. The conceptual model is illustrated in Fig. 1 .

This figure represents the hypothetical relationships among constructs.

Research design

Procedures and data collection.

We gathered data from Chinese manufacturers. Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturing firms in China suffered from many supply chain disruptions, prompting leaders to realize the necessity of keeping a resilient supply chain (Lin et al., 2021 ; Shen and Sun, 2023 ). It is a challenging objective for manufacturing firms in China as they account for a large share of total exports in the global supply chains. Thus, China provided an appropriate context to explore the antecedents of SCR.

Due to the regional imbalanced characteristic of the Chinese economic force and transportation network (Feng et al., 2019 ; Hosseini et al., 2019 ), we selected sampling firms in five typical provinces: Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, and Inner Mongolia. Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong, in the eastern coastal areas of China, had relatively high levels of economic force and transportation networks. Henan, in the middle area of China, had average levels of economic force and transportation network. By contrast, Inner Mongolia, in the north and west of China, had relatively low levels of economic force and transportation network.

We adopted three steps to design a questionnaire. First, 12 firm executives, including the chief executive officer, general manager, or vice president, were interviewed to confirm the content validity of our study issue. All these individuals were required to be knowledgeable about their firms’ internal operations as well as external partnerships. Second, an initial questionnaire was developed through literature and expert review, translation, and back-translation. Third, a pre-test with another 20 executives was conducted to provide useful suggestions for modification, forming the formal questionnaire.

We randomly chose 200 firms in each province above and sought cooperation via a cover letter introducing the research intention. All participants were ensured confidentiality. Invitations were sent through emails or telephones, and 435 firms agreed to join our survey total. To mitigate common method bias (CMB), we split each questionnaire into two parts (including parts A and B) and invited different respondents in each firm to complete one part respectively. Part A featured demographic characteristics, competitive intensity, SCTL, novelty-centered business model, and SCR, whereas part B included paradox cognition and efficiency-centered business model.

We distributed and received back the questionnaires through emails from May 2020 to December 2020. 317 valid questionnaires were gathered, with an effective response rate of 72.9%. The final sample included 72 firms in Guangdong, 62 firms in Jiangsu, 67 firms in Shandong, 56 firms in Henan, and 60 firms in Inner Mongolia. The average working experience of 634 respondents was 7.19 years. 64.8% of our respondents held the posts of chief executive officer, general manager, or vice president, and 35.2% were operations directors. The detailed features of sampled firms are presented in Table 2 .

We utilized two steps to verify non-response bias (Armstrong and Overton, 1977 ). First, firm size and ownership were compared for the nonresponding and responding firms. Second, differences in firm size, firm age, industry, and ownership between the early and late responses were also examined. These results of the independent t -test suggested that non-response bias in this study was not a serious issue.

We selected the seven-point Likert scale adopted or adapted from previous studies to measure all constructs in the questionnaire (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree).

Supply chain transformational leadership

A refined seven-item scale from Defee et al. ( 2010 ) was applied to measure SCTL. SCTL was operationalized as respondents’ perceptions of their firms’ influences, which are often the outcome of behavioral factors, including inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration.

Paradox cognition

A seven-item scale from Smith and Lewis ( 2011 ) was used to measure paradox cognition. Respondents were requested to evaluate the degree of their own firms’ dual awareness when making strategic decisions in the last three years.

Ambidextrous business model

A ten-item scale and a nine-item scale were adjusted by Zott and Amit ( 2007 ) to measure the novelty-centered business model and efficiency-centered business model in turn. Additionally, the average value of these two variables was calculated to measure the ambidextrous business model. This approach not only kept convenience to reserve and made logical interpretations for the useful information from both parts but reflected the nature of ambidexterity–seemingly contradictory yet coexisting tensions (Lubatkin et al., 2006 ; Zhang et al., 2015 ).

Following Cheng and Lu ( 2017 ), SCR was divided into two dimensions: proactive and reactive SCR Two altered four-item scales were adopted for proactive and reactive SCR separately (Ambulkar et al., 2015 ; Brandon-Jones et al., 2014 ; Wieland and Wallenburg, 2013 ).

Control variables

To mitigate the roles of other factors on analytical results as much as possible, we controlled five demographic characteristics, including firm size, firm age, industry, ownership, and competitive intensity (Ambulkar et al., 2015 ; Gölgeci and Ponomarov, 2015 ). Firm age and firm size were measured by the natural logarithm of the number of years since foundation and the natural logarithm of the number of employees, respectively (Li et al., 2008 ). One dummy variable was to control industry (1 = high-tech firm, 0 = otherwise), and two dummy variables (including state-owned and collective firms and private firms) were to control ownership. A four-item scale was adjusted by Jaworski and Kohli ( 1993 ) to measure competitive intensity.

Reliability and validity

First, we did a reliability test and explorative factor analysis (EFA). All constructs revealed high reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha value of more than 0.7 (Flynn et al., 1990 ). Seven principal components were extracted, which was consistent with constructs in the scales (Table 3 ). Second, we made a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) by AMOS 24.0 to ensure validity. The results indicated that the measurement model had good fit indices: χ ²/d f  = 2.034; RMSEA = 0.057; CFI = 0.928; NNFI = 0.923; SRMR = 0.038. All constructs’ composite reliability (CR) was more than 0.7, with item loadings varying from 0.760 to 0.939, and all average variance extracted (AVE) values were more than 0.5 (Table 3 ). Thus, the results indicated sufficient convergent validity. Besides, the comparison between shared variances of constructs and the square root of AVE demonstrated that all correlations were less than the corresponding square roots of AVEs (Table 4 ), identifying acceptable discriminant validity. Tables 3 and 4 reported the measure items, reliability, and validity assessment.

Common method bias

We utilized three means to test CMB. First, Harman’s single-factor test was conducted, revealing that there were seven principal components (Table 3 ), and no single factor accounted for most variances in these measures. Second, the fit indices of CFA between the actual seven-factor model and the one-factor model were compared, indicating that the one-factor model got significantly worse fit indices. Third, another common method factor was supplemented to the seven-factor CFA model above and it discovered that the fit indices did not change significantly. As a result, there was no serious CMB.

We adopted hierarchical regression analysis and the bootstrapping method by SPSS 23.0 to examine the research hypotheses. First, the effect of SCTL on SCR was examined. Then, the influence of SCTL on the ambidextrous business model, the effect of the ambidextrous business model on SCR, and the mediating impact of the ambidextrous business model within the SCTL–SCR link were tested. Finally, the moderating effect of paradox cognition in the SCTL–ambidextrous business model relationship was examined. Table 5 reports the results of the hierarchical regression model.

To minimize possible multicollinearity, we generated an interaction with mean-centering of both the independent variable and the moderating variable (Aiken and West, 1991 ). The maximal value of the variance inflation factor (VIF) is 1.739, which is much less than the recommended cut-off of 10. Thus, the multicollinearity is not serious.

H1a and H1b predict the positive impact of SCTL on both dimensions of SCR. Models 5 and 9 in Table 5 show that SCTL has a significantly positive effect on the proactive dimension ( β  = 0.122, p  < 0.05) and reactive dimension ( β  = 0.166, p  < 0.01). Therefore, H1a and H1b are supported.

H2 predicts the positive influence of SCTL on the ambidextrous business model. Model 2 in Table 5 indicates that SCTL has a significantly positive impact on ambidextrous business models ( β  = 0.140, p  < 0.05). Hence, H2 is supported.

H3a and H3b predict the positive role of the ambidextrous business model on both dimensions of SCR. Models 6 and 10 in Table 5 suggest that the ambidextrous business model has a positive effect on the proactive dimension ( β  = 0.241, p  < 0.001) and reactive dimension ( β  = 0.256, p  < 0.001). Therefore, H3a and H3b are supported.

H4a and H4b hypothesize that the ambidextrous business model mediates the relationships between SCTL and two dimensions of SCR. According to Baron and Kenny ( 1986 ), Models 2, 5, and 7 in Table 5 jointly demonstrate that the ambidextrous business model ( β  = 0.228, p  < 0.001) fully mediates the relationship between SCTL ( β  = 0.090, p  > 0.1) and proactive dimension, which supports H4a. Similarly, Models 2, 9, and 11 in Table 5 collectively exhibit that the ambidextrous business model ( β  = 0.237, p  < 0.001) partially mediates the relationship between SCTL ( β  = 0.133, p  < 0.05) and reactive dimension, which supports H4b.

To ensure the robustness of the results, we further used the PROCESS macro to conduct a bootstrapped mediation analysis. As depicted in Table 6 , the results keep consistency with the corresponding results in Table 5 , ensuring the effectiveness of analytical findings before.

H5 hypothesizes that paradox cognition strengthens the impact of SCTL on the ambidextrous business model. Model 3 in Table 5 presents that the interaction of SCTL and paradox cognition is significantly positive ( β  = 0.094, p  < 0.1), which supports H5. Moreover, we applied a simple slope analysis to verify the moderating effect of paradox cognition so that a clearer explanation could be given. As illustrated in Fig. 2 , when levels of paradox cognition are higher, the role of SCTL in the ambidextrous business model becomes stronger. Hence, the result further supports a strengthened effect of paradox cognition in the SCTL–ambidextrous business model relationship.

This figure reflects the moderating effect of paradox cognition on the relationship between supply chain transformational leadership and ambidextrous business model.

Discussions and implications

Discussions.

This study intends to verify the impact of SCTL on both dimensions of SCR (including proactive and reactive SCR) through the ambidextrous business model and the moderating role of paradox cognition. Our results exhibit that SCTL has a positive influence on proactive and reactive SCR. This finding is similar to studies that explore the effect of leader–member exchange on network resilience performance in the supply chain context (Shin and Park, 2021 ) or the effect of transformational supply chain leadership on operational performance (Defee et al., 2010 ). However, these studies only emphasize the necessity of inter-organizational relationships and capabilities within the influential process of supply chain leadership on supply chain performance. Our results show that SCTL contributes to proactive and reactive SCR in a social learning process where both firm resilience and supply chain collaboration are indispensable parts.

Our results demonstrate that an ambidextrous business model mediates the impact of SCTL on SCR. This finding is inconsistent with existing studies about the antecedents or consequences of business models (Schoemaker et al., 2018 ; Shashi et al., 2020 ). One possible explanation is that the ambidextrous business model aims at designing new business models to capture and create value while also reconfiguring new combinations to improve transaction efficiency. Our results also indicate that the ambidextrous business model fully mediates the relationship between SCTL and proactive SCR while partially mediates the relationship between SCTL and reactive SCR. That is, the ambidextrous business model occupies a more important position in the SCTL-proactive dimension link. A possible reason could be that compared with intellectual stimulation, the influence of inspiration and individualized consideration is more dispersive within a longer time, improving the necessity of an ambidextrous business model. These results provide new insights to realize how SCTL enhances SCR.

In addition, we identify that paradox cognition strengthens the effect of SCTL on an ambidextrous business model. When the focal firm has high levels of paradox cognition, it tends to recognize the importance of ambidexterity. In this manner, the focal firm’s transformative behaviors would be more easily accepted and emulated by employees to balance both explorative and exploitive learning activities (Han et al., 2022 ), building an ambidextrous business model. This outcome verifies our research hypothesis, indicating the importance of paradox cognition in the SCTL–ambidextrous business model link.

Theoretical contributions

This study contributes to managerial research in three aspects. First, we enrich the antecedents of SCR by confirming the role of SCTL. Existing studies emphasize the impacts of specific resources or capabilities on SCR, such as agility, redundancy, and collaboration (Al Naimi et al., 2021 ; Tukamuhabwa et al., 2015 ), while the strategic effect of SCTL is rarely discussed. Previous literature has identified that transformational leadership could improve employee attitude (Peng et al., 2021 ) and team resilience (Dimas et al., 2018 ) at the firm level. Our research extends the concept of transformational leadership to the whole supply chain system and proposes that the focal firm with high levels of SCTL can improve proactive and reactive SCR. Hence, we contribute to the field of SCTL and SCR.

Second, we reveal the ‘black box’ of how SCTL impacts SCR by examining the mediating role of the ambidextrous business model. Existing studies reveal the influence of transformational leadership on organizational ambidexterity (Eng et al., 2023 ) and the impact of organizational ambidexterity on SCR (Aslam et al., 2022 ), while we still lack understanding of how SCTL affects SCR. Previous literature has demonstrated that redesigning a supply chain with high levels of concentration plays a significant role in protecting firm performance when suffering from disruptions (Liu et al., 2023 ). Hence, we contribute to the SCTL and SCR literature by showing a partial mediating effect of the ambidextrous business model in the SCTL–proactive SCR relationship and a fully mediating effect of ambidextrous business model in the SCTL–reactive SCR relationship.

Third, we clarify the boundary condition for the SCTL–ambidextrous business model relationship by examining the moderating effect of paradox cognition. Existing studies show that the efficiency of the learning process would be influenced by external stakeholders (Song et al., 2020 ; Wang and Feng, 2023 ), while the interactive role of internal factors is largely ignored. Previous literature has argued that organizational learning may be influenced by paradoxical thinking and cognition (Brusoni and Rosenkranz, 2014 ). Our findings suggest that paradox cognition would affect the focal firm’s attitude and identification towards tensions (explore or exploit) arising from its contrasting strategic agendas. Under high levels of paradox cognition, the focal firm is more likely to recognize and embrace tensions, making well-balanced decisions. Thus, the efficiency of social learning from SCTL to ambidextrous business model improves, which further emphasizes the necessity of developing paradox cognition within the learning process.

Managerial implications

This study offers three suggestions for managerial practice. First, managers should undertake leading roles and encourage member firms within the supply chain to improve SCR. In a dynamic and uncertain context, the focal firm with high levels of SCTL is effective to motivate its supply chain partners’ transformative behaviors. Managers should develop a reliable role model whom their followers trust and attempt to emulate. They should also develop two types of SCR, including proactive and reactive SCR. Additionally, they should articulate a compelling vision for all supply chain members, providing individualized training to meet the differentiated needs of firms and stimulating supply chain partners to create new insights with a supportive and challenging atmosphere.

Second, managers should establish an ambidextrous business model in firms. The focal firm with high levels of SCTL often demonstrates an ambidextrous business model by fostering a supportive organizational context. Managers should design an ambidextrous business model balancing both novelty and efficiency. Furthermore, they are suggested to motivate other supply chain followers to learn and emulate the focal firm’s transformative behaviors through a shared system vision, promoting communication and coordination among supply chain members.

Third, managers should foster a paradox cognition framework within their firms. Under high levels of paradox cognition, the focal firm is more likely to recognize the importance of ambidexterity and solve tensions from an ambidexterity perspective. Transformative behaviors of the focal firm would be more easily accepted and emulated by its employees. Managers should provide a proper organizational context for employees to improve their paradoxical thinking and cognition to quickly respond to disruptions.

Conclusion and limitations

Drawing on social learning theory, this study clarifies the impact of SCTL on SCR. Our findings reveal that SCTL has a positive influence on both proactive and reactive SCR. In addition, the ambidextrous business model fully mediates the relationship between SCTL and proactive SCR while also partially mediating the relationship between SCTL and reactive SCR. Paradox cognition strengthens the effect of SCTL on the ambidextrous business model.

This study has a few limitations, of course. First, we must demonstrate the effect of SCTL on SCR. Future research could try investigating the roles of other factors, such as transactional leadership to enrich antecedents of SCR. Second, this study only explores the mediating role of the ambidextrous business model between SCTL and SCR. In the future, other possible realization paths from the configurational perspective should be verified (Feng and Sheng, 2023 ). Third, we must identify the moderating impact of paradox cognition within the SCTL–ambidextrous business model relationship. Scholars are suggested to discover more possible boundary conditions like dynamic environment, and build a moderated mediation model to further explore the roles of potential moderators.

Data availability

All data generated and analyzed during the current study are included in this article and a supplementary Excel spreadsheet called ‘Dataset’ which contains all items’ values from questionnaires and other control variables’ values.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72172040), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (HIT.HSS.ESD202333), and the Taishan Scholar Project of Shandong Province (tsqn201909154).

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School of Economics and Management, Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai), Weihai, China

Taiwen Feng & Zhihui Si

School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China

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College of New Energy, Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai), Weihai, China

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Taiwen Feng: Conceptualization, investigation, data curation, funding acquisition, supervision, writing-review and editing. Zhihui Si: Methodology, data curation, formal analysis, writing-original draft, and editing. Wenbo Jiang: Investigation, data curation, writing-review, and editing. Jianyu Tan: Data curation, writing-review, and editing.

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Feng, T., Si, Z., Jiang, W. et al. Supply chain transformational leadership and resilience: the mediating role of ambidextrous business model. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 628 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03099-x

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A conceptual framework proposed through literature review to determine the dimensions of social transparency in global supply chains

• Published: 16 May 2024

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• Preethi Raja 1 &
• Usha Mohan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2161-7600 1  

The current focus in supply chain management (SCM) research revolves around the relationship between sustainability and supply chain transparency (SCT). Despite the three pillars of sustainability – environmental, social, and economic- the limited and scattered analysis is on the social part, and the least is on socially responsible supply chain management (SR-SCM). SCT plays a significant role in elevating the sustainability of the supply chain. This review paper emphasizes the integration of SCT and sustainable supply chain, especially the social aspect as SR-SCM, and coining the new term social transparency (ST). ST is openness to communicating details about the impact of business on people, their well-being, and compliance with social sustainability standards and policies. This paper establishes a conceptual framework using three research methods. systematic literature review, content analysis-based literature review, and framework development. By locating studies in databases like EBSCO, Scopus, and Web of Science, 273 peer-reviewed articles were identified in the intersection of social sustainability, supply chains, and transparency. Finally, the framework proposes five dimensions: tracking and tracing suppliers till provenance, product and process specifications, financial transaction information, social sustainability policies and compliance, and performance assessment to determine ST in global supply chains.

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Data availability

The data that supports the findings of this systematic literature review and content analysis are either included in this manuscript or are publicly available in the referenced sources. All included studies and their respective citations are provided in the reference section. Any additional data or materials used for this review can be obtained upon request from the corresponding author.

Abbreviations

Supply chain management

Socially responsible supply chain management

Supply Chain Transparency

Social Transparency

Multinational Corporations

Code of Conduct

Corporate Social Responsibility

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses

Radio frequency Identification

Internet of Things

Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain

Textile Standard Certification

Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production

Global Organic Textile Standard

Global Recycled Standard

Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction on the use of Chemicals

Social Accountability International Certification

Indian Standards Institution Mark

Bureau of Indian Standards

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Raja, P., Mohan, U. A conceptual framework proposed through literature review to determine the dimensions of social transparency in global supply chains. Manag Rev Q (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-024-00440-1

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Received : 21 July 2023

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-024-00440-1

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