Supply Chain Resilience as a Mediator in Achieving Holistic Sustainability Performance Amid an Era of Disruption: Evidence From Taiwan

Abstract

Amid intensifying environmental pressures and recurring supply chain disruptions, firms increasingly seek to align sustainability with resilience. Drawing on the practice‐based view and dynamic capabilities theory, this study examines how sustainable operational practices (SOP) and sustainable managerial practices (SMP) differentially influence economic, environmental, and social performance, and whether supply chain resilience (SCR) mediates these relationships. Survey data from 147 senior and middle managers in Taiwanese manufacturing firms were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results reveal asymmetric sustainability pathways. SMP exerts strong and consistent direct effects across all performance dimensions, whereas SOP directly affects economic and environmental performance but not social performance. Crucially, SCR selectively mediates the effects of SOP—partially for economic and environmental outcomes, and fully for social performance—while playing no intermediary role for SMP. These findings identify SCR as a selective transmission mechanism linking operational sustainability to holistic performance and position SOP as routine‐level inputs relying on SCR as an adaptive buffer to safeguard social commitments.