Invisible threats: The impact of perceived political risk misalignment on firm’s operational resilience

• Perceived political risk misalignment reduces the firm’s operational resilience. • Degree centrality intensifies the negative effect of perceived risk misalignment. • Clustering coefficient alleviates the adverse impact of perceived risk misalignment. • This study extends the research on firm-level political risk to supply chain context. In the context of escalating global geopolitical risk, relying solely on a firm’s own risk awareness is insufficient to ensure operational continuity. Different risk perceptions among supply chain members can lead to inconsistencies in risk assessment and response strategies, thereby undermining a firm’s ability to effectively manage political risk. However, existing research often overlooks the presence and potential impact of perceived political risk misalignment in supply chains. Therefore, this research explores the impact of perceived political risk misalignment between buyer firms and their suppliers on the operational resilience of buyer firms, and further examines the moderating roles of supply network characteristics. Using data from publicly listed U.S. manufacturing firms between 2020 and 2022, this study constructs 1421 dyadic pairs of suppliers and buyer firms, along with their supply networks, to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that perceived political risk misalignment significantly weakens the operational resilience of buyer firms. Moreover, the degree centrality of buyer firms amplifies this negative impact, while the clustering coefficient of the supply network mitigates it. By extending political risk research from the firm level to the supply chain context, this study enriches the literature on supply chain risk management and operational resilience, and emphasizes the importance of aligning risk perceptions within supply chains.