The nexus between organisational culture and differentiation-based competitive advantage in garment firms in Vietnam: does supply chain collaboration matter?

Purpose This article aims to investigate the role of supply chain collaboration as the mediator of the relationship between organisational culture and competitive edge based on differentiation in the context of garment firms in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach Underpinned by the relational view (RV) and organisational culture (OC) theories, a conceptual framework on the interrelationships between OC, differentiation competitive advantage and supply chain collaboration was proposed. This study collected data through a survey of 192 managers working in garment companies in Vietnam. Factor analysis was performed to assess the internal consistency of the attribute combination in SPSS. Then, the mediation effects of the constructs were analysed using the bootstrapping method. Findings The results indicate that the internal collaboration aspect of supply chain collaboration mediates the relationship between the group culture type of OC, and differentiation-based competitive advantage, with a similar effect observed for the development culture type. However, the external collaboration aspect of supply chain collaboration does not significantly mediate the relationship between these two OC types and differentiation-based competitive advantage. Originality/value This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in several ways. Firstly, while previous studies investigated the importance of OC in operational performance, this research found that OC also positively impacts differentiation-based competitive advantage. Besides, it is perhaps among the first to rigorously examine both external and internal supply chain collaboration as a mediator between OC and competitive edge based on differentiating features in Vietnam's garment industry, offering an expanded understanding of the role of this construct for both supply chain management literature and practice. Moreover, it extends the application of RV and OC theories to a new research context.