Antecedents of vaccine supply chain resilience: the moderating effects of structural complexity

Purpose This study aims to investigate how four dynamic capabilities – agility, robustness, risk management and resource reconfiguration – influence the vaccine supply chain resilience (SCRE) and determine whether structural complexity moderates these relationships. Design/methodology/approach This quantitative research approach employed stratified random sampling to select both urban- and rural-setting-based health facilities. Moreover, a semi-structured questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 250 public health facilities in Tanzania, with 228 facilities qualifying for further analysis. The key informants comprised vaccinators from these public health facilities. Cross-sectional survey data from the public health facilities in mainland Tanzania's vaccine supply chain (SC) were analysed using partial least-squares structural-equation modelling to estimate a moderated model. Findings Agility and robustness capabilities exert positive, statistically significant effects on SCRE. Structural complexity, however, weakens the benefits of robustness while amplifying the impact of risk management. Research limitations/implications The research considered only one contextual factor, structural complexity, as a moderator. It was also conducted in a highly regulated environment, the public health sector, with data collected from only the buyer side. Future studies may validate the results in a more market-based environment, include other contextual factors such as dynamic complexity and collect data from a dyad. Longitudinal, multi-tier studies are, therefore, recommended to validate the causal mechanisms the study has identified. Practical implications Managers in a high-structural-complexity environment should not prioritise robustness as an essential resilience capability but should focus more on developing agility and risk management capabilities. Agility should be considered a core capability, which is immune to the effects of structural complexity. Originality/value By combining the contingency resource-based theory with complexity literature in an immunisation context, this paper offers strong insights into how specific dynamic capabilities interact with SC structure.