Co-alignment of adaptive resilience and environmental sustainability for firm performance: a configurational perspective in the transportation logistics context

Purpose This study examines whether adaptive resilience and environmental sustainability complement or substitute for one another in transportation logistics, and how their configurations relate to firm performance. Insights into this relationship can help firms allocate resources to adaptive resilience and environmental sustainability in ways that suit their context and enhance economic performance. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on configuration theory, the study explains why adaptive resilience and environmental sustainability may occur at different levels and in different combinations across firms. Survey data from 199 firms in Ghana are analyzed using cluster analysis and analysis of variance to identify configurations and compare their performance outcomes. Findings Four configurations of adaptive resilience and environmental sustainability are identified: high sustainability leaning (Cluster 1), high resilience-sustainability complementarity (Cluster 2), high resilience leaning (Cluster 3), and moderate sustainability leaning (Cluster 4). Cluster 1 outperforms Cluster 4 on market performance and Cluster 2 outperforms Cluster 4 on both financial and market performance. Performance outcomes do not differ significantly across the remaining configurations, suggesting equifinality. Originality/value The study advances existing debates on whether resilience and sustainability can coexist, or whether they complement or substitute for one another in improving economic performance outcomes. It reveals four distinct configurations of adaptive resilience and environmental sustainability and shows which configurations produce equifinal performance effects and which vary in their performance effects.