DOI: 10.3390/su18168539 ISSN: 2071-1050

Digital Technologies, Green Supply Chain Integration, and Dynamic Capabilities: Pathways to Sustainable Supply Chain Performance

Alpha Yayah Jalloh, Jiani Wu, Richard Samuel Freeman, Nabila Chouaib Kante, Haonan He

Global supply chains are vital for sustainable development, yet firms often struggle to translate digital transformation into substantial environmental and social outcomes aligned with the SDGs. This study explores how digital technologies facilitate sustainable development through dynamic capabilities and green supply chain integration (GSCI). Using Dynamic Capabilities Theory, we propose and test a serial mediation framework with a two-wave, multi-country survey of senior supply chain and sustainability managers (n = 300), supplemented by archival ESG data from Bloomberg, Refinitiv, and CSMAR (2019–2023). Structural equation modeling shows that digital technologies contribute to sustainability outcomes only indirectly, by strengthening firms’ sensing, seizing, and transforming capabilities that drive internal and external green integration. Results suggest that policymakers should shift from hardware subsidies to ‘capability-oriented’ frameworks, incentivizing digital–green innovation hubs to help firms translate data into systemic sustainability integration.

More from our Archive