Transformational leadership and supply chain innovativeness: mediating role of knowledge sharing climate and moderating role of supply base rationalization

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how transformational leadership affects innovativeness in the supply chain context by addressing the following research questions: (1) Whether transformational leadership might help foster conditions for knowledge sharing and lead to supply chain innovativeness (SCI) in China firms? (2) Does supply base rationalization play a moderating role in the above relationship?Design/methodology/approachSurvey data consisting of 144 valid responses were collected from supply chain innovation and application pilot projects in 55 cities of China. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the reliability and validity of measures, and hierarchical linear regression and bootstrapping were used to test all hypotheses.FindingsThe results obtained reveal that supply chain knowledge sharing partially mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and SCI. Also, supply base rationalization positively moderates the mediated relationship between transformational leadership and SCI.Practical implicationsManagers and decision-makers of supply chain leader firms who want to enhance their entire SCI to deal with unexpected supply chain disruptions are highly recommended to adopt transformational behavior across the supply chain, as well as to develop the knowledge sharing culture, resulting from transformational leadership. In addition, leading firms should be dedicated to structuring their supply base, keeping it at the right size and complexity.Originality/valueThe present study emphasizes previous results and provides additional evidence that supply chain leaders' adoption of transformational behavior can reinforce entire SCI through knowledge sharing in light of the disruptions facing supply chains in developing countries.