A Collaborative Framework for Governance Mechanism and Sustainability Performance in Supply Chain

The results indicate that socially sustainable development is two-fold: firstly, involves fostering interaction through relational governance and secondly, ensuring cohesion with cultural intelligence capability. We develop a theoretical framework and empirical research approach for understanding how cultural intelligence capabilities can be used to transform relational governance to improve social sustainability in an inter-firm exchange relationship. The analysis is based on cross-sectional base survey questionnaires on a sample of 239 senior managers from four manufacturer industries using partial least squares structural equation modelling approach. Sustainability performance framework is conceived on a foundation of the theoretical body of knowledge in the literature. This study contributes by identifying key cultural intelligence capabilities; management is more likely to work effectively with their cross-border supply chain partners. The dynamic capability theory helps explain how culturally intelligent individuals are able to dynamically adjust, protecting and adapt to the partner cultural in inter-organizational collaborations. Our results through structural equation modelling approach confirmed that collaborative relational governance is useful to improve the social sustainability performance.