Supply chain integration and firm financial performance: A meta-analysis of positional advantage mediation and moderating factors

Abstract Supply chain integration (SCI) is recognized as strategic process management that can be instrumental for creating positional advantages associated with improved firm performance. However, despite rigorous execution, recent meta-analyses derive different conclusions about the benefits of SCI. We propose that these inconsistencies may be associated with selection bias, failure to consider the mediating routes by which SCI affects financial performance, and lack of investigation of moderators. To address these issues, we apply positional advantage theory and the resource-based view, and focus on mitigating the potential selection bias by aggregating findings from 170 previous investigations in a comprehensive meta-analysis, to examine how discrete dimensions of SCI enhance firm financial performance through three types of intermediate firm performance. The moderating effects of time, relationship quality, and national culture are also assessed. The findings confirm that each dimension of SCI indeed improves financial performance. However, contrary to expectations, relational and strategic types of intermediate performance associated with superior customer value positional advantage have stronger mediating effects than operational performance associated with lower cost positional advantage. In addition, time, relationship quality, and collectivist national culture strengthen the associations between some dimensions of SCI and firm performance. Our study findings are reconciled with those from recent meta-analytic studies, and implications arising from our conclusions that may inform practice about how to effectively leverage SCI are presented.