A systemic understanding of supply chain resilience: cross-level interactions, multi-level frameworks, and theoretical innovations

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Introduction

Over the last decade, supply chains have been repeatedly disrupted by large-scale shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, geographical conflicts (e.g., Russia-Ukraine war, US-China trade tensions), and climate change-related disasters such as the 2021 Henan floods and the 2024 Spanish floods. These events have illustrated how disturbances at one level can cascade across other levels, leading to systemic failure (Pescaroli and Alexander. 2018).

While supply chain resilience (SCRes) has emerged as a dominant theme in supply chain management, the literature remains fragmented, often focusing on a single level of analysis and lacking a systemic understanding. One prominent research stream emphasizes the development of SCRes capabilities, such as collaboration, knowledge management, risk management culture, flexibility, leadership, redundancy, visibility, and information sharing (Kurniawan et al. 2017; Ali et al. 2023). Another stream explores the role of advanced technologies, including big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and robotics in fostering SCRes (Zamani et al. 2023; Yu et al. 2025). Additional research pathways have also received considerable attention, such as conceptualizing SCRes through vulnerability reduction and disruption management strategies (Scholten and Schilder. 2015); designing and quantifying resilient supply chain networks (Ivanov et al. 2017); measuring SCRes to performance (Han et al. 2020); and assessing risks and measuring their impacts (Creazza et al. 2022). Collectively, these studies have generated valuable insights into the conceptualization, construction, and measurement of SCRes, but relatively few have approached it from a systemic perspective. In particular, limited attention has been paid to how cross-level interactions shape SCRes. This gap has led to growing calls for research that adopts systems thinking, positioning resilience as a dynamic, multi-level capability rather than a collection of isolated practices. For example, Adobor (2019) proposed that SCRes should be understood as a multi-level framework spanning individuals, organizations, and supply chains, and called for studies examining cross-level interactions. Similarly, Wieland and Durach (2021) conceptualized SCRes as the ability of a system to bounce back, adapt, and transform following disruptive events. They encouraged research integrating system perspectives such as socio-ecological and engineering resilience. More recently, Zhao et al. (2024) advanced this agenda by advocating for more contextualized understandings of SCRes.

This special issue aims to advance a system understanding of SCRes by exploring cross-level interactions, building a multi-level framework, and fostering theoretical innovations. While SCRes has been studied extensively, most research remains at a single level of analysis, either individual, organizational, or network. This special issue seeks to overcome this fragmentation by inviting contributions that explain how SCRes emerge from the dynamic interplay across levels, and how these interactions shape both theoretical development and managerial practice.

List of Topic Areas

(1)    Supply chain resilience as a multi-level framework

• Conceptualizing supply chain resilience as a multi-level framework
• Integrating individual, organizational, supply chain, and environmental levels to develop a systemic and multi-level understanding of supply chain resilience  
• Advancing a systemic perspective by conceptualizing supply chain resilience as a form of socio-ecological resilience or socio-technological resilience

(2)    Cross-level interactions and dynamics

• Developing a contextualized understanding of supply chain resilience by examining how it manifests across different environments, such as diverse cultural, institutional, and geographical settings
• Investigating how individual-level factors, such as personal traits, leadership styles, and managerial cognition, influence the implementation of supply chain resilience strategies
• Mechanisms by which resilience at one level influences (or conflicts with) resilience at another

(3)    Theoretical innovations in supply chain resilience

• Applying and extending theoretical frameworks such as systems theory, socio-technological theory, panarchy theory, and middle-range theory in the area of supply chain resilience
• Developing new models or frameworks that explain supply chain resilience as an emergent system property

(4)    Technology as a cross-level enabler

• How digital platforms, AI, IoT, blockchain, and digital twins mediate resilience interactions across individuals, organizational and supply chain levels

(5)    Managerial practices for systemic resilience

• Tools, frameworks, and capabilities that managers can use to align resilience actions across organizational boundaries
• Balancing efficiency, flexibility, and redundancy across different levels of the supply chain

Guest Editors 

Guoqing Zhao, School of Management, Swansea University, Swansea, UK & [email protected]

Samuel Fosso Wamba, TBS Education, TBS Business School, Toulouse, France

Maciel M. Queiroz, FGV EAESP, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Author guidelines must be strictly followed.

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Author Guidelines

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”. 

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key Deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 1st June 2026

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 1st October 2026