The impact of industrial Internet of things on sustainable performance: the indirect effect of supply chain visibility

Sustainable management has become a strategic and popular requirement for stakeholders, as the ability to create competitive advantages in the current dynamic business environment and the pressures of digital transformation need to be increased attention in achieving the highest level of sustainable performance. The main objective of this paper is to explore the direct effects of the industrial Internet of things and supply chain visibility on sustainable performance (economic performance, environmental performance and social performance), in addition to evaluating the indirect effects that supply chain visibility plays in these relationships.

To achieve the purposes and objectives of this work, a conceptual model was developed by referring to the current works in the literature, and the theoretical model was developed, and then data were collected through the questionnaire and by the snowball sampling method, as 380 questionnaires were used. In the data analysis, the multivariate analysis technique was used via Covariance-based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM), as hypothesized relationships were evaluated through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and then the hypotheses were tested through a structural model.

The results reached the acceptance of all hypotheses, and this means that all hypothesized relationships were positive, as the impact of the industrial Internet of things was positive on each of the supply chain visibility and economic performance, environmental performance and social performance, and also the supply chain visibility mediated the relationship between each of the industrial Internet of things and economic performance, environmental performance and social performance.

The current paper reported a range of theoretical and practical contributions, as this study is the first to examine these hypothesized relationships together in this way and thus helped this study to develop new perceptions about Industry 4.0 technologies and their potential impacts on supply chain and sustainable performance. Also, this study had a variety of management recommendations that allow managers of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies operating in Jordan to develop their technological capabilities and use them to enhance sustainable performance.