Navigating economic crisis: Factors shaping resilience in Sri Lankan constructionSME supply chains

Abstract

In today’s construction industry, supply chains are subject to much greater disruption than they were inthe past, resulting in a greater need for resilience. However, there is a gap in the literature that examinesthe resilience of construction small and medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) specifically focusing on develop-ing countries. This article is a step towards identifying the factors influencing the resilience of construc-tion SME supply chains taking the case of Sri Lanka: a developing country which is currently amidst amajor economic crisis. This research study adopted a mixed-method approach, employing 08 structuredinterviews with employees ranging from executive level to top level management of 08 constructionSMEs followed by a questionnaire survey considering a sample of 195 construction SMEs also with execu-tive level to top level management of each construction SME. The findings indicated that Collaboration,Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), Internal Integration, and Outsourcing have a positive significant impacton the resilience of Sri Lankan construction SMEs’ supply chains during an economic crisis, while‘collaboration’ and ‘EO’ are the most influential factors respectively. Therefore, construction SMEs mustprioritize and enhance collaboration and EO when devising supply chain strategies to strengthen resili-ence during economic crises. This paper contributes to filling the research gap by investigating factorsinfluencing construction SME supply chains in a developing country during an economic crisis. Moreover,it contributes to the knowledge by being one of the latest empirical studies focusing on the constructionSME supply chains in Sri Lanka. The findings provide a valuable reference for both policymakers and prac-titioners seeking to improve the resilience of construction SME supply chains