Article
The role of Big Data in explaining disaster resilience in supply chains for sustainability
Journal of Cleaner Production
(2017)
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a theoretical framework to explain resilience in supply
chain networks for sustainability using unstructured Big Data, based upon 36,422 items gathered in the
form of tweets, news, Facebook, WordPress, Instagram, Googleþ, and YouTube, and structured data, via
responses from 205 managers involved in disaster relief activities in the aftermath of Nepal earthquake
in 2015. The paper uses Big Data analysis, followed by a survey which was analyzed using content
analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results of the analysis suggest that swift trust, information
sharing and publiceprivate partnership are critical enablers of resilience in supply chain
networks. The current study used cross-sectional data. However the hypotheses of the study can be
tested using longitudinal data to attempt to establish causality. The article advances the literature on
resilience in disaster supply chain networks for sustainability in that (i) it suggests the use of Big Data
analysis to propose and test particular frameworks in the context of resilient supply chains that enable
sustainability; (ii) it argues that swift trust, public private partnerships, and quality information sharing
link to resilience in supply chain networks; and (iii) it uses the context of Nepal, at the moment of the
disaster relief activities to provide contemporaneous perceptions of the phenomenon as it takes place.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2017
Citation Information
Thanos Papadopoulos, Angappa Gunasekaran, Rameshwar Dubey, Nezih Altay, et al.. "The role of Big Data in explaining disaster resilience in supply chains for sustainability" Journal of Cleaner Production Vol. 142 Iss. 2 (2017) p. 1108 - 1118 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nezih_altay/28/