TMT Heterogeneity and Supply Chain Resilience: The Roles of Digital Transformation, Environmental Uncertainty and Innovation Quality

Supply chain resilience (SCR) is increasingly important as firms face recurrent disruptions. This paper examines whether diversity in the top management team (TMT) improves firm-level SCR and why, using panel data for Chinese A-share firms (2011–2023) with controls for industry and year effects. We find that greater TMT heterogeneity is positively associated with SCR, and the baseline model explains of the variance in SCR. Mechanism tests indicate that heterogeneous TMTs promote digital transformation, which partially mediates the effect; environmental uncertainty attenuates the benefit, while higher innovation quality amplifies it. grounded in upper echelons theory (UET), the study shows that TMT heterogeneity has a specific impact on SCR, thereby applying the theory to the SCR context. The results are robust to endogeneity checks and alternative specifications, offering actionable implications for managers seeking resilience.