The impact of metaverse-driven design on supply chain resilience and performance: a hybrid PLS-SEM and ANN approach

The metaverse is transforming global supply chain operations by enhancing resilience and performance through immersive system environments and advanced interface design strategies. However, its adoption and effectiveness remain underexplored in emerging economies. This study investigates the impact of metaverse adoption on supply chain resilience and performance in Pakistan and China, examining the mediating roles of agility, risk management, and transparency, along with the moderating effect of data security design mechanisms. Using a hybrid analytical approach combining partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and artificial neural networks (ANN), data from 411 supply chain professionals in Pakistan and 475 in China were analysed. The findings confirm that metaverse adoption significantly enhances supply chain resilience and performance in both contexts, with agility and transparency serving as key mediating factors, while risk management shows only partial mediation. The moderating analysis reveals that the data security design mechanism does not significantly moderate the relationship between metaverse adoption and resilience, but it does positively strengthen the link between metaverse adoption and performance. ANN results across both countries identify transparency, agility, and metaverse adoption as the most influential design-integrated determinants. The study offers theoretical and practical implications for advancing metaverse-enabled, design-driven supply chains in emerging Asian economies.