How SMEs’ supply chain specific investment impacts supply chain financing performance: insights from signaling theory

Purpose This study aims to investigate how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs’) supply chain specific investment (SCSIs) affects supply chain financing performance (SCFP) in the innovative industrial finance model, and further analyze the internal mechanisms and important contextual factors. Design/methodology/approach Based on signaling theory, this study constructs a mediating and moderating model to examine the influencing mechanisms of SMEs’ SCSIs on SCFP, including the mediating effect of opportunism and the moderating effect of digital technology deployment (DTD). A multiple regression analysis is conducted to verify the theoretical hypotheses, using questionnaire data collected from 288 SMEs in China. Findings The empirical findings indicate that both SMEs’ supply chain asset-specific and relationship-specific investments can significantly promote SCFP. Also, SMEs’ SCSIs can improve SCFP by reducing the occurrence of opportunism perceived by supply chain partners. The breadth of DTD positively moderates the relationship between the two types of SCSIs and SCFP, while the depth of DTD has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between SCSIs and SCFP. Originality/value This study has discussed the important and novel issue of how financially distressed SMEs can send effective signals to financial institutions by increasing their SCSIs in supply chain finance mode. By revealing the influencing mechanisms of SMEs’ SCSIs on SCFP, this study contributes to expanding the research on the antecedents of SCFP from the dimension of interorganizational transactions. This study also enriches the perspectives of signaling theory by exploring the interaction between signal sender and signal intermediary.