Impact of just-in-time (JIT) on supply chain disruption risk: the moderating role of supply chain centralization

Purpose The relationship between just-in-time (JIT) and supply chain disruption risk is unclear from the existing literature. This paper aims to investigate the impact of supplier JIT and customer JIT on supplier disruption risk (SDR), internal disruption risk (IDR), and customer disruption risk (CDR) and explore the moderating role of supply chain centralization. Design/methodology/approach Based on survey data collected from 213 manufacturing firms in China, this study employs structural equation modeling with SmartPLS 3.0 to test the main proposed model and applies an ordinary least square regression to test the moderating effect. Findings The results demonstrate that supplier JIT is positively related to SDR and negatively associated with IDR. Customer JIT is positively associated with CDR but has no significant effect on IDR. The results also show that SDR and CDR lead to IDR and mediate the relationship between supplier JIT, customer JIT, and IDR. In addition, supply chain centralization amplifies the positive impacts of supply chain JIT on SDR and IDR. Originality/value This study makes two main contributions. First, the study provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between supply chain JIT and disruption risk. Second, the study addresses that implementing JIT in a supply chain with a centralized decision-making structure leads to a higher level of disruption risk.