Mitigating ripple effect in supply networks: the effect of trust and topology on resilience
通过NK主体模型模拟，研究信任对供应链网络韧性的影响，发现网络拓扑结构调节信任与韧性的关系，且信任的积极作用随扰动频率增加而减弱。
The ripple effect refers to disruption propagation across the supply network affecting its global performance. To cope with it, supply networks should be resilient. This study investigates the drivers of supply network resilience, viewed as adaptive capacity to disruptions, focusing on trust and investigating the moderating role of network topology on the relationship between trust and resilience. We first develop an NK agent-based model of the supply network to simulate resilient performance. Then, a simulation analysis is carried out, to assess the effect of trust on the resilience of supply networks displaying different complex topologies. Our results confirm that trust positively affects supply network resilience; however, across the different topologies, the beneficial effect of trust varies. In particular, we find that trust is beneficial at most for the following topologies: local, small-world, block-diagonal, and random. For centralised, diagonal, and hierarchical topologies improving trust increases resilience at a moderat e level. We also find that, as the frequency of disruptions rises, the positive effect of trust on resilience decreases. Managerial implications of the main findings are finally discussed.