Exploring the drivers and barriers to digital transformation adoption for sustainable supply chains: a comprehensive overview

Abstract

In today's manufacturing industry, digital transformation has become a focal point for academia and practitioners due to its potential to drive supply chain management and sustainability outcomes. This transformation provides numerous opportunities to improve strategic, tactical, and operational capabilities to meet sustainability goals. However, the high level of uncertainty associated with digital transformation programs has created doubts among many manufacturing companies about the successful adoption of digital transformation in their supply chain processes. While previous studies have examined digital transformation technologies and their implementations in supply chains, little attention has been given to the drivers and barriers associated with adopting digital technologies for sustainable supply chains, especially in the context of manufacturing. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive overview of digital transformation adoption in manufacturing supply chains and identifying the critical drivers and barriers to successful digital transformation implementation. A total of six barriers and eleven drivers have been selected from the literature. Finally, this study provides insights for decision-makers to overcome the main barriers that hinder the successful implementation of digital technologies in supply chain functions, which can lead to a higher ethical supply chain level from a sustainability and operational efficiency perspective.