Consequence of Market Stakeholders’ Engagement in Cashew Nut Supply Chain Resilience in Tanzania Mediated by Institutional Legitimacy: Cooperatives Managers’ Perspectives

Abstract

This study examined the consequence of market stakeholders’ engagement on
cashew nut supply chain resilience in Tanzania, with institutional legitimacy
serving as a mediating factor. The objectives were to examine the consequence
of market stakeholders’ engagement on supply chain resilience, examine the
consequence of institutional legitimacy on supply chain resilience, and examine
the mediating role of institutional legitimacy in the relationship between market
stakeholders’ engagement and supply chain resilience. The study employed an
ex-post facto research design and a simple random sampling technique to select
260 units of analysis. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and
analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings indicate that
market stakeholders’ engagement has a positive and significant effect on supply
chain resilience. Similarly, institutional legitimacy was found to exert a
significant and positive influence on supply chain resilience. Additionally, the
results revealed that institutional legitimacy partially mediates the relationship
between market stakeholders’ engagement and supply chain resilience. The
partial mediation effect of institutional legitimacy represents a novel insight
contributed by this study, providing a foundation for future research in supply
chain management. The findings suggest that enhancing supply chain resilience
requires both active engagement of market stakeholders and the presence of
legitimate institutional frameworks.