Workforce management as a missing link in supply chain resilience: A public policy

Supply chain resilience has garnered significant attention against the backdrop of recurring global disruptions such as pandemic outbreak, heightened geopolitical risk and workforce shocks. The extant literature on supply chain resilience has predominantly focused on structural designs, sourcing approaches and technological interventions often presuming the uninterrupted availability of the workforce to implement these strategies. Consequently, workforce management remains under-investigated as a strategic pillar of supply chain resilience. Simultaneously, public policy is predominantly treated as a contextual dimension rather than a determining force shaping workforce-related strategic decisions. This conceptual study suggests that workforce management represents a missing link in existing supply chain resilience frameworks and that public policy plays a vital role in driving workforce availability and adaptability. Adopting the resource-based perspective, institutional framework and dynamic capability approach, the study proposes a unified perspective that frames human capital as a core, policy-conditioned determinant of supply chain resilience. The research extends existing conceptual frameworks and practice-oriented implications for managers and policymakers aiming to develop resilient and adaptive supply chains under conditions of uncertainty.