Does Sustainability Supply Chain Risk Management Intensify Smart Sustainable Circular Supply Chain for the Post-pandemic Preparedness? Insight into the Enabling Role of Cloud-Based Accounting Information Systems Integrated with Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence

The supply chain issues for the post-pandemic preparedness that have impacted small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have become a burgeoningly critical field of attention for academicians and practitioners globally. Congruent with the worldwide calls for more concerns on interaction between supply chain, sustainability, circular economy, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as well as risk management, this study aims to offer a valuable model which intensely explores structural interconnection between cloud-based accounting information systems integrated with blockchain and artificial intelligence (CAIS-BA) and smart sustainable circular supply chain (SSCSC). Also, it attempts to deepen insights into the mediating mechanism of sustainability supply chain risk management (SSCRM) in enhancing the impact of CAIS-BA on SSCSC. The significance and relevance of the hypothesized linkages between the abovementioned variables in the theoretical model were empirically investigated through a convenience and snowball sample of 723 valid responses acquired following essential screening steps to assure the eligibility of garnered data for analysis using structural equation modeling. The findings authenticated that CAIS-BA was positively and substantially related to SSCSC. Outstandingly, the nexus between CAIS-BA and SSCSC was proliferated when SSCRM was implemented in an efficient and effective manner. The valuable observations of this research would be beneficial for practitioners to perform format creation and reorientation of operational strategies to strengthen their internal resources pertaining to SSCRM implementation and CAIS-BA application to formulate SSCSC. Additionally, policymakers and regulators who develop and promulgate laws, regulations, and policies pertaining to supply chain management and accounting practices could draw on these insights.