An integrated AHP and ISO14000, ISO26000 based approach for improving sustainability in supply chains

Abstract

Purpose

Typically, adoption of sustainability in organizations are often done in an unstructured way without the consideration of other partners in the supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a coherent plan to improve sustainability in the supply chains utilizing ISO standards for environment and social responsibility.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on literature on ISO14000 and ISO26000 to derive a set of variables applicable to supply chains, which are then prioritized for real organizations utilizing analytic hierarchy process.

Findings

The findings highlight that not all the variables of environmental, social and economic responsibility are equally important. Besides, the work reported in this paper justifies the application of multi-criteria decision-making (AHP) to prioritize elements of sustainability in context supply chains. The suggested method is illustrated using inputs from large manufacturing companies in Qatar.

Practical implications

ISO14000 and ISO26000 are well known standards; however, there was no effort to integrate these standards to improve sustainability in supply chains. The suggested methodology provides invaluable help to the managers to implement sustainability in a coherent manner across the supply chain.

Originality/value

The research contributes to the extant literature by proposing a new methodology based on the integration of three-approaches: Analytic Hierarchy Process, ISO14000 and ISO26000 systems.

Citation

Talib, F., K Josaiman, S. and Faisal, M.N. (2021), "An integrated AHP and ISO14000, ISO26000 based approach for improving sustainability in supply chains", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 38 No. 6, pp. 1301-1327. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-04-2020-0129