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Sustainability trends have changed the modus operandi in businesses even as the market environment becomes more socially conscious. However, relatively little research has been conducted on integrating social sustainability aspects with a focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR) into the selection of suppliers in the service sector, particularly the banking industry. In this paper, this study aims to propose a CSR decision support methodology to evaluate and prioritize socially responsible suppliers.

A novel integrated decision support methodology composed of Shannon Entropy and TOmada de Decisão Interativa e Multicritério (TODIM) methods is introduced. The Shannon-Entropy approach is used to estimate CSR factor weights, and TODIM is used to rank the suppliers, with the process completed in a group decision setting.

A Nigerian bank was used as a case study to test and show the usefulness of the CSR-based decision framework in evaluating and selecting socially responsible suppliers. The results show the topmost ranked suppliers that are recommended for future negotiations by the case (bank). The study will enable banks to select socially responsible suppliers, which could accelerate the attainment of sustainability objectives, protect their reputations and improve competitiveness.

This study pioneers the application of a novel decision methodology based on Shannon Entropy and TODIM in selecting socially sustainable suppliers in the Banking sector of an African emerging economy-Nigeria.

The purpose of this paper is to explore reputational risk that are borne in the supply chain and contribute to this contemporary but growing research stream.

First, a theoretical framework is provided to help in the characterisation of reputational risks and how they impact supply chain members that may be multiple tiers away from the manufacturer. Then, semi-structured interviews were conducted with practitioners who were familiar with reputational risks and who were engaging in varying mitigating techniques. Cognitive modelling was utilised to report the findings.

The practitioners in this paper were very familiar with the risks and were active in varying mitigating practices as budgets and resource constraints would allow. The brevity of the risks identified and the significance of specific risks with how they impact a reputation was revealed. Mitigation is an ongoing and haphazard process with very little information available as would be expected with a typical risk management approach.

This paper serves to provide practitioners insight into the varying methods used by firms with supply chain members that number in hundreds. Based on our findings, a recommendation was made that utilise corporate social responsibility as a foundation that is proposed to address a number of risks including those related to price, availability and quality. The limits of this work are that it is specific to a select group of practitioners specialised in this area. Although the information is rich, it is not generalisable.

This paper makes a significant contribution to the literature by providing insight into the perceptions of practitioners who make decisions on mitigating reputational risks. The results suggest that this is a very new area of management that is striving to find a way to minimise their exposure.