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This paper aims to investigate the potential of blockchain technology (BCT) for enhancing the effectiveness of ecolabelling schemes (ecolabels). The paper examines ecolabels’ effectiveness across three criteria – reducing adverse environmental and social impacts, enhancing quality and safety standards during production and service delivery and increasing producer’s trading power via decreased information asymmetry. These three categories are compared with technology’s status quo, linking use cases relevant to the enhancement of contemporary ecolabels’ effectiveness. Conclusions are drawn over BCT’s potential for enhancing the effectiveness of ecolabels. The paper also offers directions for future research related to BCT and purpose-driven ecolabels.

This study adopted a qualitative interpretivist approach to investigate the potential BCT represents for enhancement of the effectiveness of ecolabelling schemes (ecolabels). The paper identifies three criteria against which ecolabels can be assessed in respect to their effectiveness. Additionally, it looks for linkages between the design of ecolabels and a creation and utilisation of improved practices in a given industry. This conceptual literature review resulted in a framework for ecolabels’ effectiveness and a lens to review BCT-related literature with potential to enhance ecolabels’ design and trading practices.

There is an undeniable shift in attitude towards the adoption of BCT, stepping away from the naïve notion that BCT can fix all the problems encountered in a supply chain. On the one hand, BCT offers to better inform consumers of the green benefits ecolabelled products provide. On the other hand, a broader application of BCT currently faces a trilemma of challenges related to issues of decentralisation, security and scalability. BCT’s presence is likely to force ecolabelling organisations to review their position on the market and their intended purpose in the marketplace.

This paper is based on a conceptual literature review and derives with three key themes grouping ecolabels against their efficiencies. These themes provide scope for a search of relevant blockchain-embedded use cases that may or may not contribute to the enhancement of ecolabels’ impact. This is a conceptual, theoretical review of possible approaches that can be adopted by commerce with predictions relevant to ecolabels. This paper does not claim any empirical findings.

Despite interest BCT gained to date, the technology still deals with unresolved issues related to decentralisation, scalability and security. Many studies advise caution, and some do not view the technology as disruptive but foundational. The paper provides references to studies that assist organisations with a decision, whether it is the right time to invest in BCT or not.

This paper adds to the ambition most ecolabels strive for, and that is to mitigate adverse environmental and social impacts production of conventional products may have. Use cases embedded in BCT offer insights into the impacts of enhanced transparency within supply chains. For example, BCT is likely to work well for improving the lives of those producing the foods we eat while informing on issues such as child labour or planting of new trees as part of an offset program.

This paper’s contribution is manifold. First, it delivers a qualitative conceptual analysis of principal ecolabels against their stated purpose. Second, it reviews the BCT literature and identifies cases that are able to provide perspective on the technology’s relevance to ecolabels’ effectiveness. Third, by exploring the overlap of the two concepts, this paper discusses the likelihood of future BCT’s utilisation in ecolabelling programs.

The rise of CSR followed a demand for CSR standards and guidelines. In a sector already characterized by a large number of standards, the authors seek to ask what CSR schemes apply to agribusiness, and how they can be systematically compared and analysed.

Following a deductive‐inductive approach the authors develop a model to compare and analyse CSR schemes based on existing studies and on coding qualitative data on 216 CSR schemes.

The authors confirm that CSR standards and guidelines have entered agribusiness and identify a complex landscape of schemes that can be categorized on focus areas, scales, mechanisms, origins, types and commitment levels.

The findings contribute to conceptual and empirical research on existing models to compare and analyse CSR standards. Sampling technique and depth of analysis limit this research, but the authors offer insights into patterns of CSR standard development in agribusiness and point to important research avenues.

These findings can help agribusiness managers to select and analyse CSR standards and other forms of CSR guidance.

Standard and guidance setting activities can be expected to have real‐life effects on CSR outcomes. These effects need to be better understood by policy makers and stakeholders. The authors' meta‐analysis contributes to further research on who or what influences standard development.

Models to compare CSR schemes are rare and often focus on a small number of cases. The authors provide decision makers and researchers with insights into structural conditions through a meta‐analysis of a larger number of CSR schemes.

The paper's aims are: to scrutinize International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26000 international guidance standard for social responsibility; to discuss the role of this standard in the adoption of social responsibility in organisations with existing quality management systems in line with ISO 9000.

Building on academic literature and recent resolutions and working documents from ISO, the paper discusses ISO 9000 and ISO 26000 in five areas: general description; scope; approach to supply chain management; principles and content.

Provides a comparison between ISO 9000 and ISO 26000 in each area listed above. Argues for ISO 9000 to provide a structural and infrastructural platform for organisations to develop and adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR) and for ISO 26000 to facilitate a shift from customer focus to stakeholder focus hence creating a business‐to‐society orientation in organisations.

A very useful source for those who work in the arena of CSR and those wanting to stay at the cutting edge of the latest developments in CSR and international standardization. Advocates an approach for managers to utilize ISO 26000 to review strategy and management systems in organisations.

Provides an analysis of future trends in CSR and ISO standards. Sets areas for future research.

To investigate the influence of organisational culture on the implementation of ISO 14001:1996 environmental management system (EMS) standard in two manufacturing case study organisations (CSOs).

This research is a case study action research conducted in two manufacturing organisations in the UK.

The hassles authors identified a framework of four dimensions of organisational culture that play an important role during the ISO 14001:1996 implementation process of. These are recognised as people, process, structure and environment.

The study is limited to two case organisations, which are based in the UK.

The four dimensions of organisational culture identified through this research can help practitioners to coordinate their ISO 14000:1996 implementation projects.

This paper fulfils the need to improve the understanding of the impact of the organisational culture on ISO 14001:1996 implementation projects within the manufacturing environment.

The purpose of this paper is to map the key challenges that quality management faces in order to meet the demands of CSR. The paper focuses on ISO 26000 – a newly emerging international standard for social responsibility – and discusses synergies (and divergences) between quality management (and ISO quality management and environmental management standards) and CSR as they emerged during the process of ISO 26000 development.

This paper draws conclusions from the resolutions and working materials produced by ISO Committee on Consumer Policy, the Strategic Advisory Group on Social Responsibility and ISO/TMB/WG SR – a working group in charge of the development of ISO 26000. To add the quality management dimension to the discussion, the evidence is further expanded from the ISO documents by revealing the arguments posited by nominated experts during the development of ISO 26000.

The paper finds that the quality field can significantly contribute to the deployment and uptake of the corporate social responsibility agenda yet needs to reinvent and rejuvenate in key areas such as management systems; integration of strategy, operations, technology, CSR and quality; incorporation of corporate governance; and improvements in third‐party certification and internal auditing practices.

The research in the paper is limited to the linkages between quality management and CSR stemming from the development of ISO 26000. Other CSR standards and tools are not included. However, as ISO 26000 is a global initiative, this paper provides a view from the perspective of one of the most significant initiatives in recent years.

The paper informs quality practitioners about the recent developments in international standardization of social responsibility and draws the linkages between quality management and corporate social responsibility that will enable them to adopt the CSR agenda and ISO 26000 in the future.

This is one of the first papers that deals with the linkages and synergies between ISO 26000 and quality management. By doing so, key areas are also offered that practitioners and academics should further explore in order to demonstrate the contribution of quality management to CSR.

This paper explores the implementation of a process‐based management system within a service organisation that has recently achieved certification of its quality management system to the ISO 9001:2000 requirements. Many academics and business people alike consider process‐based management as a fundamental requirement of certification to ISO 9001:2000 quality management systems. Hence, this paper discusses the definition of a process‐based management system and also considers, through a literature review, theories relating to the topic. Consequently, a theoretical model is proposed that outlines the factors affecting successful implementation of a process‐based management system. The paper demonstrates that the theoretical model has been assessed within a UK housing association enterprise case study organisation. The case study organisation presented in this paper, shows the potential barriers of implementation of a process‐based management system.

Organisational resilience and digital maturity both explain how some organisations are better able to cope with unexpected disruptions. However, research exploring the relationship between these two concepts, and their role in addressing exogenous shocks, remains sparse. This study first aimed to compare digitally mature SME retailers’ organisational resilience with that of digitally less mature SME retailers and then investigate further how their digital maturity impacted their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors adopt an explanatory two-phase mixed-method research design, with online surveys from 79 SME retailers in South Africa, followed by interviews.

Digitally mature SMEs exhibited higher levels of organisational resilience, specifically with respect to situational awareness, management of keystone vulnerabilities and adaptive capacity. The authors also demonstrate that digital leadership is a greater driver of organisational resilience than digital capabilities.

The authors suggest ways for SME retailers to develop their digital maturity, particularly their digital leadership, to increase their organisational resilience.

This paper makes a case for SME retailers to focus on building their digital maturity to better cope with and learn from unexpected events. In particular, digital maturity is positively associated with SME retailers’ innovation and creativity and their devolved and responsive decision-making.

The review of contemporary organisational change theories identified one theory which seemed relevant to explaining the organisational change phenomenon in public enterprises – Van de Ven and Poole’s (1995) Evolutionary Change Theory (ECT). However, further review of the management literature revealed its limitations in explaining change, particularly in public enterprises. The theory fails to identify the triggers of change and the roles of various stakeholders, and the purpose of this paper is to enhance model of the ECT and appraise it.

Researchers continue to highlight the need to examine context when examining a change process; therefore, the authors utilised a process research approach to examine changes in the New Zealand electricity industry over the past four decades. As the approach is a flexible one, it allowed exploration of the critical features of change.

Analysis revealed compelling evidence of two new proposed stages to the ECT which operated in conjunction with external environmental influences that acted as stimuli for change.

The research provided insight into the various influences on organisational change, particularly public enterprises. It confirms the previously ignored power of the external environment and the role of stakeholders in influencing organisational change.

The research advances current understanding of organisational change as it offers an enhanced model of the ECT by identifying the trigger for organisational change in public enterprises. Furthermore, it finds different stakeholder groups with the ability to influence the organisational change process.

The purpose of this research is to provide a systematic insight into corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate citizenship (CC) in supply chain development, by analyzing the current literature, contemporary concepts, data and gaps for future discipline research.

This research identifies information from existing academic journals and investigates research designs and methods, data analysis techniques, industry involvement and geographic locations. Information regarding university affiliation, publishers, authors, year of publication is also documented. A collection of online databases from 2001 to 2018 were explored, using the keywords “corporate social responsibility”, “corporate citizenship” and “supply chain” in their title and abstract, to deliver an inclusive listing of journal articles in this discipline area. Based on this approach, a total of 164 articles were found, and information on a chain of variables was collected.

There has been visible growth in published articles over the last 18 years regarding supply chain sustainability, CSR and CC. Analysis of the data collected shows that only five literature reviews have been published in this area. Further, key findings include 41% of publications were narrowly focused on four sectors of industry, leaving gaps in the research. 85% centered on the survey and conceptual model, leaving an additional gap for future research. Finally, developing and developed nation status should be delineated, researched and analyzed based on further segmentation of the industry by region.

This research is limited to reviewing only academic and professional articles available from Emerald, Elsevier, Wiley, Sage, Taylor and Francis, Springer, Scopus, JSTOR and EBSCO containing the words “corporate social responsibility”, “corporate citizenship” and “supply chain” in the title and abstract.

This assessment provides an enhanced appreciation of the current practices of current research and offers further directions within the CSR and CC in supply chain sustainable development.