Jens K. Roehrich, Stefan U. Hoejmose and Victoria Overland
The purpose of this paper is to apply self-determination theory (SDT) to green supply chain management (GSCM) and explore how green supplier selection (GSS) drives GSCM…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply self-determination theory (SDT) to green supply chain management (GSCM) and explore how green supplier selection (GSS) drives GSCM performance and how realisation of improved GSCM performance is contingent upon SDT mechanisms of autonomy, competence and relatedness.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on 18 semi-structured interviews and secondary data from a Germany-based first-tier aircraft interior manufacturer and its six key suppliers. The focal company was selected because it is recognised as having achieved high GSCM standards in the aerospace industry.
Findings
The study draws out the importance of GSS, distinguishing between new and legacy suppliers, and offers significant insights into how suppliers’ motivation and downstream GSCM criteria can be internalised in second-tier suppliers to drive GSCM performance.
Practical implications
GSS should be considered not only for new suppliers but also at an ongoing basis for legacy suppliers. Focal companies must realise the importance of motivating supply chain partners to realise GSCM practices and need to first build-up autonomy before focussing on competence and relatedness sub-dimensions.
Originality/value
The authors make a significant contribution to the GSCM literature by conducting a study of first-tier-second-tier relationships, thus moving beyond the buyer-supplier relationships investigated in extant studies. The results theoretically and empirically draw out key factors in GSS and supplier motivation in engaging with GSCM practices, thus driving GSCM performance.
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Jens K. Roehrich, Johanne Grosvold and Stefan U. Hoejmose
This paper aims to apply the logic of bounded rationality to corporate reputation management and explores how constraints posed by bounded rationality impact on firms’…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to apply the logic of bounded rationality to corporate reputation management and explores how constraints posed by bounded rationality impact on firms’ implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM).
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on primary and secondary data from 12 UK-based companies. The authors conducted 17 semi-structured interviews and analysed the data through an inductive methodology.
Findings
Reputational risk exposure is a central driver in a company's decision to implement SSCM practices. However, managers face bounded rationality, in particular: conflicting priorities; capabilities and resources; commitment; and contextual setting, which in turn, means that companies do what they can to safeguard their reputation, but balance the extent to which they implement SSCM and the cost of doing so against the likelihood of exposure.
Practical implications
By engaging in collaborative relationships with their supply chain partners, focal firms who wish to implement SSCM can spread the cost of SSCM across supply chain partners, which helps decrease the extent to which firms face the conflicting priorities of financial targets and SSCM. A long-term commitment to SSCM can also help build capabilities and resources necessary for SSCM implementation.
Originality/value
The paper makes a significant contribution to the literature by conducting a cross-sectional study of the decision-making process involved in SSCM. The results suggest that managers are facing a number of constraints, which leads to sub-optimal choices regarding the level of SSCM implementation.
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Johanne Grosvold, Stefan U. Hoejmose and Jens K. Roehrich
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationships between management, measurement and performance of sustainability in supply chains. The authors develop a framework…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationships between management, measurement and performance of sustainability in supply chains. The authors develop a framework which explores these links through decoupling as articulated by the institutional theory. They draw on a conceptual continuum of reactive-proactive sustainable supply chain practices and identify clusters of companies along these dimensions and evaluate the theoretical and managerial implications of this for sustainability performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses primary and secondary datasets from 12 inductive, multiple case studies across different industries. This method ensures that we are better able to encapsulate a broader and more diverse set of practices and settings which in turn adds robustness to the theory we induced from our findings.
Findings
The authors find varying degrees of alignment between management practices and measurement systems of sustainable supply chains. Some firms better align their sustainable supply chain management and measurement practices than others, resulting in tighter coupling and ultimately improved sustainability performance in the supply chain.
Research limitations/implications
Further research may explore the conditions under which firms decouple their practices and the contextual settings that are associated with decoupling, loosely and tightly coupled alignment. Additionally, the conceptual framework should be tested across countries, industries and different relationships between public and private organisations.
Originality/value
This is one of the first empirical explorations of the decoupling theory and the reactive-proactive continuum in sustainable supply chain management.
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Professor Helen Walker, Professor Stefan Seuring, Professor Joseph Sarkis and Professor Robert Klassen
Stefan Hoejmose, Stephen Brammer and Andrew Millington
This paper aims to explore the effect of business strategy on socially responsible supply chain management (SR‐SCM).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the effect of business strategy on socially responsible supply chain management (SR‐SCM).
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on data from 178 UK‐based companies, and 340 buyer‐supplier relationships. A novel data collection approach is used, which minimizes social desirability and common methods bias, to capture socially responsible supply chain management. The data are analysed through a set of OLS regressions.
Findings
Business strategies significantly influence socially responsible supply chain management. Low‐cost producers largely neglect their social responsibilities in the supply chain. In contrast, firms pursuing differentiation strategies are considerably more engaged with these issues, partly because they have better supply chain processes.
Practical implications
Practitioners should carefully consider the fit between strategic position and level of engagement with SR‐SCM, since our results emphasise the relationship between SR‐SCM and business strategy. Proactive engagement with SR‐SCM, however, also implies sound supply chain processes, which must also be aligned with business strategy. Policy‐makers should consider the low engagement with SR‐SCM of low‐cost producers and the implications for SR‐SCM in cost sensitive and competitive global markets.
Originality/value
This is the first systematic cross‐sectional study of the relationship between business strategy and socially responsible supply chain management (SR‐SCM). These results suggest that there is a clear relationship between the strategic position of the firm and their SR‐SCM practices. These results contribute to the on‐going debate on relationships between strategy and supply chain management, and the emerging debate on the relationships between strategy and SR‐SCM.
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Stefan Ulstrup Hoejmose, Johanne Grosvold and Andrew Millington
The purpose of this study is to analyse the role of relational power/dependent asymmetries and symmetries in shaping socially responsible supply chain management, whilst also…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyse the role of relational power/dependent asymmetries and symmetries in shaping socially responsible supply chain management, whilst also examining how these issues are moderated by geographical distance between buyer and supplier.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on data from 339 buyer‐supplier relationships, and the authors use a set of regression models to test their hypotheses.
Findings
Joint dependency positively influences socially responsible supply chain management, whilst supplier power constrains it. Both joint dependency and buyer power become increasingly important determinants of socially responsible supply chain management as geographic distance increases.
Research limitations/implications
Further work is needed to examine the conditions under which organisations will exercise their power advantage or their joint dependence position to improve socially responsible processes in the supply chain, as there may be situations where the buyer chooses not to exercise their power positions.
Practical implications
The authors' results indicate that jointly dependent relationships create the best conditions for socially responsible supply chain management, but they also find that supplier power advantage can constrain such initiatives.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to systematically analyse the implementation of socially responsible supply chain management, within a model that considers power a/symmetric positions of the buyer‐supplier relationship, and the role of geographical distance as a moderating influence on these power positions.
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Mukta Srivastava, Sreeram Sivaramakrishnan and Neeraj Pandey
The increased digital interactions in the B2B industry have enhanced the importance of customer engagement as a measure of firm performance. This study aims to map and analyze…
Abstract
Purpose
The increased digital interactions in the B2B industry have enhanced the importance of customer engagement as a measure of firm performance. This study aims to map and analyze temporal and spatial journeys for customer engagement in B2B markets from a bibliometric perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The extant literature on customer engagement research in the B2B context was analyzed using bibliometric analysis. The citation analysis, keyword analysis, cluster analysis, three-field plot and bibliographic coupling were used to map the intellectual structure of customer engagement in B2B markets.
Findings
The research on customer engagement in the B2B context was studied more in western countries. The analysis suggests that customer engagement in B2B markets will take centre stage in the coming times as digital channels make it easier to track critical metrics besides other key factors. Issues like digital transformation, the use of artificial intelligence for virtual engagement, personalization, innovation and salesforce management by leveraging technology would be critical for improved B2B customer engagement.
Practical implications
The study provides a comprehensive reference to scholars working in this domain.
Originality/value
The study makes a pioneering effort to comprehensively analyze the vast corpus of literature on customer engagement in B2B markets for business insights.
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Mohammadreza Akbari and Robert McClelland
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Research limitations/implications
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.
Originality/value
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.
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Davood Andalib Ardakani, Asieh Soltanmohammadi and Stefan Seuring
The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which institutional pressures affect supplier and customer collaboration and how collaboration explains green supply chain…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which institutional pressures affect supplier and customer collaboration and how collaboration explains green supply chain performance using institutional and stakeholder theories.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper builds on empirical evidence gathered from responses of Iranian industrial managers based on a self-administered survey. The hypotheses in the conceptual model are tested using Smart-PLS (partial least square).
Findings
The results provide evidence that regulatory requirements and internal motivators, as institutional pressure, enable customer and supplier collaboration. Furthermore, customer collaboration has a positive effect on supplier collaboration and, consequently, positively affects environmental and economic performance. But supplier collaboration is just positively affecting environmental performances and is not effective on economic performance.
Research limitations/implications
The subject is that the study is a questionnaire-based survey, and the validity and reliability of the results are influenced by the respondents' idiosyncrasies. This study provides a comprehensive model of drivers, supply chain collaboration and performance in the context of the industry sector. The study contributes by providing empirical data with a focus on customer and supplier collaboration and their interrelationship in GSCM modelling.
Originality/value
The current paper is one of the new field of research which demonstrate the significance of customer and supplier collaboration with each other to attain green performance. It also contributes to show the effect of institutional pressure on the customer-supplier collaboration that fosters green performance in the supply chain.