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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of integrated internal audit management (IIAM) and compare the implementation of IIAM by Malaysian firms with different certifications (ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001).

This study involves three studies on the implementation of integrated internal audit processes. Furthermore, this study compares the implementation of the audit in the selected firms. The qualitative research methodology was adopted to analyse the data.

This study is an exploratory study and the findings indicate the differences between the implementation of the internal audit process across different firms. All the firms are highly motivated and demonstrate resource management whilst implementing the IIAM while firms experiencing the same difficulties. The study also found that all of the firms are enjoying similar benefits.

The scope of this research paper is limited to three Malaysian manufacturing firms with different quality certifications: ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. Thus, the finding cannot be generalised to all firms in Malaysia. However, the findings are significant as they present an interesting comparison between the implementation of IIAM by manufacturing firms in Malaysia.

Although the integration of management systems has been analysed many times, this study focussed on the comparison of firms’ practices of the IIAM.

Sustainability and environmental issues are among the most pressing concerns for modern humanity, governments and environmentally conscious business organizations. Green supply chain management has been acknowledged as a key factor to promote organizational sustainability. Green supply chain management is evolving into an important approach for organizations in emerging economies to manage their environmental responsibility. Yet, despite their importance for easing environmental degradation and providing economic benefits, study of the drivers that influence green supply chain initiatives in an emerging economy is still an under‐researched area. Using survey data collected from ISO 14001 certified organizations from Malaysia, the purpose of this paper is to propose that the drivers that motivate firms to adopt green supply chain management can be measured by a second‐order construct related to the implementation of the firm's green supply chain initiatives.

Structural equation model was used to analyze a set of survey data to validate the research hypotheses.

The research reveals four crucial drivers of green supply chain adoption that collectively affect a firm's green purchasing, design‐for‐environment and reverse logistics initiatives. This study uncovers several crucial relationships between green supply chain drivers and initiatives among Malaysian manufacturers.

The role of the drivers is crucial in motivating these firms to adopt green supply chain initiatives and facilitate their adoption. Firms in emerging countries need to realize that green supply chain initiatives can result in significant benefits to their firms, environment, and the society at large which gives them additional incentives to adopt these initiatives.

Global outsourcing shifts manufacturing jobs to emerging countries, which provides new opportunities for improving their economic development. The authors develop and test a theoretical model to predict first, how sustainable supply chain initiatives might influence reverse logistics outcomes and second, the impact of eco-reputation and eco-innovation orientation strategies on the deployment of sustainable supply chain initiatives. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The proposed new model of antecedents and outcomes of sustainable supply chain initiatives underwent a rigorous empirical test through structural equation modeling with samples from an emerging market.

The results show that firms that implement sustainable supply chain initiatives can realize positive reverse logistics outcomes; the study also provides new insights into eco-innovation and eco-reputation strategic orientations as theoretically important antecedents of sustainable supply chain initiatives.

Though the authors identify three components of sustainable supply chain initiatives, other components could exist, and ongoing research should investigate them.

The findings have important implications for managers in emerging markets seeking to initiate ecologically friendly business practices. The authors offer strong evidence of the benefits obtained from reverse logistics in sustainable supply chain initiatives. Policy makers and firms attempting to nurture sustainable supply chain initiatives should not overlook the important role of eco-reputation and eco-innovation strategic orientations, which the results identify as important enablers.

This study offers evidence of the critical role of eco-reputation and eco-innovation strategic orientations in deploying sustainable supply chain initiative programs, as well as of their mutual effects. This study also offers empirical evidence that implementing sustainable supply chain initiatives leads to reverse logistics, creating value, and a new source of competitive advantages.

Environmental sustainability literature provides extensive evidence that business organizations, societies, and governments all have a stake in green operations management. Despite the importance of a firm's effort to alleviate environmental damages and provide economic benefits to organizations, little is known about the external institutional drivers that enable firms to adopt internal proactive environmental strategies. This purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which an internal proactive environmental strategy (eco‐design) and external institutional drivers (government regulations and incentives, customer pressures) motivate firms to adopt eco‐deigns that influence environmental performance.

Hypotheses are tested using data from a sample of 132 EMS ISO 14001 – certified manufacturing firms in Malaysia. Specifically, this study uses survey data to validate the major premises in our proposed model.

Empirical tests of the hypotheses with structural equation modeling (SEM) support the posited explanation that external institutional drivers influence a firm's environmental performance both directly and indirectly through its internal proactive environmental strategy. These findings extend prior research by establishing the importance of the relationships among regulations/incentives, customer pressures, eco‐designs, and environmental performance.

Although the research design incorporates extensive literature reviews, it does not capture every aspect of underlying constructs characteristics. Future efforts should establish a valid, reliable instrument for these constructs.

This research provides rigorous empirical support of the contribution of eco‐design to environmental performance. This finding helps managers recognize how to leverage their internally developed eco‐designs capabilities by responding to external pressures and institutional concerns. The response to external institutional pressures provides a basis for creating an inimitable eco‐design resource base, which is critical to environmental sustainability.

This study examines a key factor, eco‐design, that may transmit the influence of regulations/incentives and customer pressures to firm's environmental performance. The findings provide strong support for the main thesis, as well as valuable insights about predictors of firm environmental performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how sustainable practices in supply chains are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of institutional theory.

This research applies a twofold data collection approach: 1) qualitative semistructured interviews and 2) secondary data collection that includes sustainability reports, newspaper articles, journal articles, strategic plans, research reports and statements made by authorities and stakeholders concerning decision-making. In total, managers representing six companies in Norway were interviewed.

The study suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, companies tend to focus on short-term decisions and economic issues. The long-term focus on sustainability has, however, increased at the cluster level. The research also indicates that the pandemic has led to the development of new business routines that may transform institutional norms. The diversity of institutional contexts can, on the one hand, drive sustainability transitions through pressures and supportive programs but, on the other hand, also hinder the development of sustainability thinking.

Institutional factors must be included when analyzing the effects of crises and sustainable transitions. Researchers are encouraged to explore the COVID-19 implications in the form of longitudinal studies.

Policymakers can benefit from in-depth knowledge on the adverse effects of an institutional environment on sustainability. For managers, the outbreak of the pandemic can afford them additional time to revise their strategies and seek innovation. The pandemic highlights the need to build more resilient and sustainable systems that will aid managers in responding rapidly during future uncertainties and enduring sustainability trajectories in operations.

The paper offers an in-depth investigation of COVID-19 effects on the sustainability of supply chains by drawing on institutional theory.