Driving Forces towards the Adoption of Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices: Empirical Evidence from Manufacturing Industries in Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the major driving forces and to examine their effect on SSCM practices. Both inferential and descriptive research designs were used for this paper. The sample firms were selected by a proportional stratified sampling technique and from each sample firm, three respondents were selected purposively. Accordingly, valid data were collected via questionnaires from 420 respondents of 146 large-scale manufacturing firms. The findings signified that the major internal driving forces are social responsibility, interest to manage reputation and environmental-related risk, and desire to cut down costs, whereas; pressure from customers, government regulation and legislation, pressures from competitors, and international standards are the major external driving forces. Both internal and external driving forces have a positive and significant effect on SSCM practices. Among SSCM practices, sustainable packing practices were found highly adopted by large-scale manufacturing firms in Ethiopia.