Enablers of social sustainability in the supply chain: An example of footwear industry from an emerging economy

Abstract

Supply chain sustainability includes environmental, economic, and social dimensions. However, social sustainability in supply chains has received less attention than environmental and economic dimensions. Sustainability issues in emerging economies have also been neglected. Literature reviews reveal that assessing social sustainability in the context of the footwear supply chain in an emerging economy is still an under-researched area. Therefore, this study investigates enablers of social sustainability in the footwear supply chains in Bangladesh using the Best-Worst method. The framework was applied to a footwear manufacturing company with an aim to incorporate social sustainability practices into operations and supply chains. Nineteen enablers were identified by reviewing the extant literature. Among them, ten enablers were selected with the help of expert inputs. The enablers were ranked according to average weight evaluated by the Best-Worst method. The results indicated that workplace health and safety practices was the most important enabler to the social sustainability of a footwear manufacturing company’s supply chain, followed by the wages and benefits offered to the employees of the company. The findings of this study are expected to guide industrial managers and experts on where to focus attention on achieving social sustainability in supply chains.