Stakeholder Pressure for the Adoption of Sustainable Supply Chain Practices

Abstract

While the drivers for the adoption of sustainable supply chain management practices have been widely studied, most studies focus on the isolated effect of individual drivers. In this study, we examine the relationship between stakeholder pressure and the adoption of social and environmental sustainability supply chain practices given the simultaneous conditional effects of both entrepreneurial orientation and sustainability orientation. A survey of U.S. firms shows that both entrepreneurial orientation and sustainability orientation simultaneously function as moderators of the effect of stakeholder pressure on the adoption of social and environmental sustainability supply chain practices. That is, as stakeholder pressure increases, adoption will be higher for firms with higher entrepreneurial orientation. However, as sustainability orientation increases, adoption of practices will be higher, but the effect of the stakeholder pressure-entrepreneurial orientation interaction diminishes. The main theoretical contribution of this study lies in showing the concurrent effect of two different organizational level drivers on the adoption of social and environmental sustainability supply chain practices. Entrepreneurial orientation will only get firms so far in the adoption of sustainable supply chain practices. Once a strong sustainability orientation takes effect, higher practice adoption ensues independently of stakeholder pressure and entrepreneurial orientation. Therefore, this study indicates that efforts in developing a strong sustainability orientation are more likely to better prepare firms for the adoption of sustainable supply chain management practices.