Abstract
Companies are pressured by regulatory authorities, consumers and other stakeholders to improve their environmental performance. Within globalized supply chains, corporate sustainability performance is inevitably influenced by the behaviour of suppliers. Gathering reliable traceability data from suppliers (e.g. regarding raw materials) is an important, yet difficult issue to contribute to (measuring) environmental sustainability. Most studies overlook the importance of sharing traceability data, and lack a holistic approach to the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability. Our study sets focus on whether traceability data exchange within the dyadic relationship between the focal firm (buyer) and its major suppliers positively correlates with the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability. Furthermore, we investigate the effects of reward and coercive power use on traceability data and on corporate sustainability dimensions. The findings of a survey among 136 purchasing professionals in the manufacturing industry confirm the positive effect of sharing traceability data on the buyer's corporate sustainability performance. The use of reward power encourages suppliers to share traceability data, while coercive power does not influence on information sharing. Within buyer-supplier relationships, buyers should be aware of the importance of reward power in the process of traceability information sharing. • Sharing of traceability data positively affects buyers' environmental, economic and social sustainability. • Reward power encourages suppliers to share traceability data. • Findings suggest no effect of coercive power on information sharing. • Sharing traceability data contributes to the resilience of supply chains. • Sharing traceability data is of critical importance for supply chain disruptions, such as driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
In response to the negative environmental and social impact of global industrial growth, there is an urgent need for more sustainable ways of doing business (Rajeev et al, 2017)
This finding is in line with earlier studies that found that information sharing could positively contribute to sustainability performance in supply chain context (e.g. Khan et al, 2018), and complements the current body of knowledge by specifying and measuring the type of information shared, focusing on the exchange of traceability data
Sustainability research is becoming more important due to globalization, industrial growth and increasing consumer awareness of the negative environmental effects of business, we still know little of the dynamics and influencing factors of corporate sustainability
Summary
In response to the negative environmental and social impact of global industrial growth, there is an urgent need for more sustainable ways of doing business (Rajeev et al, 2017) Within corporate context, these concerns have led to the integration of environmental systems analysis tools, such as Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment. In relation to the (corporate; strategic) sustainability goals, environmental systems have the potential to contribute to the wider strategic agenda, such as sustainability disclosure (Mohammad and Wasiuzzaman, 2021) and Circular business models (e.g. Barros et al, 2020). Given their focus on input data, environmental systems analysis tools rely heavily on supplier information. As many supply chains cover a multitude of countries and continents, it is challenging to check whether all suppliers at different tiers are committed to sustainability
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