The Performance of Green Supply Chain Management Governance Mechanisms: A Supply Network and Complexity Perspective

Abstract

Global supply networks are becoming increasingly fragmented and complex. At the same time, societal pressures surrounding the environmental accountability of firms are growing, with an increasing number of environmental scandals related to supply networks. Traditional governance frameworks of green supply chain management (GSCM) may be insufficient to deal with this new reality, because they do not consider supply network structure/complexity, and how these factors interact with different governance mechanisms. Our study takes into account the complex interplay between GSCM governance mechanisms, supply network structure/complexity, and environmental performance. We introduce a series of theoretical propositions grounded in an extensive review of the GSCM, supply networks, network complexity, and organizational design literatures. In particular, we argue that supply network structure and complexity directly affect GSCM effectiveness, but that these effects will be contingent upon the type of governance mechanism applied (formal or informal).