Supply Chain Social Sustainability Research Articles

Social sustainability in Egypt hospitality and tourism supply chains

AbstractSocial sustainability is in its early stages in hospitality and tourism supply chains, especially in developing countries. This research draws on institutional and stakeholder theories to identify the adopted social sustainability practices in Egypt and to determine the factors affecting their implementation. A mixed‐method research approach is followed involving interviews of hotel managers and a literature‐based questionnaire answered by a total of 187 practitioners from hospitality and tourism supply chains in Egypt. The interviews revealed that social sustainability practices in the two hotels' supply chains are adopted but limited to legal requirements and brand policies. Statistical analysis indicated that local suppliers boost the adoption of social practices. All the studied barriers show very weak correlation with the adoption of social sustainability practices; according to the interviews, this does not imply barriers inexistence, but rather reflects lack of awareness regarding social rights in a culture that tend to preserve social conservatism. The enablers explained significant variations in many social sustainability practices (53 out of 62). This study is unique since it offers a novel approach by linking institutional and stakeholder theories to recognize weaknesses in tourism supply chain social sustainability, thereby providing directions for the future design of sustainable tourism policies.

Influence of stakeholders on supply chain social sustainability: New insights from small suppliers in the Indian manufacturing sector

Due to intense pressure from multiple stakeholders, the integration of social sustainability in supply networks is steadily gaining momentum in developing countries. However, because this pressure does not necessarily drive the adoption of supply chain social sustainability (SCSS) at the suppliers' end, further investigation is imperative. Additionally, despite the increased academic attention to the supplier base concerning SCSS, small suppliers' perspectives have been insufficiently examined. The objectives of the current study are to explore the positive and negative influences of various small suppliers' stakeholders on SCSS adoption, small suppliers' perceptions regarding stakeholders' demands, and the mechanisms they employ in response to these influences. An exploratory qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews is used to collect primary data from owners and managers of 28 companies in the Indian manufacturing sector. The findings reveal that positive and negative influences and pressures to espouse SCSS emerge from two categories of stakeholders: primary and secondary. Small suppliers perceive different stakeholders' SCSS expectations as complementary, contrasting, and not-so-essential, and they adopt three mechanisms to manage stakeholders' demands: compliance, trade-off, and avoidance. This study adds new insights to the existing SCSS literature by offering under-represented small suppliers' viewpoints and developing a conceptual model using stakeholder theory. It also provides some practical implications for various stakeholders, including owners of small enterprises.

Are rules for social sustainability in supply chains strong enough? Defining the “nullification principle”

In recent years, the concept of sustainability has gained increasing prominence in global discourse, with particular emphasis on environmental and economic aspects. However, an equally critical dimension often overlooked is social sustainability, which pertains to the ethical and social impacts of supply chain practices. Understanding the complex interconnections and implications between customers and suppliers is pivotal to fostering sustainable business practices and cultivating long-term relationships within supply chains. This scientific paper delves into the multifaceted realm of social sustainability in supply chains, specifically focusing on the intricate relationships between customers and suppliers. By analyzing the reciprocal dynamics of this dyadic relationship, we aim to shed light on how their actions, decisions, and behaviors reverberate throughout the entire supply chain, shaping its overall social sustainability.

Social Sustainability in Production Systems: an exploration along the supply chain

Social sustainability (SS) within the supply chain has emerged as a critically important and increasingly pertinent topic in today’s global business environment. Sustainability has been conceptualized within the framework of the triple bottom line, encompassing environmental, economic, and social dimensions. However, in the current landscape, social sustainability has risen to the forefront, given that the economic and environmental aspects have largely been evaluated and addressed.The concept of social sustainability in supply chain (SSSC) is undergoing a significant evolution, transitioning from a narrow perspective that predominantly centered on individual companies to a more inclusive and integrated approach that encompasses all participants along the supply chain. This recognizes the significance of involving suppliers, sub-suppliers, and other stakeholders in the supply chain.Through a case study of a manufacturing supply chain, we analyse multifaceted factors that significantly influence working conditions and the overall well-being of individuals involved. This analysis serves as a means to enhance overall company performance.This article suggests a new approach to define SSSC, based on the principle that the strategies to improve sustainability are effective only if they impact positively (or at least not negatively) on all the actors in the supply chain.

Drivers and barriers for implementing social sustainability in supply chains: a qualitative investigation of a developing country's multi-tier suppliers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate why multi-tier apparel suppliers integrate social sustainability practices into their supply chains and what barriers these suppliers encounter while embedding social sustainability practices.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a qualitative research design, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 46 owners and managers from 33 multi-tier apparel suppliers in Bangladesh, an important outsourcing hub for the global apparel industry. To corroborate research findings, the views of owners and managers were triangulated by further interviewing 11 key representatives of institutional actors such as third-party auditors, a donor agency, industry associations, regulatory agencies and a non-governmental organisation (NGO).FindingsThe authors' findings suggest a range of divergent institutional drivers and barriers – coercive, mimetic and normative – that determine the implementation of multi-tier suppliers' social sustainability practices. The key reported drivers were buyers' requirements, external stakeholders' expectations, top management commitment and competition. Conversely, cost and resource concerns and gaps in the regulatory framework were identified as key social sustainability implementation barriers. In particular, owners and managers of second-tier and third-tier supplier firms experienced more internal barriers such as cost and resource concerns than external barriers such as gaps in values, learning and commitment (i.e. compromise for mutual benefit and non-disclosure of non-compliance) that impeded effective social sustainability implementation.Research limitations/implicationsSocial sustainability in supply chain management has received significant attention from academics, business practitioners, governments, NGOs and supranational organisations. However, limited attention has been paid to investigating the drivers and barriers for social sustainability implementation from a developing country's multi-tier supplier perspective. The authors' research has addressed this knowledge gap.Practical implicationsThe evidence from the authors' study provides robust support for key assumptions of institutional theory and has useful implications for both managers and policy-makers.Originality/valueThe authors' study contributes to the embryonic research stream of socially sustainable multi-tier supply chain management by connecting it to the application of institutional theory in a challenging institutional context.

Social sustainability and human rights in global supply chains

PurposeFirms are accountable for upholding worker rights and well-being in their supply base. The authors unpack the evolution in lead firm thinking and practice about how to assure labor conditions at suppliers.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted interviews with the social sustainability leaders at 22 global corporations (“lead firms”) and their sustainability consultants to understand how they think about, and enact efforts, to support labor in their supply base. The authors complement this with an analysis of stated practice in proprietary supplier codes of conduct for the manufacturing and extractive-related firms in the S&P 500 and FTSE 350.FindingsThe authors’ interviews suggest firms follow two distinct and cumulative approaches: a transactional-based approach leveraging collective buyer power to enforce supplier compliance and a relational-based approach focused on mutual capacity building between lead (buyer) firms and their suppliers. The authors also see the emergence, in a small subset of firms, of a bottom-up approach that recognizes supplier workers as rights-holders and empowers them to understand and claim their rights.Originality/valueThe authors identify systematic convergence in supplier codes of conduct. While the transactional and relational approaches are well documented in the supply chain social sustainability literature, the rights-holder approach is not. Its emergence presents an important complement to the other approaches and enables a broader recognition of human rights, and the duty of Western firms to assure those rights.

Exploring The Determinants of Supply Chain Social Sustainability Disclosure for Indonesian Banking

Supply chain transformation that focuses on sustainability encourages companies not only for business growth but also to improve the welfare of the people along the supply chain. The company considers business decisions to reduce environmental impacts arising from the supply chain and positively impact society. Banking has a close relationship with technological developments that strongly support the banking business processes in producing customer services. This study aimed to identify and analyze the factors that influence a banking sector's disclosure of a sustainability report. This quantitative research uses data processing with multiple regression analysis by using SPSS. The research object is a company engaged in the financial services sector listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2017-2019 with a purposive sampling method. This study indicates that only foreign ownership has influenced sustainability report disclosure. In contrast, profitability, leverage, the board of directors, and the audit committee have no effect. Characteristics and culture of foreign parties who are very concerned about the future risk of the business activities believed able to encourage Indonesian Banking to make changes to business processes and tend to pay attention to the resulting business impact and weigh the business risks that arise in the future. This will lead to sustainable changes in the company and the stakeholders in the utilization of resources, processes, and business outputs generated. Banking in Indonesia should transform into a supply chain strategy concerned with the quality of disclosure of the company's business sustainability on social, environmental, and economic aspects

Social sustainability in supply chains: the role of local practices and informal networks

PurposeThe study aims to investigate cultural aspects in supply chains, analysing the effect that local customs may have in the quality of buyer–supplier relationships. Building on the premisses of social exchange theory (SET), it concentrates on the impacts that suppliers’ use of local practices and informal networks may have in buyers’ attitudes and perceptions. The issues addressed and the empirical evidence provided represent initial, yet important steps in the fulfilment of the ‘cultural void’ within supply chain social sustainability (SCCS) literature.Design/methodology/approachThrough a role-playing experiment applied to a total sample of 468 participants, the effects of Chinese guanxi, Russian blat, South Korean yongo and Brazilian jeitinho on buyers’ satisfaction, buyers’ commitment, trust and solution severity are measured by their use to access informal networks as solutions to both common (i.e. documentation irregularities) and extraordinary (i.e. modern slavery) supply chain problems.FindingsResults show that, while the activation of informal networks may impact buyers’ perceptions, the use of some local practices by suppliers (i.e. Chinese guanxi and Brazilian jeitinho) cause greater variations in buyers’ attitudes and perceptions than others (i.e. South Korean yongo and Russian blat), with ethical offences (i.e. modern slavery) and higher levels of buyers’ dependency acting as catalysts of these processes.Originality/valueThe investigation of cultural practices typical of economically peripheral countries contributes to the understanding of new facets of buyer–supplier relationships, with the investigation of non-Northwestern practices being particularly important in this regard.

Micro, small, and medium suppliers' perspectives on supply chain social sustainability: New evidence from India

Despite the increase in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) research, the social dimension of sustainability has been explored relatively less than the economic and environmental dimensions. This study investigates supply chain social sustainability (SCSS) in terms of socially sustainable practices (SSPs) implemented by micro, small, and medium suppliers (MSME suppliers) in India, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Furthermore, we aim to identify the drivers of and barriers to SSPs adoption. We conducted a qualitative analysis of SSPs adoption in the manufacturing sector and collected semi-structured data from 28 MSME suppliers. In addition, we employed stakeholder theory to understand the reasons for SSPs implementation. The results reveal that MSME suppliers implement SSPs at multiple levels and that there is a difference in the priorities of MSME suppliers toward SCSS. We find that normative and instrumental drivers promote the adoption of social sustainability and identify two new categories of barriers: red tapism and social and demographic factors. This study contributes to the literature by developing an integrated conceptual framework that links SSPs, drivers, barriers, and outcomes. Finally, this study encapsulates the similarities and differences in social sustainability implementation among micro, small, and medium suppliers. Our findings add to the scholarship on SCSS as they have wide-ranging theoretical and practical implications.

Relationship of Social Sustainability, Operational Performance and Economic Performance in Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Purpose: Over the past two decades, sustainable development and green economy approaches have been implemented in different fields, including supply chain management. In developed countries, sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has attracted attention from both academia and industry. However, there is a substantial knowledge gap about supply chain social sustainability in developing countries. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to present the link between social sustainability and economic performance with the mediating role of operational performance in sustainable supply chain management.
 Design/methodology/approach: The PLS-SEM model is applied to identify factors affecting social sustainability and the relationship between social sustainability, operational performance, and economic performance in Vietnam.
 Findings: The study broadens the concept and emphasizes the importance of sustainable development in the context of Vietnam and provides recommendations for managers on strategic planning and developing business towards sustainability. This study also encourages managers to enrich employees’ welfare and working conditions and con- tribute to the local community.
 Research limitations/implications: The social indicators in developing countries are distinct from those in developed countries. Hence, this study may only apply in the context of developing countries. There are three main pillars of sustainable development, including economic (profit), environment (planet), and society (people). In this research, the author only examines the social and economic aspects.
 Originality/value: The outcomes of this study demonstrate a clear link between the social and economic elements of sustainability. While demonstrating how fully implemented Social sustainability improves economic performance, this study stimulates academic research about the interrelationship of sustainability elements in supply chains.

Voluntary agreements for sustainability, resource efficiency & firm performance under the supply chain cooperation policy in South Korea

This study analyzes the economic consequences of Korean firms' strategic decision to participate in government policy that is designed to foster social sustainability and cooperation across supply chains in 2011–2016. Specifically, it investigates whether Korean firms’ decision to participate in supply chain cooperation policy is associated with firm performance, in terms of return on assets (ROA) and return on investment (ROI), alongside its marketing, production and inventory resource efficiencies. The study contributes to empirical research on social sustainability in supply chains and instrumental stakeholder theory. Within a potential-outcomes framework, an endogenous treatment effects model is adopted to address the endogenous treatment in the decision to participate, and unobservable firm characteristics. The study provides evidence in support of instrumental stakeholder theory. The results confirm that unobserved characteristics of the firm impact the selection decision and firm performance. After correcting for endogeneity, the results show that the effect of participation is positive and statistically significant. But this positive relationship is contingent on the extent to which firms are resource efficient. Inventory resource efficiency is found to have a negative moderation effect on the relationship between policy participation and firm performance. Hence the more efficient a firm is in inventory and associated operational efficiencies, the lesser the benefits realized from policy participation. However, production and marketing resource efficiencies are not found to have significant effect as moderating variables.

Social sustainability in the supply chain: a literature review of the adoption, approaches and (un)intended outcomes

PurposeThe concept of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) integrates the environmental and social sustainability dimensions into the management of supply chains. However, the understanding of the management of social sustainability in the supply chain is relatively underdeveloped. This paper, therefore, seeks to explore the adoption, emerging approaches and the (un)intended outcomes of social sustainability in the supply chain as well as supply chain social sustainability in the Arab world.Design/methodology/approachThis paper systematically reviews 396 peer-reviewed papers on social sustainability in the supply chain published between 1997 and 2020.FindingsThe review identifies and discusses three types of factors influencing the adoption of social sustainability in the supply chain: drivers, enablers and barriers. The review also identifies four main approaches to tackling social issues in the supply chain, namely an internal approach (e.g. internal adaptation), a hands-off approach (e.g. supplier switching), a hands-on approach (e.g. collaboration practices) and a relational approach (e.g. justice). The review also reveals that although addressing these issues can generate positive outcomes, it can also lead to unintended negative outcomes such as increased social violations and the perception of unfairness among suppliers.Originality/valueThis study complements the existing literature reviews on the social dimension of SSCM by not only providing an update of the current literature and shedding light on an emerging approaches (e.g. justice) to tackling social issues in supply chains but also by exposing the unintended negative consequences of tackling social issues, a subject that has largely been overlooked to date.

A performance measurement framework for socially sustainable and resilient supply chains using environmental goods valuation methods

Socially sustainable and resilient supply chains are critical for organizations to succeed during both normal and uncertain times. Informed by supply chain disruption events, this study uses the resource-based view to conceptualize a performance framework for firms to strategically measure supply chain social sustainability and resilience capabilities. The performance framework integrates (a) the environmental goods valuation to evaluate social sustainability and (b) digitalization using blockchain technology to enhance supply chain process sustainability and resilience. Using secondary COVID-19 supply chain disruption data, the performance framework illustrates various social sustainability implications, market-based valuation methods, and supporting blockchain capabilities for supply chains. The study identifies potential future research to further evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed performance measurement framework and to advance it theoretically. The study also suggests practitioners utilize the performance measurement framework to manage supply chain social sustainability issues and resilience such that it can contribute to their competitive advantages.

Supply Chain Social Sustainability: Unveiling Focal Firm’s Archetypes under the Lens of Stakeholder and Contingency Theory

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners. Despite its importance, we know little about critical aspects of it, as some important gaps are highlighted in the SSCM literature: deepening social dimension, exploring governance mechanisms, and strengthening theoretical development. This research aims to analyze how stakeholder salience and contingency factors influence the extent to which focal firms implement governance mechanisms to address social issues in supply chains. We conduct a multiple case study in six focal firms operating in Brazil. We intend to reduce the shortage of empirical evidence on emerging economies by focusing on a leading emerging country. This study contributes to the literature in three main aspects: (1) We classify social issues into central, peripheral, and remote, based on their priority within SSCM practices from emerging economy cases; (2) We outline three archetypes of social-SCM, namely elementary, selective, and extensive, to reflect the extent that focal firms incorporate social issues within their practices; (3) We also provide a typology to assess the extent to which focal firms address social issues, therefore contributing to reducing the gap regarding the social dimension within SSCM scholarship, combining the stakeholder theory and contingency theory.

MODERATION EFFECT OF STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT ON THE RELATIONSHIP SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

This paper aims to explore the determinants of social sustainability in the supply chain (SSSC) of the company and examine the role of strategic information systems development as moderating variables in the relationship of SSSC and firm performance. The research setting used a sample of small and medium sized companies of “Batik Tulis” in Bantul Regency, using a sample of 106 SMEs of natural color batik. Testing the hypothesis in this study using hierarchical regression analysis techniques. The results of the study proved that determinant variables such as environmental uncertainty, regulation of environmentally friendly proved to have a significant effect on SSSC, while interdependency determinant variables consisting of three dimensions namely interdependency task, interdependency goal and interdependency reward identified that the three dimensions had no significant effect on SSSC. While the influence of SSSC on firm performance proved to have a significant effect, also the ability of the strategic information system development variable to prove significant was able to strengthen SSSC's influence on firm performance. The results of this study have a theoretical contribution to the development of institutional theory and dynamic capability theory because the research is able to produce business modeling that essential role of strategic information systems development as a strategic effort of SMEs in order to increase the influence of SSSC capability. More specifically, the results of the study provide empirical evidence about the concept of social sustainability in supply chain (SSSC) in order to develop a new theory of Sustainability Supply Chain Management. Keywords: Social Sustainability in Supply Chain (SSSC); Determinants of SSSC; Firm Performance; strategic information system; Hierarchal Moderation Regression

PENGARUH PRAKTIK KEBERLANJUTAN SOSIAL RANTAI PASOKAN TERHADAP KINERJA RANTAI PASOKAN YANG DIMEDIASI OLEH KINERJA PEMASOK DAN OPERASIONAL PADA USAHA MIKRO DAN KECIL DI KOTA BANDA ACEH

Abstract : The purpose of this study is to measure the effect of supply chain social sustainability towards performance supply chain mediated by supplier and operational performances. Micro and small manufacturing enterprises within Banda Aceh city are used as population. It consists approximately 2.871 businesses in Banda Aceh, but only 351 are taken as samples. The sampling technique uses Probability Sampling and the type of sampling is Proportionate Stratified Random Sampling. Data was collected through survey using questionnaire. The Structural Equation Modeling is used on analytical method to determine the effect of variables involved. The result shows that operational performance plays major role on social sustainability of supply chain towards performance supply chain while supplier performance has no effect at all on micro and small enterprises in Banda Aceh.

Additive manufacturing in the apparel supply chain — impact on supply chain governance and social sustainability

PurposeFocusing on the apparel industry, this study extends current knowledge on how additive manufacturing (AM) may impact global supply chains regarding structures of interorganizational governance and the industry's social-sustainability issues.Design/methodology/approachFollowing an exploratory research design, two consecutive Delphi studies, with three survey rounds each, were conducted to carve out future industry scenarios and assess AM's impact on supply chain governance and social sustainability.FindingsThe implementation of AM is posited to reinforce existing supply chain governance structures that are dominated by powerful apparel retailers. Retailers are expected to use the increased production speed and heightened market competition to enforce faster fashion cycles and lower purchasing prices, providing a grim outlook for future working conditions at the production stage.Social implicationsAgainst the common narrative that technological progress increases societal well-being, this study finds that new digital technologies may, in fact, amplify rather than improve existing social-sustainability issues in contemporary production systems.Originality/valueThis article contributes to the nascent research field of AM's supply chain impact as one of the first empirical studies to analyze how AM introduction may impact on interorganizational governance while specifically addressing potential social-sustainability implications. The developed propositions relate to and extend the resource dependence and stakeholder perspectives on governance and social sustainability in supply chains. For managers, our results enrich the discussion about the potential use of AM beyond operational viability to include considerations on the wider implications for supply chains and the prevailing working conditions within them.

Evaluation of antecedents to social sustainability practices in multi-tier Indian automotive manufacturing firms

In the current time, social sustainability is directed by market turbulence and growing societal and environmental awareness among customers and employees. Manufacturing industries with multi-tier supply chains, especially in developing nations, such as India, are plagued with various social issues, as it employs large manpower. The present study attempts to identify the key social sustainability practices (SSP) and the method to evaluate SSP in multi-tier manufacturing firms. The approach was pilot tested in Indian manufacturing industry. A total of 16 SSP were identified through the process of literature survey and discussions with the domain experts. Furthermore, based on five practitioners’ inputs, the relationship between various practices of social sustainability is modelled using Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM). The vagueness in the model and identified relationships are compensated by experts’ (practitioners’) validation. The practices are classified on the basis of driving and dependence power by adopting the MICMAC analysis. Customer management, information sharing, corporate sustainability reporting and standardisation, and monitoring practices are found to be the most influential practices that drive social sustainability in multi-tier automotive chains. Production managers could adopt these SSP to establish supply chain social sustainability in multi-tier global supply chains and achieve strategic advantage over others.

Textile supply chain management considering carbon emissions and apparel demand fuzziness: a fuzzy mathematical programming approach

PurposeThis paper studies the textile supply chain tactical planning under demand fuzziness through considering environmentally friendly and social responsibility. Hence, carbon emission in textile production and transportation is considered along with supply chain profitability.Design/methodology/approachThe authors present a fuzzy multi-objective mathematical optimization model with credibilistic chance constraints to determine the fabric procurement quantities and production plan under uncertainty. The solution procedure makes use of credibility measure and fuzzy aggregation operator to attain compromise solutions.FindingsA trade-off among carbon emissions, social performance and supply chain total profit is conducted. The analyses indicate the importance of transportation costs and carbon emission while determining the supply chain's tactical plan.Originality/valueThe textile supply chain's social sustainability alongside carbon emissions of textile operations is contemplated to provide apparel production and distribution logistics planning under uncertainty. In doing so, the authors propose a hybrid credibility-possibility mathematical optimization model to determine a compromise solution for textile managers.

The COVID-19 pandemic, social sustainability and global supply chain resilience: a review

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on global supply chain sustainability and provide an important pathway to develop an initial understanding of how organizations can develop more resilient and socially sustainable supply chains in a post-COVID world. Design/methodology/approach To gain fresh insights on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chain social sustainability and resilience issues, an extensive literature review was conducted. To this end, recent scholarly research articles, articles from practitioner journals, magazine articles and policy documents and reports, as well as blogs and briefings published by international organizations were critically reviewed. Findings The findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with a major shake-up of global supply chain operations and has contributed to varied sustainability outcomes. While the pandemic caused reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, it has had serious social implications for the livelihoods and well-being of workers and their families. The findings further suggested that it is imperative for companies to build resilience in their global supply chain operations to better respond to future shocks and disruptions by adopting strategies such as employee protection schemes, advanced digital technologies, diversification, localization and regionalization and stakeholder collaboration. Originality/value This review paper contributes to emerging global supply chain sustainability literature and practice by synthesizing and explicating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chain social sustainability and resilience. In addition, this paper offers some practical recommendations to enhance the social sustainability impacts and resilience of global supply chains in a post-COVID world.