Supply Chain Social Responsibility Research Articles

‘Social compliance decoupling cascades’ in global supply chains: A review of the implementation of labour codes

AbstractAcross global supply chains, buyers enforce labour codes as a primary mechanism for ensuring suppliers’ social compliance with international labour standards and rights for workers in supplier facilities. Yet researchers have long documented empirical evidence of the inconsistent, weak implementation of labour codes. Therefore, the effective use of this social compliance mechanism requires examining what causes supply chain actors to exhibit failures in substantively implementing labour codes, or ‘social compliance decoupling’. We conducted the first systematic review of all available empirical evidence, both qualitative and quantitative, on the implementation of labour codes by actors at different stages of the supply chain, to identify and catalogue the root causes of social compliance decoupling. By integrating our findings, we propose a conceptual framework on ‘social compliance decoupling cascades’ that illustrates the causes of social compliance decoupling by supply chain actors at different stages and explains three pathways through which decoupling by an actor translates into decoupling by one or more adjacent actors (‘rewards–rights trade‐off’, ‘compliance capital scarcity’ and ‘code acontextuality’). We recommend opportunities for research and best practice around the recoupling of social compliance through multi‐stakeholder collaboration, mutual investment, relational sourcing and expansion of the scope of global supply chain social responsibility to drive effective labour code implementation.

Political ties and information technology: Untangling their impact on supply chain social responsibility and sustainable performance

Political ties and information technology (IT) are critical elements of a company's socio-technical system that can improve sustainability. This study empirically investigates how political ties and IT influence supply chain social responsibility and sustainable performance using survey data collected from 216 Chinese manufacturing companies. We conceptualize IT as a second-order construct that includes two first-order constructs (i.e., exploratory IT and exploitative IT) and sustainable performance as a second-order construct that includes three first-order constructs (i.e., economic performance, social performance and environmental performance). Supply chain social responsibility is conceptualized as environmental responsibility, philanthropic responsibility and supply chain partner responsibility, which is a second-order construct that includes four first-order constructs (i.e., supplier responsibility, customer responsibility, employee responsibility and investor responsibility). Our findings demonstrate that IT positively affects environmental, philanthropic, and supply chain partner responsibility and mediates political ties' impact on supply chain social responsibility. Besides, environmental responsibility positively affects philanthropic and supply chain partner responsibility. Furthermore, fulfilling environmental and supply chain partner responsibility improves sustainable performance. Our study not only enriches the empirical evidence on the antecedents of supply chain social responsibility and its impact on sustainable performance but also guides managers to allocate resources effectively and fulfil supply chain social responsibility.

The systemic tenets of the key supply chain social responsibility approaches

Social responsibility issues keep reoccurring despite the popularity of numerous approaches perceived widely as adequate. In this paper, the authors conducted a systematic literature review to explore this phenomenon from a systems thinking standpoint. The findings revealed that each approach is founded on a different systemic paradigm, makes different assumptions on the nature of social responsibility issues, and has different objectives when resolving them. Therefore, employing any of these approaches alone will certainly fail given their underlying systemic limitations. The findings also revealed that these approaches are complementary from a critical systems thinking perspective, hence, researchers and practitioners can use their tools and methods together in the form of tailored interventions to better address efficiency, subjectivity, and fairness when resolving social responsibility issues. This paper concludes by proposing a practical framework based on critical systems practice which encompasses four systemic paradigms allowing the inclusion of a spectrum of perspectives, and assumptions.

The impact of supply chain social responsibility on sustainable performance

To achieve sustainable development and cope with growing socioenvironmental pressure, manufacturing companies are becoming increasingly committed to fulfilling their social responsibilities along the entire supply chain. However, it is still unclear whether fulfilling supply chain social responsibility can improve sustainable performance. On the basis of stakeholder theory and using structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study explores the complex relationship between supply chain social responsibility and sustainable performance using data collected from 209 Chinese manufacturing companies. The SEM findings show that supply chain social responsibility can improve sustainable performance, while the fsQCA results suggest that the impact of supply chain social responsibility on sustainable performance depends on fulfillment methods. In particular, three supply chain social responsibility patterns can help achieve highly sustainable performance. However, these patterns significantly impact economic, environmental, and social performance in different ways. Our empirical study provides theoretical and practical guidance for companies to fulfill their supply chain social responsibilities.

Supply chain social responsibility in labour- intensive industries: a practitioner’s perspective

Social responsibility in labour-intensive industries of developing countries is always a controversial issue among academics and practitioners. Although several studies have conceptualised or empirically examined social responsibility in developing countries, there is limited research that investigates social responsibility issues spanning the entire manufacturing supply chain. Using stakeholder and Resource-Based View (RBV) theory, this study examines the barriers, enablers, motivations, and the current social responsibility facts of the garment and textile industry from knitting suppliers to apparel or garment manufacturer to fashion retailers in the Vietnamese context. The exploratory research design was used through content analysis, panel discussion, and in-depth interview. Our results show that most of the companies have not implemented any significant policies to promote social responsibility but only to adhere to labour law. Since managers realise the crucial social responsibility role in the performance of their operation, merchandisers and intermediaries have a compelling role in improving their social responsibility, and the role of government and NGOs seems to be faded. We also provide the managerial implications and directions for future research.

A Systems Thinking Analysis of the Supply Chain Social Responsibility Literature

AbstractGiven its material impact on bottom lines, social responsibility became essential to supply chain sustainability strategies. The authors of this paper reviewed the relevant literature and discovered its reliance on approaches like corporate social responsibility and its marginalization of systems thinking. This situation undermines the contributions of this literature, as it could be reductionist from a systemic perspective. Reductionism limits solutions to suboptimizations incapable of achieving multifinal and holistic outcomes. To assess this literature, the authors conducted a mapping study to analyse its distribution over four systemic paradigms: functionalism, interpretivism, emancipation, and postmodernism. The results showed that it clustered unevenly around these paradigms and lacked pluralism in perspective. This paper is significant as it revealed the innate inability of most of the supply chain social responsibility literature in offering creative and holistic solutions. Therefore, this literature can only resolve some social responsibility factors allowing the persistence and resurfacing of social responsibility messes.

Socially responsible supply chain management in small and medium enterprises in the GCC

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine variables and their relationships that hinder socially responsible behaviours in the supply chain of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). countries.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses the mixed-method approach that includes the survey method and soft mathematical modelling. Empirical data were collected from 130 SMEs and their suppliers based in Qatar and Oman. Furthermore, to understand the barriers and their interrelationships, interpretive structural modelling approach is applied.FindingsThe results of empirical study reveal lack of coherence among SMEs and their suppliers in prioritising social responsibility issues in their supply chain. The hierarchy-based model reveals that shortages of incentive, short-term objectives, the lack of cooperation and willingness among supply chain partners, constraints (financial, managerial and technological) and the pressure from customers were the independent barriers and have strong driving power.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study are expected to provide an insight to further improve and promote socially responsible supply chain in emerging economies in Gulf region. Future research could compare the socially responsible activities of SMEs from different Gulf countries and expand the understanding of the barriers that outline the responses of suppliers situated in different Gulf economies.Originality/valueThe results contribute to the field of supply chain sustainability as the first academic attempt to shed light on how SMEs in GCC are dealing with supply chain social responsibility issues and one of the few in the emerging economy perspective that probes the key role of barriers to improve the socially responsible behaviour of Gulf-based SMEs.

Perspectives on Supply Chain Social Responsibility

Perspectives on Supply Chain Social Responsibility

Improving supply chain social responsibility through supplier development

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) emphasises that the entire supply chain of a company should protect natural environment and contribute to social well-being in a tangible way. This study aims to clarify the effects of supplier development practices on supply chain social responsibility. The investigation uses a qualitative case study approach and empirically explores how to develop supplier’s CSR capabilities in a pharmaceutical supply chain. The results indicate that manufacturers can apply supplier development practices, including standard operating procedures (SOPs), audits, collaboration and training, to develop supply chain social responsibility. SOPs and audits are indirect supplier development practices that are designed in response to institutional pressures, and collaboration and training are direct supplier development practices that provide resources for bridging supplier’s CSR capability gaps. In addition, the indirect and direct supplier development practices positively influence each other and they are complementary in enhancing supply chain social responsibility.

The role of the concept of corporate social responsibility in building relationships and in the supply chain

Background: The aim of this article is to determine the importa nce of the concept of corporate social responsibility in building partnerships in the supp ly chain. In the recent period, one could notice that more an d more international companies implementing their s trategies based on the concept of sustainable development are evaluati ng and qualifying their suppliers basing on standar ds of ethics in business. Methods: This paper analyzed the requirements of the multin ationals companies towards their suppliers in imple menting elements of the concept of corporate social respons ibility. Results: The results of the analyzes which were presented o n practical examples show that buyers define to sup pliers, very often detailed, standards for ethical conduct for s uppliers (Supplier Conduct Principles, Principles an d Standards of Ethical Supply Management Conduct) and guides for their implementation (Supply Chain CSR Deployment guidebook, Purchasing Way, Supplier Sustainability program Manual), organizing programs (Supply Chain Social Responsibility programs), implementing the Supplier Responsibility projects and developing a checklist (Supply Chain CS R Checklist) for self-evaluation of providers. Conclusions: When observing global trends one could notice that recently more and more suppliers are evaluated in terms of the fulfillment of the principles of sustainable development, guided by the economic aspects (requiring high technical quality, reliability of supply, competitive price, stable financial position, compliance with legal re quirements), environmental aspects, as well as social aspects (p rinciples based on the idea of the Global Compact). One could also perceive that many international companies signing contracts with suppliers require them to sign a dec laration, obligating them to introduce the concept of corporate social r esponsibility by applying the principles contained in Statement on Business Practices and in compliance with the requir ements of environmental requirements (Supplier Social & Environmental Responsibility Agreement).

A profit-drivenapproach to building a “people-responsible” supplychain

Today, an increasing number of companies have publicized policies to improve corporate social responsibility performance related to human resources in their supply chain management practices, such as safer and healthier working conditions, higher payment, better benefits, and fewer working hours. However, there are still concerns about the sincerity and effectiveness of such efforts. This could be attributed to the fact that the economic benefit of those improvements is not clearly structured as an integral part in the companies’ decision-making process. In this paper, we develop a stylized analytic framework that links a firm's supply chain social performance in people with its economic performance in profit. Specifically, we examine how consumers’ responses to the outbreak of social misconduct in supply chains affect competing firms’ market segmentation and profit and subsequently provide economic incentive for proactive social responsibility investment. Closed-form optimal solutions for proactive social responsibility strategy are found for our model setup. Numerical tests and sensitivity analyses have been conducted to study the effects of various factors on the firms’ supply chain social responsibility strategies. Factors such as consumers’ ethical disposition, the social environment, and consumers’ perception of a product's functional versus social value are a few among them. The results of our analysis demonstrate that proactive investment in supply chain social responsibility can enhance a firm's competitive advantage and economic performance, thereby suggesting a profit-driven approach to achieving supply chain social responsibility and sustainability.

Robust possibilistic programming for socially responsible supply chain network design: A new approach

The importance of social responsibility of corporate and business units is increasingly emphasized by researchers and practitioners in recent years. Since supply chains play important roles in today's business environment, the issue of social responsibility should be considered carefully when designing and planning of supply chains to move towards sustainability. This paper addresses the problem of socially responsible supply chain network design under uncertain conditions. To this aim, first a bi-objective mathematical programming model is developed wherein its objective functions include minimizing the total cost and maximizing the supply chain social responsibility. Then, for coping with uncertain parameters effectively, a novel possibilistic programming approach, called robust possibilistic programming (RPP), is proposed. Several varieties of RPP models are developed and their differences, weaknesses, strengths and the most suitable conditions for being used are discussed. A real industrial case study is provided to illustrate the performance and applicability of the proposed RPP models in practice.