PurposeHumanitarian relief organisations such as charities count on donations to provide assistance to people in need when disasters occur. In the UK, about 11,200 charity shops collect second-hand goods from donors to raise funds for their parent charity to support target beneficiaries. As their numbers increase, charity shops are finding it difficult to secure good quality stock. Furthermore, they may need to plan ahead to secure sufficient stock when the economy experiences a downturn. This paper identifies the charity shop's role and its donation flow in the multi-tier supply chain and empirically assesses the barriers that influence intention to donate with a mixed-methods approach.Design/methodology/approachIn order to explore the charity shop's role within the multi-tier supply chain, this study begins with a literature review and then develops a conceptual model. In order to empirically evaluate the barriers that influence intention to donate, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 charity shop managers and collected 222 usable questionnaires from donors. The interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach was applied to examine the interrelationship among barriers and rank their priority.FindingsThis paper identifies ten significant barriers that influence intention to donate: lack of good quality items for donation; lack of information on how charity shops make use of donations; lack of familiarity with the donation process; lack of information of what items can be accepted by charity shops; lack of awareness of the impact that donations make; the difficulty of being available at the scheduled times for charity shops' free pick-up services; the difficulty of donating during shops' opening hours; the difficulty of finding parking to access charity shops; and living too far away from charity shops. In particular, the questionnaires' results indicate that lack of good quality items is the most significant barrier. This is also reflected in the ISM model, and thus needs more attention.Practical implicationsThe results are very useful for charity shops themselves to understand current barriers to securing good quality stock and to develop potential stock-securing interventions based on these barriers' priority.Originality/valueAlthough charity shops have been investigated by several researchers, their supply chain remains insufficiently explored. This paper fills this gap by identifying the charity shop's role and its donation flow in the supply chain and by empirically assessing the supply-side barriers with a mixed-methods approach.

PurposeApparel manufacturers’ achievement of green manufacturing (GM) goal remains low. This paper aims to identify and prioritise the barriers to GM implementation in apparel companies.Design/methodology/approachFirst, an extensive literature review is conducted to identify the key barriers to GM implementation. Second, 374 usable questionnaires are collected from apparel manufacturing companies to (a) examine the impact of and (b) rank the barriers. Third, interpretive structural modelling (ISM) is applied to test the relationships among barriers. Finally, structural equation modelling (SEM) is applied to improve the model derived from the ISM.FindingsThe results reveal that the independent barriers – lack of eco-literacy among upstream or downstream supply chain members, lack of specific company-level training and monitoring of the progress of GM implementation and inadequate support from regulatory authorities – are the root causes of all the barriers. These three barriers are also at a low level of the ISM model, indicating that they significantly affect the entire system and therefore should be accorded the highest priority in dealing with these barriers.Practical implicationsThe results are useful for decision-makers and apparel companies to understand identified barriers, develop potential GM interventions and formulate appropriate strategies to overcome these barriers.Originality/valueThe listed barriers are yet to be comprehensively synthesised in a coherent model and empirically tested in the apparel sector using a combination of the ISM and SEM techniques. The empirically validated model presented in this study is an important step in that direction.

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a knock-on effect on the humanitarian supply chain. This research aims to identify the sourcing barriers in humanitarian charities’ supply chains and evaluate the interrelationships between the identified barriers. The agency theory and institutional theory are employed as the theoretical rationales to comprehend the value chain and operations of the humanitarian charity. To identify sourcing barriers related to humanitarian charities, a literature review and focus group discussion are conducted. Following the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM), 10 key barriers are chosen for further investigation. Finally, total interpretive structural Modeling (TISM) and matrix of cross-impact multiplications applied to a classification (MICMAC) are applied to further investigate the interrelationships among barriers and rank their priority. The findings are highly useful for the decision-makers to develop potential interventions based on the identified priorities.

In response to the urgency for carbon neutrality and the dwindling of natural resources, a global pivot toward green manufacturing (GM) is underway. This study scrutinizes the operationalization of GM, assessing the impact of stakeholder engagement (SE) on the adoption of such practices, with a carbon neutrality environmental orientation (EO) as a moderating factor. Initial steps of this investigation incorporated a comprehensive analysis of extant literature, elucidating the tripartite constructs of green manufacturing (GM), SE, and carbon neutrality EO. Guided by the tenets of the NRBV and stakeholder theory, a conceptual framework was constructed to theoretically interlink these constructs. Subsequently, a Q‐sort pilot study was employed to preliminarily test and ascertain the validity and reliability of the proposed measurement tools before their incorporation into a broader survey. Data from 374 completed questionnaires, by managerial personnel, were analyzed using structural equation modeling to confirm the hypotheses. Empirical results substantiate that SE positively influences GM. Additionally, a carbon neutrality orientation moderates the SE–GM relationship. These findings possess significant implications for policymakers and firms within the apparel industry. By revealing the prevailing strengths and potential shortcomings in the current implementation of GM, this study underscores the imperative of robust SE and a committed EO toward carbon neutrality. Such a commitment can facilitate a more systematic and efficient enhancement of the GM process, from its nascent stages through to its complete realization.