Dear supplier, how sustainable are you?

Abstract

This article analyses one of the most common tools employed by global focal companies in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) across all industries: supplier sustainability self-assessment questionnaires. Extant research has moved beyond the questions of whether and which suppliers should be assessed. Current research is already focussing on how to share and standardise such assessment data. Despite mounting general research on SSCM, we identified that specific tools such as self-assessment questionnaires have not been empirically analysed in SSCM literature. Thus, this paper addresses the research questions of what differences there are among supplier self-assessment questionnaires and how supplier responses to such questionnaires might be influenced. Our research involves an abductive multiple-case study design and an analysis of over 25,000 responses from globally dispersed suppliers to two types of supplier sustainability self-assessment questionnaires administered and requested by a global automotive focal company.Although the two questionnaires covered similar areas of sustainability practices and were administered to suppliers of the same focal company, the suppliers’ responses demonstrated various observable differences in average sustainability scores.Social desirability bias and supplier assessment fatigue were identified as issues confronting such questionnaires. We find that questionnaire design, how the questionnaire is embedded in the focal company’s processes and institutional settings are factors that potentially influence suppliers’ responses and could counteract social desirability bias and supplier assessment fatigue. Based on these findings we make suggestions for improving these SSCM tools and provide recommendations for further research.

Sustainable development of supplier performance. An empirical analysis of relationship characteristics in the automotive sector

“…In the automotive industry, first attempts can be observed to develop and agree on sustainability assessment approaches, such as the so called "self-assessment questionnaires" (e.g., CSR Europe, 2018;Fraser et al, 2020), which cover social and environmental sustainability issues and describe standards for supplier audits and on-site assessments to assess sustainability performance of suppliers (e.g., Hannibal & Kauppi, 2018). In their study analyzing 14 industry-based initiatives, Müller and Bessas (2017) found that 12 proposed approaches to assess sustainability performance of suppliers are based on questionnaires or audits conducted by focal firms.…”

The Methodology for Assessing the Applicability of CSR into Supplier Management Systems

“…Fraser [53] analyzed supplier sustainability self-assessment questionnaires and concluded that they are one of the most-common tools used in supply chain sustainability management in almost all industries. Many industry initiatives, such as Drive Sustainability, the automotive industry peer group and its self-assessment questionnaire "Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)", the electronics industry citizens coalition (EICC), and the ethical toy program (IETP) in the toy industry, continue to develop common and standardized questionnaires and sustainability-related standards, in the supply chain [51][52][53][54][55][56].…”