Stakeholders and socially responsible supply chain management: the moderating role of internationalization

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how the pressures from stakeholders located in company's country of origin and level of internationalization of the company influence the implementation of socially responsible supply chain management (SR-SCM) practices. Design/methodology/approach To assess this level of influence, an SR-SCM performance index is developed by building on existing theoretical frameworks and using secondary data from ThomsonReuters’ WorldScope and ASSET4 databases to capture responsible supply chain actions categorized in communication, compliance and supplier development strategies. The analysis is based on 1,252 international companies from diverse countries and sectors between 2007 and 2016. Findings The effectiveness of stakeholder pressures in facilitating the adoption of socially responsible practices varies greatly with regard to the strategic element of SR-SCM and the type stakeholders considered. Companies that are more internationalized tend to adopt a greater number of SR-SCM practices, whereas home country stakeholders are of diminishing relevance with the increasing internationalization of a company. Practical implications Governments in companies’ countries of origin should ensure that social issues in supply chains are adequately covered by regulations. Ideally, laws should not only cover firms’ domestic operations but also their global activities. Social implications Citizens should be given the opportunities to raise their voice and publicly express their disagreement with business misconduct and non-compliance. Apart from that, the role of workers’ associations and investors in the social sustainability debate should be strengthened. Originality/value This study contributes to SR-SCM theory development by operationalizing existing conceptual frameworks, showing how domestic stakeholders shape SR-SCM performance and analyzing whether the influence of certain stakeholder groups diminishes or increases when a company is more globally-oriented in its operations.

What Tourists Want, a Sustainable Paradise

“…Another practice includes the need to implement by 2030 policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates employment and promotes local culture and products, as well as guarantee sustainable models of production and consumption. Other sustainable practices include developing and implementing tools to monitor sustainable development In regard to the economic impacts, the first dimension, it is possible to include among the benefits the creation of jobs (both direct and indirect), the inflow of currency, the positive economic effects related to the improvement or creation of infrastructures and services, as well as the creation of outlet circuits for local products [31][32][33][34]. The category of negative economic impacts, on the other hand, includes the increase in inflation, the excessive dependence of tourism as the only source of income, competition with other productive sectors for the use of crucial resources such as soil and water, the seasonality and precariousness of the labor market and the increase in the prices of both consumer goods and housing [32,[34][35][36].…”

“…Sustainable development of tourism can benefit from the participation of diverse stakeholders, as well as a strong political will to ensure broad participation among a wide consensus. Moreover, ensuring the sustainability of tourism is a long process that requires constant monitoring of the impact that travelers have on the local population and environment [24,31,53,[65][66][67].…”

Decision support framework for integrating triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability in agriculture supply chain

“…Various assessment frameworks have been developed for different aspects of the sustainable agriculture supply chain i.e. sustainability certification (Chkanikova and Sroufe, 2021; Hinkes and Peter, 2020), eco-levelling of food products (Tzilivakis et al , 2012), gauging pressure for sustainability due to internationalisation (Damert et al , 2020) and risk management (Tavakoli Haji Abadi and Avakh Darestani, 2021; Yazdani et al , 2019). This process of policymaking has evolved to a point where a partial approach (i.e.…”

Editorial

“…The second article (Damert et al, 2021) addresses stakeholder pressures and internationalization for socially responsible supply chain management. Using secondary data from 1252 international firms the authors established that a firm located in a country with higher democratic values as measure by the voice and accountability indicator computed by the World Bank will adopt more social practices in their supply chain.…”