ORCID Identifier(s)

0009-0006-9507-6105

Graduation Semester and Year

2023

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Management Science

Department

Information Systems and Operations Management

First Advisor

Gregory V Frazier

Abstract

This dissertation explores the relationship between sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) controversies and sustainability practices, and their direct and indirect effects on firm performance. SSCM controversies refer to the conflicts between companies and stakeholders due to the negative impact of the company's activities on different pillars of sustainability throughout the supply chain. I study the direct relationship between SSCM controversies - measured by indicators in the Sustainalytics database (Tamayo-Torres et al., 2019) – and future sustainability practices. Using resource-based view, and the influence of investments in other resources on this relationship, I posit that the relationship between SSCM controversies and sustainability practices would be influenced by the levels of the focal company’s investments in value-creating (e.g., R&D) and value-appropriating (e.g., advertising) resources. Moreover, considering the contingency view and environmental turbulence, the present dissertation explores these moderating effects in stable and turbulent industry environments. The environmental turbulence during the COVID-19 pandemic caused the most devastating disruption that occurred over the past few decades in global supply chains and highlighted the importance of studying supply chain sustainability at varying levels of environmental turbulence. Using a sample of 610 firms, and 5,625 firm-year observations, I find that SSCM controversies have different impacts on sustainability and firm performance in the presence of different strategic organizational resources and at different levels of environmental turbulence. Our findings advance the limited previous research that studies the effect of SSCM controversies and their influence on sustainability and performance. Our findings reveal that in a turbulent environment if a firm faces controversy throughout its supply chain, additional investment in value-creating resources would facilitate implementing better governance and environmental sustainability practices. Also, in the same situation for a firm in a stable environment, investment in value-appropriating resources would be a better choice and help the firm to move towards better social sustainability practices. I also investigate the direct and indirect effects of SSCM controversies on financial performance of the firm and find that environmental sustainability practices mediate this relationship, and environmental turbulence deteriorates this positive effect. I conclude that only a substantive reaction to SSCM controversies, such as investing in appropriate organizational resources, can reduce stakeholder concerns and restore trust and reputation. The findings of this dissertation provide insights into how SSCM controversies can affect firm performance and how firms can improve their sustainability practices to gain reputation and competitive advantage and better performance. These findings help managers develop effective SSCM strategies and understand the role of investments in different organizational resources in implementing better sustainability practices in different industry environments.

Keywords

Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM), SSCM Controversies, Sustainability Practices, Stakeholder Theory, Resource-Based View (RBV), Contingency View, Firm Performance

Disciplines

Business | Management Information Systems

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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