TY - JOUR
T1 - Untangling drivers for supplier environmental and social responsibility
T2 - An investigation in Philips Lighting's Chinese supply chain
AU - Villena, Verónica H.
AU - Wilhelm, Miriam
AU - Xiao, Cheng Yong
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to Carla Neefs (Philips Lighting' Director Supplier Sustainability & Audits) and her team for the time they devoted to our research. The authors would like to thank the department editor, associate editor and two reviewers who provided excellent guidance and feedback to improve our paper. The authors are also grateful to Sangho Chae, Alan Muller, Sjoerd Beugelsdijk, Benjamin van Rooij, and Srikanth Paruchuri for comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Operations Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. on behalf of The Association for Supply Chain Management, Inc.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - This study unpacks the environmental and social dimensions of supplier responsibility and links each dimension to distinct drivers. Using stakeholder theory and the relational view, we distinguish between two main drivers: stakeholder pressures (i.e., from regulatory agencies, buying firms, and nongovernmental organizations) and relational mechanisms offered by multinational companies (MNCs) (i.e., lean trainings and relational capital). We used a multi-method research design to study how these drivers uniquely influence supplier responsibility in an emerging-country context. An in-depth case study with Philips Lighting and 10 of its Chinese suppliers reveals causal inferences that link stakeholder and relational drivers with each responsibility dimension (environmental vs. social). Audit and survey data from Philips Lighting's 134 Chinese suppliers, complemented with four archival databases, bolster these inferences. Overall, the results show that supplier environmental responsibility can be fostered through both stakeholder pressures and relational drivers; whereas, supplier social responsibility is much harder to address. The integrated methods offer a fuller, more comprehensive understanding of the specifics of supplier responsibility in China and also provide recommendations for MNCs that seek to improve it.
AB - This study unpacks the environmental and social dimensions of supplier responsibility and links each dimension to distinct drivers. Using stakeholder theory and the relational view, we distinguish between two main drivers: stakeholder pressures (i.e., from regulatory agencies, buying firms, and nongovernmental organizations) and relational mechanisms offered by multinational companies (MNCs) (i.e., lean trainings and relational capital). We used a multi-method research design to study how these drivers uniquely influence supplier responsibility in an emerging-country context. An in-depth case study with Philips Lighting and 10 of its Chinese suppliers reveals causal inferences that link stakeholder and relational drivers with each responsibility dimension (environmental vs. social). Audit and survey data from Philips Lighting's 134 Chinese suppliers, complemented with four archival databases, bolster these inferences. Overall, the results show that supplier environmental responsibility can be fostered through both stakeholder pressures and relational drivers; whereas, supplier social responsibility is much harder to address. The integrated methods offer a fuller, more comprehensive understanding of the specifics of supplier responsibility in China and also provide recommendations for MNCs that seek to improve it.
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U2 - 10.1002/joom.1131
DO - 10.1002/joom.1131
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097626265
SN - 0272-6963
VL - 67
SP - 476
EP - 510
JO - Journal of Operations Management
JF - Journal of Operations Management
IS - 4
ER -