The impact of organizational culture and total quality management on the relationship between green practices and sustainability performance

PurposeThis study aims to examine the direct and indirect effects of organizational culture (OC) and total quality management practices (TQMPs) on the relationship between green practices (GPs) and sustainability performance (SP) by using structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis.Design/methodology/approachThis study proposed a conceptual research model of the relationships and formulated six hypotheses. This study used a structured questionnaire based on previous studies to collect relationship data to test these hypotheses, and 441 full-time managers from various US businesses responded. The complete and valid survey responses were then tested against the hypotheses using IBM SPSS Statistics and SEM-AMOS.FindingsResults supported the relationships proposed in the research model. They indicated that a strong supporting OC and TQMPs might improve positive SP and GPs. Additionally, the more managers are aware of their companies' GPs, the more likely they will feel positive about the organization's SP.Research limitations/implicationsA larger sample size to ensure statistically minimum representation in several major industries would better validate the findings and help identify significant differences in industry-specific OCs, TQMPs, GPs and SPs. Similarly, ensuring a varied geographical representation (both within the USA and internationally) would help determine if the findings vary according to the respondent's location. Furthermore, collecting the data during Year 1 of the COVID-19 pandemic may have skewed the results. Thus, once the working environment has been normalized, the survey should be repeated to determine if the findings are valid post-pandemic.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study provide important strategic guidance for managers who work to balance the implementation of corporate GPs and the triple bottom line dimensions of SP. For practitioners, the results showed that companies could accomplish both profitability and sustainability if they are willing to continuously pay attention to environmental issues and strategically invest in cost-efficient and eco-friendly initiatives.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this research is one of the first to explore how OC and TQMPs, directly and indirectly, affect the relationship between GPs and the triple bottom line dimensions of SP. These results imply that OC and TQMPs have a significant indirect impact on the relationship between GPs and the SP dimensions.

Opportunities Presented by COVID-19 for Healthcare Green Supply Chain Management and Sustainability Performance: The Moderating Effect of Social Media Usage

This research explores the opportunities presented by COVID-19 for green supply chains' environmental practices and ecological sustainability performances in the healthcare sector. This study investigates the connections between uncertainty-fear of COVID-19, healthcare green supply chain management (GSCM), and the three pillars of a firm's sustainability performance (environmental, economic, and social). Moreover, this study examines the moderating role of social media usage (SMU) on the effect of uncertainty-fear of COVID-19 on healthcare-GSCM. When conducting the empirical part, this study uses the partial least squares structural equation modeling method based on a sample of 483 healthcare managers. The findings prove that the uncertainty-fear of COVID-19 has a beneficial impact on healthcare-GSCM. Besides, SMU moderates the relationship between uncertainty-fear of COVID-19 and healthcare-GSCM, indicating the importance of SMU in gathering information for the healthcare sector during COVID-19. Likewise, when interacting with healthcare firms' sustainability performances, healthcare-GSCM positively impacts environmental and social performances, though it has a negligible impact on economic performance. This study adds to the “social cognitive theory”by introducing the concept of uncertainty-fear of COVID-19. Furthermore, this research adds to the “resource-based view theory”and the “knowledge-based view theory”by exploring the SMU's role during the outbreak. IEEE

COVID-19's fear-uncertainty effect on green supply chain management and sustainability performances: the moderate effect of corporate social responsibility.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the global supply chains, it also provided opportunities that brought the concepts of sustainability and green practices back into the light. Based on the "stakeholders" and "social cognitive" theory, our study intends to empirically explore how fear-uncertainty towards COVID-19 relates positively to both green supply chain management (GSCM) and the firm's sustainability performance (economic, environmental, and social). In addition, it examines the moderating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) (internal CSR and external CSR) on the association between fear-uncertainty towards COVID-19 and GSCM. In this study, we studied a sample of 300 manager-level employees in Egypt. We used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data and test our hypotheses. Results showed that fear-uncertainty towards COVID-19 positively affect GSCM. Also, external CSR moderates the association among fear-uncertainty towards COVID-19 and GSCM. But it is not moderated by internal CSR. In addition, GSCM positively affects environmental and social performance. However, it has an insignificant effect on economic performance. Besides, GSCM has a significant mediation effect between fear-uncertainty towards COVID-19 and the firm's environmental and social performance. However, this mediation relationship regarding economic performance is insignificant. Finally, we discussed the theoretical and practical implications at the end of this research.

Sustainability performance at stake during COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from Sharia-compliant companies in emerging markets

Purpose: This study aims to analyse whether Sharia-compliant companies have better sustainability performance, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic context is worth investigating as there is a concern that companies will reduce their sustainability activities to focus more on economic recovery, thereby leading to lower sustainability performance. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses data from companies listed on Indonesian and Malaysian stock exchanges. These two countries have experienced rapid developments in Islamic finance and possess similar criteria in assigning the Sharia compliance label to a company. The data on sustainability performance and its three dimensions (environmental, social and governance) were gathered from Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) and analysed using panel data regression. Findings: The results show that Sharia-compliant companies had a higher sustainability performance in all research periods, but not during the COVID-19 pandemic. This implies that the pandemic has not triggered a need for Sharia-compliant companies to improve their sustainability performance. The results can be interpreted that sustainability performance is not only at stake during the COVID-19 pandemic but it can also indicate a "business-as-usual” approach applied by companies regardless of the Sharia-compliant label. Originality/value: Sustainability performance has been intensively investigated in prior research, but how it is related to the current health crisis and Sharia compliance has been scantily studied and becomes the originality of this research. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

How Internet of Things can influence the sustainability performance of logistics industries – A Chinese case study

The introduction of new information technologies has started reshaping global industrial sectors and supply chains. Due to the introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT) real-time management strategies have been adopted by the global logistics industry, turning the branch into an intelligent service supplier. This paper assesses the influence of IoT on the Chinese logistics sector and related environmental performance between 2011 and 2018. This paper establishes an evaluation framework for the logistics performance under social, economic and environmental dimensions by using time entropy weighting. Using a grey correlation approach, we identify a strong positive correlation between the logistics performance and the IoT market scale. We further find a significant and increasing correlation trend for an expansion of the IoT market and the reduction of carbon and PM 2.5 intensity. The environmental regulation though positively correlated with logistics sustainability, shows less potential to directly improve economic and social performance. It also indirectly promotes sustainability performance of the logistics industry through support for technological innovation. High investment in IoT is estimated to limit the potential of small and medium-sized enterprises to increase their labor compensation and expand the scale of employment. Finally, we project China's IoT market developments for 2021–2025 using a grey forecasting model considering the influence of investment confidence and COVID-19. The results indicate that China's share of the global IoT market will likely rise from 18% to 30% by 2025.

The impact of organizational culture and total quality management on the relationship between green practices and sustainability performance

PurposeThis study aims to examine the direct and indirect effects of organizational culture (OC) and total quality management practices (TQMPs) on the relationship between green practices (GPs) and sustainability performance (SP) by using structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis.Design/methodology/approachThis study proposed a conceptual research model of the relationships and formulated six hypotheses. This study used a structured questionnaire based on previous studies to collect relationship data to test these hypotheses, and 441 full-time managers from various US businesses responded. The complete and valid survey responses were then tested against the hypotheses using IBM SPSS Statistics and SEM-AMOS.FindingsResults supported the relationships proposed in the research model. They indicated that a strong supporting OC and TQMPs might improve positive SP and GPs. Additionally, the more managers are aware of their companies' GPs, the more likely they will feel positive about the organization's SP.Research limitations/implicationsA larger sample size to ensure statistically minimum representation in several major industries would better validate the findings and help identify significant differences in industry-specific OCs, TQMPs, GPs and SPs. Similarly, ensuring a varied geographical representation (both within the USA and internationally) would help determine if the findings vary according to the respondent's location. Furthermore, collecting the data during Year 1 of the COVID-19 pandemic may have skewed the results. Thus, once the working environment has been normalized, the survey should be repeated to determine if the findings are valid post-pandemic.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study provide important strategic guidance for managers who work to balance the implementation of corporate GPs and the triple bottom line dimensions of SP. For practitioners, the results showed that companies could accomplish both profitability and sustainability if they are willing to continuously pay attention to environmental issues and strategically invest in cost-efficient and eco-friendly initiatives.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this research is one of the first to explore how OC and TQMPs, directly and indirectly, affect the relationship between GPs and the triple bottom line dimensions of SP. These results imply that OC and TQMPs have a significant indirect impact on the relationship between GPs and the SP dimensions.

A sustainability scoring system to assess food initiatives in city regions.

The City Region Food Systems approach has been proposed to achieve food system resilience and nutrition security while promoting the urgent ecological transition within urban and peri-urban areas, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the great diversity of the initiatives composing City Region Food Systems in Europe poses barriers to the assessment of their integrated sustainability. Hence, the present work is developed within the EU-H2020 project Food System in European Cities (FoodE), to build a consistent sustainability scoring system that allows comparative evaluation of City Region Food System Initiatives. Adopting a Life Cycle Thinking approach, it advances on existing knowledge and past projects, taking advantage of a participatory process, with stakeholders from multidisciplinary expertise. As a result, the research designs, and tests on 100 case studies a simplified and ready-to-use scoring mechanism based on a quali-quantitative appraisal survey tool, delivering a final sustainability score on a 1-5 points scale, to get insights on the social, economic, and environmental impacts. As in line with the needs of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the outcome represents a step forward for the sustainable development and social innovation of food communities in cities and regions, providing a practical and empirical lens for improved planning and governance.

Towards a Comprehensive Corporate Sustainability Performance Evaluation in Pakistan. An Investigation into Corporate Sustainability Disclosure Quality and Comparison of GRI and non-GRI Firms

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Pakistani corporate sector for its corporate sustainability initiatives. Over a sample of 80 non-financial firms for the period of 7 years ranging from 2014 to 2020, the study captures comprehensive corporate sustainability scores. The firms' scores have been captured based on both the quality and level of disclosures and a comparison has been made between GRI and non-GRI reporting firms. The study finds that GRI firms are disclosing a greater amount of quality and quantity of sustainability information than non-GRI firms. The GRI guidelines are driving both the quality and level of disclosure. Overall, the disclosure is low, and it is inconsistent. The environmental disclosure is relatively lower than economic and social disclosures among the non-GRI firms. The study also provides evidence of sustainability disclosure at COVID-19 times. The disclosure scores of 21% of firms have been found in a declining trend in the year 2020. The study provides some policy implications that could lead to guide the regulatory authorities in shaping the behaviour of firms toward sustainable initiatives.

Assessment of Social Accountability through SDGs of Corporate Sector during COVID-19 in India

The major focus in the field of sustainability assessment for the past few years is on analysing the sustainability practices of corporates on an annual basis. Less attention has been devoted to estimating the sustainability practices on an event basis. The current study was carried out to analyse the sustainability practices adopted by companies during the period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). A sustainability performance measurement (SPM) framework was constructed using content analysis, to measure the performance of Sensex companies towards sustainability efforts. Sensex constitutes 30 well-established and financially sound companies listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The primary elements of the SPM framework were derived from Sustainable Development Goals, which are considered to be a blueprint for a sustainable future. The initiatives taken by companies during the period of 'covidization' were classified under different parameters of SPM and then quantified with the help of mathematical tools. The results signify that there lies a scope of 63.08% improvement in sustainability practices of overall industries. Further, there is a huge gap of 76.92% between the best-performing and least-performing companies. The performance of all the sectors studied for the sustainability practices was statistically at par with each other. However, the difference between the best-performing (fast-moving consumer goods-FMCG) and least performing (finance) sectors was found to be 42.74%. The result of analysis of variance (ANOVA) for performance across various sustainability parameters taken up by different sectors was significantly different from each other. A gap of 86.67% was uncovered in our analysis between the best-performing and least-performing sustainability parameters taken up by the companies under various sectors. Considering the fact that COVID-19 is a medical emergency, the performance of 'good health and well-being' as the best-performing sustainability parameter is justified. But at the same time, importance of other sustainability parameters cannot be ignored. It has also been observed that even in times of dire necessity, the prevailing undersized image of sustainability efforts of selected sample companies was not satisfactory. It is suggested that the corporate sector and the government should be more cautious in pursuing the objective of sustainability.

Covid-19′s fear-uncertainty effect on renewable energy supply chain management and ecological sustainability performance;the moderate effect of big-data analytics

This research's scientific and theoretical significance is derived from the novel relationships studied. Our research studies the links between fear-uncertainty towards COVID-19 and the manufacturing firms' adaptation to the renewable-energy SCM procedures. In addition, we addressed the impact of renewable-energy SCM activities in achieving three-dimensional ecological sustainability performance in the Egyptian manufacturing sector during the pandemic. We investigated the BDA capabilities function during COVID-19 to improve the renewable-energy SCM practices in Egypt's manufacturing sector. This research used (PLS-SEM) on a sample of 506 manager-level employees. The results show that the fear-uncertainty towards COVID-19 positively affects renewable-energy SCM (T-statistics is 3.357), BDA moderates this relationship (T-statistics is 2.72), and renewable-energy SCM positively impacts environmental and social performance (T-statistics is 10.625, 21.081,). However, it has insignificant effect on economic performance (T-statistics is 0.732). Also, renewable-energy SCM has a significant mediation effect for the firm's environmental and social performance (T-statistics values equal to 3.063, 3.188). However, it has an insignificant mediation relationship regarding economic performance (T-statistics value is 0.688). Our research is limited as it focused on the manufacturing sector without considering other sectors. Also, based its sample on Egyptian developing market. Researchers could study renewable-energy SCM practices in more developed countries.

Sustainability performance at stake during COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from Sharia-compliant companies in emerging markets

Purpose This study aims to analyse whether Sharia-compliant companies have better sustainability performance, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic context is worth investigating as there is a concern that companies will reduce their sustainability activities to focus more on economic recovery, thereby leading to lower sustainability performance. Design/methodology/approach This study uses data from companies listed on Indonesian and Malaysian stock exchanges. These two countries have experienced rapid developments in Islamic finance and possess similar criteria in assigning the Sharia compliance label to a company. The data on sustainability performance and its three dimensions (environmental, social and governance) were gathered from Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) and analysed using panel data regression. Findings The results show that Sharia-compliant companies had a higher sustainability performance in all research periods, but not during the COVID-19 pandemic. This implies that the pandemic has not triggered a need for Sharia-compliant companies to improve their sustainability performance. The results can be interpreted that sustainability performance is not only at stake during the COVID-19 pandemic but it can also indicate a "business-as-usual" approach applied by companies regardless of the Sharia-compliant label. Originality/value Sustainability performance has been intensively investigated in prior research, but how it is related to the current health crisis and Sharia compliance has been scantily studied and becomes the originality of this research.

Analyzing organizational barriers towards building postpandemic supply chain resilience in Indian MSMEs: a grey-DEMATEL approach

Purpose This study aims to identify the barriers to building supply chain resilience and assess the contextual relationship between them in the Indian micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector for the post COVID-19 era. Design/methodology/approach Barriers to supply chain resilience were extracted from the extant literature and were evaluated using the grey sets and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach from strategic, tactical and operational business perspectives. The responses from experts on the identified barriers were collected through a structured questionnaire. The prominence-net effect results obtained after the DEMATEL application helped identify the most prominent barriers, their net cause and effect, and their correlation with each other. Findings A total of 16 barriers to resilience, identified from the literature, were considered for analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the lack of flexibility is the most critical causal barrier to building a resilient supply chain. Lack of planned resource management was also found to be an influential barrier. The study also identified the supply chain design, need for collaboration and technological capability as important factors for the MSME sector to focus on. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to assessing barriers to the supply chain resilience of MSMEs in India. More extensive research may be needed to reveal the global trend. Practical implications The study is significantly important for the MSMEs looking to establish resilient supply chains. Managers can use the findings to identify the weak links in the supply chain for strategic and tactical planning and can take corrective actions. Originality/value The study pinpoints the key linkages between barriers that impede MSMEs to make their supply chains resilient and robust to mitigate the impact of future disruptions and adversities. The work may be used by practitioners to further their attention on the significant challenges.

Are firms with better sustainability performance more resilient during crises?

This paper investigates the relationship between sustainability and financial performance using a sample of G7 firms from 2004 to 2020. We find a positive bidirectional relationship that firms with better sustainability performance are more profitable in the future and firms with better financial performance have higher subsequent sustainability performance. In addition, we test how two major crises (the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic) affect the sustainability-financial performance relationship. Firms with better sustainability performance are hit harder on their financial performance, but the benefits of financial performance on sustainability are strengthened during the financial crisis. During the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, firms with strong sustainability performance have been more resilient, and their financial performance has dropped less than firms with poor sustainability performance. However, the benefits of profitability on sustainability are weakened. Our results suggest that sustainability provides “insurance”-like protection against economic downturns during COVID-19 and mature sustainability offers economic benefits but not early-stage sustainability. It expands the contingency perspective of sustainability–financial performance relationship to crisis management. © 2022 ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.