Procurement sustainability tensions: an integrative perspective
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management
ISSN: 0960-0035
Article publication date: 16 April 2018
Issue publication date: 21 May 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to unpack tensions faced by procurement professionals as part of their triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability activities. The authors take an integrative perspective based on the procurement sustainability and organizational tensions literature, as well as stakeholder and institutional theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a multiple case study approach. Data are collected through multiple interviews and archival data from eight case companies in Australia.
Findings
The authors identify supply chain and company procurement sustainability tensions (PSTs) and explain their multi-level nature. The analysis also dissects the multi-stakeholder and multi-institutional environments where PSTs operate. The authors discuss such environments in terms of various temporal and spatial legitimacy contexts (LCs) that, through their assessment of institutional distance, can characterize the manifestation of PSTs.
Practical implications
The findings are instrumental for managers to make informed decisions when dealing with PSTs, and they pave the way for paradoxical leadership given the increasing importance of simultaneous development and balancing of TBL dimensions, as evidenced in this study.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to empirically investigate PSTs by drawing on an integrative approach to identify PSTs, and to discern various LCs that underpin stakeholder judgments of procurement’s TBL sustainability activities.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are extremely grateful to the three anonymous reviewers who have provided insightful and constructive suggestions to improve the paper. The authors would also like to sincerely thank the Editor, Alexander E. Ellinger, for his support during the review process.
Citation
Fayezi, S., Zomorrodi, M. and Bals, L. (2018), "Procurement sustainability tensions: an integrative perspective", International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 48 No. 6, pp. 586-609. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-01-2017-0013
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited