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The purpose of this paper is to develop a theorization of the unintended consequences of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM).

The authors integrate extant theory of unintended consequences, sustainable supply chain management and paradox theory to develop a typology of the unintended consequences of SSCM initiatives and a conceptual model of the antecedents of these unintended consequences.

The authors advance a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive typology of the unintended consequences of SSCM initiatives. These unintended consequences include trade-offs as well as synergies in the form of positive spillover. The authors’ conceptual model identifies multiple levels of stakeholders, multiple performance dimensions, multiple time horizons and the interplay with social construction as antecedents to the unintended consequences of SSCM initiatives.

The authors’ typology suggests that managers must move beyond simply assessing whether the intended consequences of an SSCM initiative have been achieved. Managers must also, to the extent they can, assess the potential for unintended consequences to arise. The authors’ typology provides an initial roadmap for managers to continue, discontinue or further consider an SSCM initiative, based on the resulting unintended consequences. The authors’ theorization also provides guidance about how managers can more successfully bring SSCM initiatives to fruition and start cycles of learning.

There largely has been a focus in the operations and supply chain management literature on trade-offs between economic performance on the one hand and social or environmental performance on the other. The authors advocate that this focus needs to shift to interactions within and between social and environmental performance. Further, trade-offs are only one type of unintended consequence. By developing a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive typology, the authors introduce a much clearer conceptualization of the unintended consequences of an SSCM initiative and a much better understanding of how to manage SSCM initiatives, both prior to and postimplementation.

New types of manufactured goods can have disbenefits and negative consequences, as well as benefits and positive consequences. However, disbenefits and negative consequences have received little consideration within manufacturing literature related to new product development (NPD). The purpose of this paper is to provide preliminary analysis, and propose improvements to NPD screening processes, which can facilitate reduction of disbenefits and negative consequences that can arise from new manufactured goods.

The research comprised a review of the literature relating to: new product development processes; disbenefits of manufactured goods; and negative consequences arising from manufactured goods.

There is often broad consensus about the disbenefits of manufactured goods. However, some disbenefits are not stopped before they have contributed to potentially irreversible negative global consequences. This can be because there is often disagreement about, for example, the composition and extent of negative consequences.

NPD processes should be improved to facilitate reduction of disbenefits and negative consequences. In particular, the screening of new manufactured goods as they progress from idea to concept to development should be improved.

The originality of the paper is that it provides descriptions of underlying characteristics that differentiate disbenefits and negative consequences. These descriptions can enable better understanding of how negative unintended consequences arise from the introduction of new types of manufactured goods. The value of this paper is that it proposes improvements to NPD screening processes that can facilitate reduction of disbenefits and their negative consequences.

All technologies have intended and unintended consequences, both favorable and unfavorable. Because the risks from implementing a technology may outweigh its rewards, the precautionary principle, illustrated by the maxim “better safe than sorry”, often is applied. Yet, the precautionary principle itself may have unintended consequences. This paper aims to discuss the precautionary principle and unintended consequences and present a model for analyzing the resulting implications.

A deficiency in applying the precautionary principle often is forgoing a quantitative analysis. In this paper, the authors apply decision analysis and decision analytic methodologies. Specifically, they present a decision model which can be used when analyzing the consequences of using the precautionary principle. The methodology incorporates decision-makers’ attitude in the determination of the preferred decision policy. The authors illustrate the methodology by determining a decision policy regarding the application of the precautionary principle in a situation with potential unintended consequences.

The findings indicate that a generic decision model structure for assessing the use of the precautionary principle, as illustrated in a decision tree, can be used when implementing a new technology. The results of the analysis indicate that a decision-maker’s attitude plays an important role in determining a preferred decision policy for this dynamic decision situation.

This research breaks new ground by proposing a decision analytic methodology where quantitative analysis can be applied to address problems where technologies are implemented with unintended consequences and where the precautionary principle is applied.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the culture change management programme in one UK NHS ambulance service, documenting various perverse consequences of the change management and suggest further research implications.

The paper reviews the literature on “culture” and “culture change” and identifies several perverse consequences of a culture change management programme through an in-depth case study analysis, based on interviews with trust staff and policy experts along with non-participant observation. Study was given ethical approval by the local NHS research ethics committee.

Significant negative consequences of the culture change management programme in the ambulance service are systematically documented. The paper argues that any worthwhile study of organisational culture change management must take into account the perverse consequences of such a process and its overall impact on employees.

These findings come from detailed investigation from only one large ambulance trust in the UK. However they have significant implications for the organisational “culture-performance” debate.

The paper draws out several policy and practice implications from this empirical study. Any meaningful evaluation of culture change initiatives should be seen not only in relation to success in achieving planned objectives, but also by keeping in mind negative consequences of culture change programmes.

This paper makes an original contribution in identifying and systematically documenting the disjuncture between stated and unintended consequences of ambulance culture change management programme, which will be of value to academics, practitioners and policy makers including theory building.

A positive outlook on the impact of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) on sustainability prevails in the literature. However, some studies have highlighted potential areas of concern that have not yet been systematically addressed. The goal of this study is to challenge the assumption of a sustainable Fourth Industrial Revolution by (1) identifying the possible unintended negative impacts of I4.0 technologies on sustainability; (2) highlighting the underlying motivations and potential actions to mitigate such impacts; and (3) developing and evaluating alternative assumptions on the impacts of I4.0 technologies on sustainability.

Building on a problematization approach, a systematic literature review was conducted to develop potential alternative assumptions about the negative impacts of I4.0 on sustainability. Then, a Delphi study was carried out with 43 experts from academia and practice to evaluate the alternative assumptions. Two rounds of data collection were performed until reaching the convergence or stability of the responses.

The results highlight various unintended negative effects on environmental and social aspects that challenge the literature. The reasons behind the high/low probability of occurrence, the severity of each impact in the next five years and corrective actions are also identified. Unintended negative environmental effects are less controversial than social effects and are therefore more likely to generate widely accepted theoretical propositions. Finally, the alternative hypothesis ground is partially accepted by the panel, indicating that the problematization process has effectively opened up new perspectives for analysis.

This study is one of the few to systematically problematize the assumptions of the I4.0 and sustainability literature, generating research propositions that reveal several avenues for future research.

This paper aims to trace parallels in the unintended consequences of interpretations of special-needs law in Ireland and Sweden.

The paper is conceptual, based on Irish and Swedish legal reports, studies and national planning documents on supports for people with disabilities. It begins by discussing unintended consequences, and then analyses the Irish court decision in Sinnott v. Minister for Education (2001), which stated that the State’s obligation to provide for education for people with special education needs (SENs) ceases when they reach 18 years. It considers how economic considerations influenced that decision. The focus then diverts to Sweden’s human rights culture and the 1994 legislation, LSS (Sweden’s Act Concerning Support and Services for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments), which enshrines equality and support for people with disabilities, including personal assistance (PA). Cost-saving restrictions on PA allowances are discussed.

While the Irish State enacted a law on education rights following the Sinnott case the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act (2004), or EPSEN (2004), it restricts those rights, and sections remain uncommenced. The case may have exhausted litigation as a remedy for people with SENs. In Sweden, austerity diluted the impact of LSS, leading to reduced entitlements and intrusions on privacy. It allowed legal discourse to dominate discussion. Families were negatively affected. In both countries, human rights may have suffered. Identifying which consequences of the legal actions were unintended, and which party did not intend them, can be problematic.

The paper concludes that the courts limited entitlement to the detriment of people with disabilities, and that caution must be exercised in having recourse to law courts in settling entitlements.

The paper is an original analysis of unintended consequences of legal interventions in special-needs policy. It illustrates difficulties in matching visions and systemic requirements in legal and the educational domains.

This research is the first to examine disruptive marketing, a subset perspective of entrepreneurial marketing, and unintended consequences of marketing in the context of the nonprofit arts sector.

This exploratory research has two components: development of a body of knowledge and conceptual model of disruptive marketing, its predictors, and its intended/unintended consequences based on pertinent literature and input from arts organization executive directors, artistic directors, and marketing managers; and preliminary assessment, with a qualitative study, of the operationalization of disruptive marketing and related factors in arts organizations.

The study categorizes and analyzes qualitative study structured interview responses to outline commonality/lack of commonality among them and provide insight into perceptions of arts organization executive directors.

This initial study inaugurates an academic research stream on the topic of disruptive marketing which has the potential to make a significant contribution to the body of marketing knowledge. Future opportunities include scale development and quantitative testing of the proposed theoretical model, broadening the research scope to include multiple input sources from a wide variety of arts organizations and longitudinal research to assess the model factors over time.

Analyses of both preliminary input from arts organization managers and qualitative study responses of arts organization executive directors indicate significant interest in application of creative and innovative approaches to arts sector marketing‐related situations.

This paper is the first to study perceived scope/characteristics of disruptive marketing and unintended consequences of marketing in the nonprofit arts sector, and it presents results of a qualitative assessment of those topics, including consequences.

This study aims to explain how negative workplace interactions are formed by the application of a performance management system (PMS).

The study draws from unique in-depth interviews with service workers who resigned from an accounting shared service centre (SSC), discussing the reasons behind the resignations. Following an abductive approach, organisational justice theory is used to analyse the service workers' perceptions of negative interactions and to link the negative interactions to the use of the PMS.

The findings suggest that negative workplace interactions are characterised by cost consciousness, inequality and competitiveness. These interactions are attributed to the use of a PMS in the centre and are related to perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional injustice.

Managers and leaders of shared service–type organisations should not rely on PMSs as an all-encompassing solution; instead, they should acknowledge the fairness of the use of PMSs. Moreover, HR professionals should choose and train employees to apply PMSs fairly. Fairness is important in work allocation, resourcing, monitoring, giving feedback, recognising good performance, promotion and interaction between peers.

This study contributes to the literature by taking an overall perspective on PMSs to analyse and explain the unintended negative consequences of a PMS in a highly scripted and monitored work environment that is usually considered appropriate for such a system's use. Through the analysis, the study highlights pitfalls in the use of a PMS and the importance of interactional injustice not only between but also within organisational levels.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of how descriptions of innovations can be formulated in order to reduce the potential for ontological uncertainty. Ontological uncertainty exists when individuals have perceptions about the future consequences of an innovation, which are based more on their diverse world views than on the innovation itself.

The research comprised unstructured interviews and review of the literature relating to innovation hype, innovation reliability, innovation negative unintended consequences, and critical realism.

Critical realist diagrams provide the basis for descriptions that can encompass an innovation's purpose; the functions and conditions which are necessary for its reliable operation; and also potential negative unintended consequences that might arise from the innovation.

There can be much hype and little clarity surrounding an innovation. This can make it easier for different stakeholders to have different perceptions of the same innovation. By increasing the clarity of descriptions, there can be less uncertainty about the purpose, reliability, and consequences of an innovation.

The originality of the paper is that provides example innovation descriptions which illustrate how hype can be decreased and clarity can be increased. The value of this paper is that supports reduction of ontological uncertainty in practice.