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To communicate their sustainability and responsible management practices to the public, firms can leverage digital technologies both at the organisational and managerial levels. This study explores how firms' communications of responsible management contribute to sustainability in supply chains, as well as the role of blockchain in promoting responsible management.

Employing a qualitative methodology, the authors perform social media analytics (content analysis and sentiment analysis) on a dataset obtained from the social media posts of managers.

The study identifies eight key responsible management practices and shed new light on the role of blockchain in responsible management. The study results contribute to theory by linking responsible management practices with existing sustainability practices in the supply chain. The authors also demonstrate that blockchain enhances responsible management.

Reliance on publicly available data from social media, comprising corporate statements emanating from managers is a major limitation in this study.

The eight responsible management practices identified in this study are recommended for managers of different supply chain echelons to promote sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). The study findings also offer new rationale for blockchain adoption in supply chains.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to link the concepts of responsible management and SSCM. Moreover, the authors obtain empirical evidence from managers in the luxury fashion supply chain.

Firms are increasingly resorting to responsible supply chain management as they align their economic success with socially responsible initiatives in their value chain. This contribution aims to suggest that there are opportunities for global corporations who are keen on integrating responsible practices into their business operations. It is in their interest to report about their responsible supply chain management, social performance and sustainable innovations to their stakeholders.

This paper identifies future research avenues in the promising areas of responsible procurement and global supply chain management.

The corporations’ differentiated strategies as well as their proactive engagement in responsible supply chain management can lead them to achieve a competitive advantage in the long term. The low-cost producers may be neglecting the marketplace stakeholders, including suppliers, distributors among others. Moreover, the smaller businesses’ could not be in a position to follow responsible procurement practices, as they may lack the scarce resources to do so.

This paper raises awareness about the integration of socially responsible behaviours and sustainable practices in business operations. It contends that a responsible supply chain management necessitates an improved relationship with suppliers and distributors in the value chain. This stakeholder engagement with ultimately create value to the businesses themselves.

The aim of this study is to discuss what implications referencing to the past can have on how firms manage their supply chains and communicate about them, drawing on the social memory literature.

In a conceptual manner, the authors connect the field of responsible supply chain management to the growing literature on corporate heritage and social memory in organizations.

The authors develop seven propositions related to the communication of the past and its connection to responsible supply chain management.

A social memory perspective can inform supply chain management research, by helping to better understand how and with what consequences the past can be used in communication about supply chains. This paper is conceptual in nature and empirical investigations would be needed to support and/or modify the literature-based findings.

Managers should be aware that both opportunities and risks are associated with communicating the past in connection to responsible supply chain management. Deployed in the right way, such communication can be valuable both in marketing and in internal management processes.

This article introduces the social memory perspective to the supply chain management field and shows what implications it can have for research on responsibility in supply chains.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the role of relational power/dependent asymmetries and symmetries in shaping socially responsible supply chain management, whilst also examining how these issues are moderated by geographical distance between buyer and supplier.

The study draws on data from 339 buyer‐supplier relationships, and the authors use a set of regression models to test their hypotheses.

Joint dependency positively influences socially responsible supply chain management, whilst supplier power constrains it. Both joint dependency and buyer power become increasingly important determinants of socially responsible supply chain management as geographic distance increases.

Further work is needed to examine the conditions under which organisations will exercise their power advantage or their joint dependence position to improve socially responsible processes in the supply chain, as there may be situations where the buyer chooses not to exercise their power positions.

The authors' results indicate that jointly dependent relationships create the best conditions for socially responsible supply chain management, but they also find that supplier power advantage can constrain such initiatives.

This is the first paper to systematically analyse the implementation of socially responsible supply chain management, within a model that considers power a/symmetric positions of the buyer‐supplier relationship, and the role of geographical distance as a moderating influence on these power positions.

This paper aims to explore the effect of business strategy on socially responsible supply chain management (SR‐SCM).

This study draws on data from 178 UK‐based companies, and 340 buyer‐supplier relationships. A novel data collection approach is used, which minimizes social desirability and common methods bias, to capture socially responsible supply chain management. The data are analysed through a set of OLS regressions.

Business strategies significantly influence socially responsible supply chain management. Low‐cost producers largely neglect their social responsibilities in the supply chain. In contrast, firms pursuing differentiation strategies are considerably more engaged with these issues, partly because they have better supply chain processes.

Practitioners should carefully consider the fit between strategic position and level of engagement with SR‐SCM, since our results emphasise the relationship between SR‐SCM and business strategy. Proactive engagement with SR‐SCM, however, also implies sound supply chain processes, which must also be aligned with business strategy. Policy‐makers should consider the low engagement with SR‐SCM of low‐cost producers and the implications for SR‐SCM in cost sensitive and competitive global markets.

This is the first systematic cross‐sectional study of the relationship between business strategy and socially responsible supply chain management (SR‐SCM). These results suggest that there is a clear relationship between the strategic position of the firm and their SR‐SCM practices. These results contribute to the on‐going debate on relationships between strategy and supply chain management, and the emerging debate on the relationships between strategy and SR‐SCM.

This paper aims to propose a taxonomy based on socially responsible practices across supply chains. The authors compare and contrast different socially responsible initiatives in manufacturing supply chains and their effect on economic performance, socially responsible outcomes and manufacturing costs.

This study is based on survey data collected in 262 manufacturing plants located in 15 countries. Cluster analysis is conducted to develop the research taxonomy. Moreover, socially responsible initiatives were compared on a country level. Finally, multiple regressions were performed to identify associations between performance, manufacturing and socially responsible variables.

The taxonomy was constructed based on four socially responsible corporate dimensions (legal, ethical, discretionary and economic). The results identified three clusters of manufacturing organizations that adopt different approaches to socially responsible initiatives across supply chains and their performance.

Previous studies explored the elements and the impacts of the go-no-go decisions in the intersection between CSR and the supply chain. The present study brings new insights by analyzing how socially responsible initiatives in supply chains and their performance are different. Moreover, the sample encompasses 15 countries, and it proposes a taxonomy and directions to support the managers’ decision-making process.

The purpose of this study is to examine variables and their relationships that hinder socially responsible behaviours in the supply chain of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). countries.

The study uses the mixed-method approach that includes the survey method and soft mathematical modelling. Empirical data were collected from 130 SMEs and their suppliers based in Qatar and Oman. Furthermore, to understand the barriers and their interrelationships, interpretive structural modelling approach is applied.

The results of empirical study reveal lack of coherence among SMEs and their suppliers in prioritising social responsibility issues in their supply chain. The hierarchy-based model reveals that shortages of incentive, short-term objectives, the lack of cooperation and willingness among supply chain partners, constraints (financial, managerial and technological) and the pressure from customers were the independent barriers and have strong driving power.

The findings of this study are expected to provide an insight to further improve and promote socially responsible supply chain in emerging economies in Gulf region. Future research could compare the socially responsible activities of SMEs from different Gulf countries and expand the understanding of the barriers that outline the responses of suppliers situated in different Gulf economies.

The results contribute to the field of supply chain sustainability as the first academic attempt to shed light on how SMEs in GCC are dealing with supply chain social responsibility issues and one of the few in the emerging economy perspective that probes the key role of barriers to improve the socially responsible behaviour of Gulf-based SMEs.

Members in a supply chain account for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in different ways. This paper considers a socially responsible supply chain in which the manufacturer innovates in a sustainable product while the retailer exhibits CSR concerns. This paper aims to investigate how socially responsible behavior, namely, sustainable innovations or CSR concerns, affects the pure profit, environmental impact and social welfare, in such a socially responsible supply chain.

This paper first constructs an integrated case as a benchmark and then develops a Manufacturer-Stackelberg game in a decentralized scenario. The pure profit, environmental impact and social welfare are confirmed and analyzed in centralized and decentralized cases. Moreover, two unique coordinating contracts, i.e. wholesale price discount contract and revenue-sharing contract, are used in this socially responsible supply chain.

Analytical analysis shows that, under certain conditions, the optimal CSR strategies hold for maximizing pure channel profit, minimizing environmental impact and maximizing social welfare. Whether the performance in a centralized case outnumbers that in a decentralized case depends on the CSR concerns level and environment-friendly degree of the product. In addition, it is found that a wholesale price discount contract is better for the retailer whereas a revenue-sharing contract is better for the manufacturer in pure profit to improve coordinating efficiency.

These results can offer managerial implications to the socially responsible supply chain in terms of pricing decisions, CSR strategies and sustainability innovations. Specifically, under certain conditions, placing more CSR concerns level increases pure channel profit and the social welfare. A balance between the pure profit and the social welfare is hereby achieved for the two socially responsible individuals by designing a proper contract.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first studies so far to combine the CSR concerns strategy and sustainability innovation into a socially responsible supply chain.

Literature on conflict minerals supply chain management issues has witnessed a significant surge during the last decade. The authors review how CM research addressed supply chain issues over the last decades and present a critical assessment of such literature based on supply chain governance theory.

A systematic literature review approach was adopted, and a sample of 122 papers were identified in relevant journals. A descriptive, thematic and content analysis of the papers is presented to delineate the structure and the main research clusters of the literature.

The authors provide a comprehensive assessment of CMSC literature and identify four main research clusters. Most research has focussed on operational practices and adopted a fragmented approach to CMSC issues. Accordingly, the authors provide research propositions related to under-explored aspects in extant literature.

This study has a number of implications. Practitioners and researchers will gain a greater understanding of specific CMSC issues which have been addressed in current literature and of how responsible CMSC actions can be implemented.

This study is one of the first literature reviews of publications on CMSC from a supply chain governance perspective. This review presents an overarching map of CMSC literature and a series of propositions to inform future research.

This paper examines the role of government procurement as a social policy mechanism within a multilateral open trading system. Government regulations globally are being transformed to foster more responsible business conduct in multinational enterprises (MNEs). Yet, concern that sustainability may present a discriminatory barrier to trade has stalled the progress of sustainable public procurement (SPP) at the international level, raising questions regarding the role and scope of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) to align taxpayer-funded contracts with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals.

With a focus on social sustainability, this paper reviews the grey and academic literature to assess the changing landscape of public procurement policy and supply chain legislation in high-income countries.

Frontrunner nations are adopting a mandatory approach to sustainable public procurement and due diligence legislation is elevating supply chain risk from reputational damage to legal liability. While technological innovation and the clean, green production of manufactured goods dominates the sustainable public procurement literature, the social aspects of sustainability poverty, inequality and human rights remain underrepresented.

The scope of this paper is limited to the examination of government procurement covered by the WTO-GPA (2012). Smaller value contracts, under the WTO-GPA thresholds and the category of defence are beyond the scope of the paper.

The paper focusses on the underserved topic of social sustainability in business-to-government (B2G) – business to government – supply chains arguing that for responsible business conduct to become a competitive advantage, it must be more meaningfully rewarded on the demand-side of all taxpayer-funded contracts in organisation for economic co-operation and development countries. The paper introduces the idea of priceless procurement as a mechanism to build system capacity in the evaluation of non-financial sustainability objectives.

To build the capacity to stimulate competition based on social and environmental policy objectives, the paper introduces the concept of priceless procurement in B2G contracts.