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This paper examines the nexus between supply chain social capital (relational social capital and structural social capital), supply chain responsiveness (operations system responsiveness and supplier network responsiveness) and firm performance. Additionally, the study examines the mediating role of supply chain responsiveness on the relationship between supply chain social capital and firm performance.

The authors test their hypotheses on a sample of 120 firms operating in Ghana. The measurement model and hypothesized paths were assessed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The findings revealed that structural social capital had a significant direct effect on firm performance, but relational social capital did not. It was also revealed that both relational and structural social capital have significant effects on operations system responsiveness and supplier network responsiveness. Additionally, operations system responsiveness fully mediated the effect of relational social capital on firm performance and partially mediated the effect of structural social capital on firm performance. Supplier network responsiveness, on the other hand, partially mediated the effect of both relational and structural social capital on firm performance.

This study contributes to the limited literature on supply chain social capital by unearthing the mechanisms through which supply chain social capital enhances firm performance. Specifically, the study demonstrates the intervening role of operations system responsiveness and supplier network responsiveness in the supply chain social capital–firm performance link.

Social risk management is vital for growth and business continuity. This study investigates the social risk shift in supply chain management during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Data were retrieved from Bloomberg between 2010 and 2021 regarding all supply chain enterprises from nine countries. The authors undertake a confirmatory examination of formulated hypotheses. Social supply chain risk (SSCR) refers to “firms that took the necessary steps to decrease social risks in their supply chain. Social risks involve the child or forced labor, poor working conditions, lack of a living and fair or minimum wage”. The authors complement the analysis and address the endogeneity issue using the dynamic generalized moments method (GMM).

A significant positive relationship between COVID-19 and SSCR was discovered in this study. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain firms faced supply chain social risk. Notably, SSCR policies differ from one country to another during this period.

The research has some limitations. The sample data are limited to 9 countries. Furthermore, it was somewhat difficult to determine the country-wise difference using COVID-19 as a dummy variable. Future research may adopt qualitative approaches, such as structural or semi-structural interviews.

The results have important implications for supply chain practitioners to consider the critical role of social risk in their operations. COVID-19 has exposed the new political economy and re-centered governments as the key actors in tackling grand challenges to safeguard workers, produce socially useful products and protect their stakeholders. Also, the study highlights the importance of governments and policymakers having a well-structured regulatory framework and environment for firms to comply with the social norms in their supply chain management. Finally, the study's findings should encourage supply chain managers to adopt a proactive mechanism that reduces the social risk impacts of pandemics.

Considering the historical backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study is unique in measuring the SSCR of enterprises from a worldwide viewpoint.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how social sustainability is considered in the study of supply chain management, thereby identifying key areas for future researchers to develop.

A systematic literature review of 109 studies is conducted. The papers have been analysed with a particular focus on their definition of social sustainability, research methods used, the central themes covered and the evolution of the debate including theories and the main findings.

Findings show that, first, researchers have thus far focused on principles for managing social change, developing measures for performance, identifying drivers and barriers, with few studies considering the social practices, particularly at the micro level and in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises. Second, findings also reveal that there is less consideration of the suppliers’, as opposed to the buyers’, perspective.

This review focuses only on social sustainability within supply chain management, without considering the economic and environmental dimensions.

This review provides the key themes and areas for managers/practitioners to consider when implementing social sustainability in supply chains. It also provides insights into under-researched areas together with the need for future researchers to move beyond frameworks and develop more tools and instruments for measuring social performance in practice.

This paper is one of the few studies that consider the social dimension of sustainability exclusively within the context of supply chains, providing insights and implications for further research.

The concept of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) integrates the environmental and social sustainability dimensions into the management of supply chains. However, the understanding of the management of social sustainability in the supply chain is relatively underdeveloped. This paper, therefore, seeks to explore the adoption, emerging approaches and the (un)intended outcomes of social sustainability in the supply chain as well as supply chain social sustainability in the Arab world.

This paper systematically reviews 396 peer-reviewed papers on social sustainability in the supply chain published between 1997 and 2020.

The review identifies and discusses three types of factors influencing the adoption of social sustainability in the supply chain: drivers, enablers and barriers. The review also identifies four main approaches to tackling social issues in the supply chain, namely an internal approach (e.g. internal adaptation), a hands-off approach (e.g. supplier switching), a hands-on approach (e.g. collaboration practices) and a relational approach (e.g. justice). The review also reveals that although addressing these issues can generate positive outcomes, it can also lead to unintended negative outcomes such as increased social violations and the perception of unfairness among suppliers.

This study complements the existing literature reviews on the social dimension of SSCM by not only providing an update of the current literature and shedding light on an emerging approaches (e.g. justice) to tackling social issues in supply chains but also by exposing the unintended negative consequences of tackling social issues, a subject that has largely been overlooked to date.

The necessity to assess and manage supply chains to be free from social problems such as human and labour rights abuses has become particularly apparent since the introduction of conflict minerals regulations in the United States (Dodd-Frank Act) and the European Union. Similarly, stakeholders demand that products are free from social problems. Ever more companies are therefore challenged to assess and manage social issues in their supply chains. At the same time, the increasing literature on assessment and management of social issues is disperse and an overview missing. This paper aims to provide an overview of the existing literature on social assessment and management approaches relating to conflict minerals and connected to social issues in supply chains.

A review of the academic literature on social assessment and management of conflict minerals to provide an overview is currently missing. This paper addresses this gap by systematically reviewing the existing research literature on approaches for the social assessment and management of conflict minerals from a supply chain perspective.

The systematic literature review found 21 social assessment and 30 social management approaches with reference to conflict minerals, with the most referenced approach being the OECD guidelines. Overall, the conflict mineral related literature discusses rather general social assessment and management approaches, such as codes of conduct, while the effectiveness of the approaches is not analysed in depth. The paper finds that an analysis of the effectiveness and interlinkages of different approaches is missing. The large variety of social and human rights issues addressed in the academic literature ranges from corruption to violence, going beyond the scope of regulations focused on conflict minerals. This indicates that regulations on conflict minerals and the consequences for management are seen as a specific case with wider implications for future regulations and the necessity for management to solve social problems in supply chains in an effective way.

The review paper is conceptual and develops a framework to classify social assessment and management approaches for conflict minerals, drawing on the supply chain management literature.

The overview reveals that research refers to broader social assessment and management approaches indicating wider implications for assessing and managing social issues in supply chains in general, irrespective of whether they are conflict mineral related. Research has, however, so far not addressed the effectiveness and interlinkages between social assessment and management approaches. The aim of the emerging regulations, however, is to foster more effective management of social issues in supply chains. Management is therefore challenged to develop and implement innovative approaches to effectively reduce social problems in supply chains beyond conflict minerals. Conclusions are drawn for management and research.

The paper highlights the need for collaboration with NGOs, industry associations and suppliers, recommending to engage in supplier development.

The paper conducts the first systematic review of academic literature on conflict mineral related social assessment and management approaches. A framework is proposed to classify social assessment and management approaches based on supply chain management literature. While conflict minerals often represent a small fraction of components in a product, they can have huge and costly implications for companies, which require (potentially) large changes for the sourcing and supply strategy of a company. Conflict mineral regulations represent the first attempt to regulate social and human rights abuses in supply chains holding companies responsible for misconduct caused by suppliers abroad.

The objective of this paper is to investigate systematically the discipline of supply chain management (SCM) within the context of sustainability. The two concepts are increasingly aligned, and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) represents an evolving field where they explicitly interact. Given their complex and holistic nature, breaking down the literature to understand its structures, processes, connections and limitations can provide an objective view of the status of research in these highly important fields, identifying key areas for future research/theory development.

A systematic review of current SCM literature is carried out, specifically in relation to the social and environmental dimensions of sustainability.

SSCM and the integration of sustainability into supply chains is a significant but evolving field evidenced by a current bias in the literature towards theory development and highly qualitative research methods. The environmental dimension is significantly better represented in the literature through specific processes at all stages of the supply chain. The social dimension is recognised, but receives less emphasis than expected given SCM's focus on interaction, relationships and communication. These two dimensions are treated separately in the literature with limited insight on how to integrate them and current SCM and sustainability research provides limited practical outputs.

The review focuses on environmental and social sustainability within supply chains without explicit consideration of the economic dimension.

The review highlights the key themes and issues for supply chain managers faced with implementing sustainability. It also illustrates a number of areas for future research, along with the need for researchers to develop more practical tools for implementing SSCM.

Indicates the extent to which sustainability is integrated within SCM and where the research emphasis currently lies. The environmental dimension is significantly more defined and developed in the literature. SCM literature emphasises the importance of long‐term supplier relationships, but this “people‐focused” approach does not appear to translate into socially responsible supply chains. It suggests that the more process‐driven nature of environmental sustainability makes it easier to put into supply chain practice. There is also limited research or evidence on how the two dimensions can be integrated despite recognition of their inter‐relationship.

This paper aims to examine what drives the adoption of different social sustainability supply chain practices. Research has shown that certain factors drive the adoption of environmental sustainability practices but few focus on social supply chain practices, delineate which practices are adopted or what drives their adoption.

The authors examine the facilitative role of sustainability culture to explain the adoption of social sustainability supply chain practices: basic practices, consisting of monitoring and management systems and advanced practices, which are new product and process development and strategic redefinition. The authors then explore the role played by a firm’s entrepreneurial orientation in shaping and reinforcing the adoption of social sustainability supply chain practices. A survey of 156 supply chain managers in multiple industries in Ireland was conducted to test the relationship between the variables.

The findings show that sustainability culture is positively related to all the practices, and entrepreneurial orientation impacts and moderates social sustainability culture in advanced social sustainability supply chain adoption.

As with any survey, this is a single point in time with a single respondent. Implications for managers include finding the right culture in the organisation to implement social sustainability supply chain management practices that go beyond monitoring to behavioural changes in the supply chain with implications beyond the dyad of buyer and supplier to lower tier suppliers and the community surrounding the supply chain.

The implications for managers include developing and fostering cultural attributes in the organisation to implement social sustainability supply chain management practices that go beyond monitoring suppliers to behavioural changes in the supply chain with implications beyond the dyad of buyer and supplier to lower tier suppliers and the community surrounding the supply chain.

This is the first time, to the authors’ knowledge, that cultural and entrepreneurial variables have been tested for social sustainability supply chain practices, giving them new insights into how and why social sustainability supply chain practices are adopted.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize a model for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) that integrates the antecedents, practices and performance measures of sustainability. It also examines if lean management (LM) and supply management (SM) are antecedents of SSCM.

A systematic review of literature was undertaken across multiple streams, including operations management, SCM, sustainability, business ethics and performance management. Articles relevant to SSCM published over a span of 31 years (1988–2018) were searched using keywords and specific selection criteria.

From the literature, three dependent constructs – motivators of sustainability, LM and SM – and three independent constructs – environmental practices in SCM, social practices in SCM and SSCM performance – are identified and defined. Linkages between these constructs are hypothesized to develop a theoretical framework called the “integrated lean/supply management with sustainability motivators, practices and performance model.”

Built on the principles-practices-outcomes framework proposed earlier, this model is comprehensive in its coverage of sustainability antecedents, practices and performance. Further, it covers the SCM triad – the supplier, the focal firm and the customers – as well as the roles they play in sustainability performance.

By identifying LM and SM as additional antecedents of SSCM, this study suggests that sustainability may be realized through LM and SM principles. Further, the proposed model presents a novel integration of literature from diverse domains.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent dynamic capabilities (DCs) developed in the field of green supply chain management can foster social supply chain performance. In addition, the role of both human and stakeholder capital in enhancing this relationship is investigated.

Relying on the theoretical framework of the resource-based view, complemented with the DCs perspective, the authors hypothesize about the benefits of a firm’s environmental management capability for its social supply chain performance, as well as the moderating role of both human and stakeholder capital. Our contentions are tested through a multi-year database of socially responsible investments covering 1,177 multinational corporations.

The findings show that companies can sustain positive and superior social performance in their supply chain by leveraging DCs developed in the environmental field. This impact is further shown to be elevated in the presence of both human and stakeholder capital.

This study represents a snapshot of the transformation process from environmentally to socially responsible supply chains. While the secondary data employed offers unique advantages, secondary data also have limitations.

Developing environmental capabilities not only enhances companies’ profitability, but can also lead to better supply chains through improved labor conditions and well-being.

The authors’ shift from a company-centric to a sustainability-centric conceptualization of DCs can open up new opportunities to engage research, potentially leading to high-impact results in the field of sustainable supply chain management. In addition, the authors leverage a secondary data source not frequently utilized in prior work.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the self-declared sustainability initiatives of the world’s four largest chocolate manufacturers (Ferrero, Mars, Mondelez and Nestlé) and the measures they take to tackle social problems within the context of establishing sustainable sourcing of cocoa in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Global cocoa supply chains are under continuous media and public scrutiny. Recent incidents of malpractice in supply chain management have left global chocolatiers vulnerable in terms of how they deal with social issues across their global supply chain networks. Critics have argued that there is a lack of consistency and transparency between what companies say and do in upholding sustainable practices across their supply chains.

The authors draw from the sustainable supply chain literature to develop our theoretical parameters and undertake a case-based analysis of the existing sustainability practices of these chocolatiers. Using the insights from this analysis, the authors propose a conceptual framework for a rigorous comparative assessment of self-declared sustainable sourcing initiatives of global agricultural supply chains. The methodology is qualitative and the research method is a secondary-data case study.

Four main parameters were identified and used to compare self-declared initiatives, namely: social sustainability certification from respectable bodies; code of conduct for suppliers; partnerships with the primary supply chain stakeholders; and supplier collaboration programme and improvement initiatives. The case companies chosen have implemented several initiatives, but the most prominent seem to indicate the reliance on third-party certification. Not all companies adopted a supplier code of conduct. The partnerships and collaboration programmes with different associations are presented as efficient for companies as well as farmers. Improvements in the conditions of farmers are advocated as a key result.

This paper is based on self-declared secondary data. Subsequently, it is possible that the case companies did not document some practices; or that companies do not do what they claim.

This paper provides a comprehensive framework for agricultural businesses to compare their sustainability efforts and improve the performance of their supply chains, particularly those who belong to the cocoa supply chains. The proposed framework allows an assessment of initiatives at policy, strategic, tactical and operational levels to improve social sustainability of supply chains.

This paper may help companies to think more clearly about greater transparency and provide the impetus for dealing more effectively with serious social issues in agricultural supply chains such as: child labour, child trafficking, modern slavery, etc. It may also instruct consumers to better understand what companies do as part of their sustainability agenda, alongside the communication of other features of their products, such as quality.

The framework adds value by providing a novel way to systematically compile and analyse data around self-declared sustainable initiatives. Actors within agricultural supply chains can use the framework to assess and drive their sustainability efforts and practices, leading to ways to improve the social performance of their global supply chains.