Supply chain sustainability and performance of firms: A meta-analysis of the literature

Kannan Govindan, A. Rajeev, Sidhartha S. Padhi and Rupesh K. Pati

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 2020, vol. 137, issue C

Abstract: In recent years, many studies link supply chain sustainability practices to firm performance, since more and more firms are implementing sustainable practices in their manufacturing/services supply chains. This study uses a psychometric meta-analysis to synthesize the results from 167 effect sizes, collected from 129 articles, to understand the impact of various types of sustainability practices (i.e., environmental, social, and combined) on firm performance (Financial and Operational). A sub-group analysis, using industry (manufacturing/service) and economy (developed/developing), was also performed to study the relative strength of sustainability-firm performance relationships in respective categories. The study confirms a positive association between the various aspects of sustainability and firm performance and finds that the strength of sustainability-firm performance relationships grows over time. Findings also suggest a stronger relationship between sustainability-firm performances in manufacturing industries than in service industries. This study provides interesting insights for policymakers and companies in various economies, and it augments the understanding of the impact of sustainable supply chain practices on firm performance.

Keywords: Sustainability; Meta-analysis; Supply chain management; Natural resource based view; Stakeholder theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554519315194
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transe:v:137:y:2020:i:c:s1366554519315194

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600244/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600244/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2020.101923

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review is currently edited by W. Talley

More articles in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().