Minimizing Macro-Level Uncertainties for Quality Assurance in Reverse Logistics Supply Chains of Demolition Waste

Madduma Kaluge Chamitha Sanjani Wijewickrama, Nicholas Chileshe, Raufdeen Rameezdeen and Jose Jorge Ochoa
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Madduma Kaluge Chamitha Sanjani Wijewickrama: UniSA STEM: Circular Economy and Scare Resources (ScaRCE), University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
Nicholas Chileshe: UniSA STEM: Circular Economy and Scare Resources (ScaRCE), University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
Raufdeen Rameezdeen: UniSA STEM: Circular Economy and Scare Resources (ScaRCE), University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
Jose Jorge Ochoa: Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; Jorge.OchoaPaniagua@unisa.edu.au

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-35

Abstract: In light of the increasing detrimental effects on sustainability, the reverse logistics supply chain (RLSC) has emerged as one of the remedies in the construction industry, whereby the bulk of demolition waste (DW) is returned into the production cycle. Quality assurance (QA) plays an important role in RLSCs, which needs an information-rich environment enriched with external stakeholders’ influence strategies. However, due to ineffective external stakeholders’ influence, useful information is not available, making macro-level uncertainties for QA. Given this, the current study aimed to identify the macro-level uncertainties for QA in the RLSC of DW. The study used a qualitative approach involving 21 semi-structured interviews representing five external stakeholder categories. The study found the regulatory uncertainties are the root causes that propagate through incentivizing and contractual uncertainties to influence QA in the RLSC. The external stakeholders could employ measures such as ‘reforming regulatory instruments’, ‘employing effective incentivizing schemes’ and ‘active involvement of forward supply chain actors’ to minimize uncertainties at their source. The external and internal stakeholders can use these findings as a roadmap to determine suitable measures to overcome macro-level uncertainties in the RLSC. Furthermore, the study paved an avenue to integrate stakeholder theory and organizational information processing theory (OIPT) in future research.

Keywords: demolition waste; external stakeholders; organizational information processing theory; macro-level uncertainty; quality assurance; reverse logistics supply chains; stakeholder theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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