Integrating social sustainability into supplier evaluation using data envelopment analysis

Sharma Aashi () and R. Rajesh ()
Additional contact information
Sharma Aashi: ABV- Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management (ABV-IIITM), Management Division
R. Rajesh: Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Tiruchirappalli, Operations Management and Decision Sciences

Annals of Operations Research, 2025, vol. 355, issue 1, No 28, 783-803

Abstract: Abstract Multiple approaches are available for supplier selection and long term supplier development of any company. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) serves as a tool to measure maximum supplier efficiency based on any set of considered aspects. This study proposes a DEA model by integrating best possible criteria to the coherent framework for social sustainability based supplier selection. To this end, we analyse different Decision Making Units (DMUs) and compare the efficiency of each DMU with only the best one, so as to determine the most efficient one. This will eventually help in identifying the best supplier according to the aspects of social sustainability. A case evaluation of the proposed methodology has been conducted in the fast food supply chains and the best supplier was selected. Managers can use the proposed framework for supplier selection considering social sustainability for enhancing the overall sustainability capabilities of their supply chains. This research also points towards the importance of considering social sustainability and the related issues, right from the upstream of the supply chain. Considerations for the same can improve the capabilities of supply chain and can directly enhance the environmental, social, and governance performances of firms.

Keywords: Data envelopment analysis (DEA); Decision-making; ESG performance; Social sustainability; Supplier selection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10479-023-05767-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:annopr:v:355:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10479-023-05767-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/10479

DOI: 10.1007/s10479-023-05767-8

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of Operations Research is currently edited by Endre Boros

More articles in Annals of Operations Research from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().