IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/proeco/v255y2023ics0925527322002857.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The fallacy of profitable green supply chains: The role of green information systems (GIS) in attenuating the sustainability trade-offs

Author

Listed:
  • Esfahbodi, Ali
  • Zhang, Yufeng
  • Liu, Yang
  • Geng, Duanyang

Abstract

While green supply chain management (GSCM) has been studied extensively, a lack of a clear view on performance improvements arising from the adoption of GSCM practices obstructs a full understanding of resultant consequences. Moreover, there are still limited efforts to understand the contingent nature of how performance is improved in this context. This study aims to ascertain whether the GSCM implementation yields sustainability–profitability trade-offs and examine the moderating effects of green information systems (GIS) on performance improvements. Survey data were collected from 189 firms operating in the UK automotive industry and analyzed using moderated hierarchical regression. The results suggest that pursuing GSCM can bring trade-offs into play, demonstrating a paradoxical view of enhanced sustainability versus less profitability. The authors call this phenomenon the fallacy of profitable GSCM. Interestingly, high levels of GIS were found to positively moderate the relationships between GSCM practices and economic performance. This study contributes to the knowledge bank of GSCM by elucidating the mixed views about the GSCM adoption and its economic effects and refutes the fallacy that “low-hanging fruits” of GSCM are readily available. Second, this study offers new directions to balance the trade-offs between sustainability and profitability, contributing to the development of a more robust GSCM theory. Two important managerial contributions can be drawn from this study: (1) managers need to prioritize GSCM practices on the basis of having the most significant performance improvement; (2) they are encouraged to develop more robust GIS and exploit the capabilities of information sharing, supply chain traceability, and monitoring as a new pathway to attenuate sustainability trade-offs. Future studies are recommended to explore wider sectors and employ longitudinal or quasi-experimental designs to capture the effects of GSCM practices on performance over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Esfahbodi, Ali & Zhang, Yufeng & Liu, Yang & Geng, Duanyang, 2023. "The fallacy of profitable green supply chains: The role of green information systems (GIS) in attenuating the sustainability trade-offs," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:255:y:2023:i:c:s0925527322002857
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527322002857
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108703?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Lanoie, 2008. "When And Why Does It Pay To Be Green?," CIRANO Papers 2008n-02a, CIRANO.
    2. Wong, Christina W.Y. & Lai, Kee-hung & Shang, Kuo-Chung & Lu, Chin-Shan & Leung, T.K.P., 2012. "Green operations and the moderating role of environmental management capability of suppliers on manufacturing firm performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 283-294.
    3. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Geng, Ruoqi & Mansouri, S. Afshin & Aktas, Emel, 2017. "The relationship between green supply chain management and performance: A meta-analysis of empirical evidences in Asian emerging economies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(PA), pages 245-258.
    5. Frank Montabon & Mark Pagell & Zhaohui Wu, 2016. "Making Sustainability Sustainable," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 52(2), pages 11-27, April.
    6. Agarwal, Atul & Giraud-Carrier, François C. & Li, Yuan, 2018. "A mediation model of green supply chain management adoption: The role of internal impetus," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 342-358.
    7. Gimenez, Cristina & Sierra, Vicenta & Rodon, Juan, 2012. "Sustainable operations: Their impact on the triple bottom line," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 149-159.
    8. Alfaro, Jos A. & Rbade, Luis A., 2009. "Traceability as a strategic tool to improve inventory management: A case study in the food industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 104-110, March.
    9. Ignacio Tamayo-Torres & Leopoldo Gutierrez-Gutierrez & Antonia Ruiz-Moreno, 2019. "Boosting sustainability and financial performance: the role of supply chain controversies," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(11), pages 3719-3734, June.
    10. Sarkis, Joseph & Zhu, Qinghua & Lai, Kee-hung, 2011. "An organizational theoretic review of green supply chain management literature," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 1-15, March.
    11. Esfahbodi, Ali & Zhang, Yufeng & Watson, Glyn, 2016. "Sustainable supply chain management in emerging economies: Trade-offs between environmental and cost performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(PB), pages 350-366.
    12. Figge, Frank & Hahn, Tobias, 2012. "Is green and profitable sustainable? Assessing the trade-off between economic and environmental aspects," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 92-102.
    13. Zhu, Qinghua & Sarkis, Joseph & Lai, Kee-hung, 2008. "Confirmation of a measurement model for green supply chain management practices implementation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 261-273, February.
    14. Zailani, Suhaiza & Jeyaraman, K. & Vengadasan, G. & Premkumar, R., 2012. "Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in Malaysia: A survey," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 330-340.
    15. Gideon D. Markman & Daniel Krause, 2016. "Theory Building Surrounding Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Assessing What We Know, Exploring Where to Go," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 52(2), pages 3-10, April.
    16. Naresh K. Malhotra & Sung S. Kim & Ashutosh Patil, 2006. "Common Method Variance in IS Research: A Comparison of Alternative Approaches and a Reanalysis of Past Research," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(12), pages 1865-1883, December.
    17. Zhaojun Yang & Jun Sun & Yali Zhang & Ying Wang, 2018. "Peas and carrots just because they are green? Operational fit between green supply chain management and green information system," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 627-645, June.
    18. Feng, Yunting & Lai, Kee-hung & Zhu, Qinghua, 2022. "Green supply chain innovation: Emergence, adoption, and challenges," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    19. Chunguang Bai & Joseph Sarkis, 2020. "A supply chain transparency and sustainability technology appraisal model for blockchain technology," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(7), pages 2142-2162, April.
    20. Vachon, Stephan & Klassen, Robert D., 2008. "Environmental management and manufacturing performance: The role of collaboration in the supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 299-315, February.
    21. Farrell, Andrew M., 2010. "Insufficient discriminant validity: A comment on Bove, Pervan, Beatty, and Shiu (2009)," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 324-327, March.
    22. Brandenburg, Marcus & Govindan, Kannan & Sarkis, Joseph & Seuring, Stefan, 2014. "Quantitative models for sustainable supply chain management: Developments and directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 299-312.
    23. Lai, Kee-hung & Wong, Christina W.Y., 2012. "Green logistics management and performance: Some empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing exporters," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 267-282.
    24. Zhang, Jiayuan & Yalcin, Mehmet G. & Hales, Douglas N., 2021. "Elements of paradoxes in supply chain management literature: A systematic literature review," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    25. Stekelorum, Rebecca & Laguir, Issam & Gupta, Shivam & Kumar, Sameer, 2021. "Green supply chain management practices and third-party logistics providers’ performances: A fuzzy-set approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sharma, Varun & Vijayaraghavan, T.A.S. & Raghu Ram, Tata L., 2023. "Resolving operational paradox of sustainable supply chain: A decision framework approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PB).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ardian Qorri & Saranda Gashi & Andrzej Kraslawski, 2021. "Performance outcomes of supply chain practices for sustainable development: A meta‐analysis of moderators," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 194-216, January.
    2. Amer Saeed & Yun Jun & Saviour Ayertey Nubuor & Hewawasam Puwakpitiyage Rasika Priyankara & Mahabaduge Prasad Fernando Jayasuriya, 2018. "Institutional Pressures, Green Supply Chain Management Practices on Environmental and Economic Performance: A Two Theory View," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-24, May.
    3. Liu, Yang & Zhu, Qinghua & Seuring, Stefan, 2017. "Linking capabilities to green operations strategies: The moderating role of corporate environmental proactivity," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 182-195.
    4. Mengying Feng & Wantao Yu & Xingyu Wang & Chee Yew Wong & Maozeng Xu & Zhi Xiao, 2018. "Green supply chain management and financial performance: The mediating roles of operational and environmental performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 811-824, November.
    5. Samad, Sarminah & Nilashi, Mehrbakhsh & Almulihi, Ahmed & Alrizq, Mesfer & Alghamdi, Abdullah & Mohd, Saidatulakmal & Ahmadi, Hossein & Syed Azhar, Sharifah Nurlaili Farhana, 2021. "Green Supply Chain Management practices and impact on firm performance: The moderating effect of collaborative capability," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    6. Ruifeng Gong & Jian Xue & Laijun Zhao & Oleksandra Zolotova & Xiaoqing Ji & Yan Xu, 2019. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Green Supply Chain Management Based on the Web of Science (WOS) Platform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-18, June.
    7. Saghiri, Soroosh Sam & Mirzabeiki, Vahid, 2021. "Buyer-led environmental supplier development: Can suppliers really help it?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    8. Liu, Junjun & Hu, Houbao & Tong, Xun & Zhu, Qinghua, 2020. "Behavioral and technical perspectives of green supply chain management practices: Empirical evidence from an emerging market," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    9. M. K. Dhillon & P. M. Rafi-Ul-Shan & H. Amar & F. Sher & S. Ahmed, 2023. "Flexible Green Supply Chain Management in Emerging Economies: A Systematic Literature Review," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 24(1), pages 1-28, March.
    10. El-Khalil, Raed & Mezher, Mohamad Ali, 2020. "The mediating impact of sustainability on the relationship between agility and operational performance," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 7(C).
    11. Christina W.Y. Wong & Chee Yew Wong & Sakun Boon‐itt, 2018. "How Does Sustainable Development of Supply Chains Make Firms Lean, Green and Profitable? A Resource Orchestration Perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 375-388, March.
    12. Roberto Chavez & Wantao Yu & Mengying Feng & Frank Wiengarten, 2016. "The Effect of Customer‐Centric Green Supply Chain Management on Operational Performance and Customer Satisfaction," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 205-220, March.
    13. Antony Paulraj & Injazz J. Chen & Constantin Blome, 2017. "Motives and Performance Outcomes of Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices: A Multi-theoretical Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 239-258, October.
    14. Katiyar, Rajesh & Meena, Purushottam L. & Barua, Mukesh Kumar & Tibrewala, Rajen & Kumar, Gopal, 2018. "Impact of sustainability and manufacturing practices on supply chain performance: Findings from an emerging economy," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 303-316.
    15. Ning Xu & Baofeng Huo & Yuxiao Ye, 2024. "The impact of supply chain pressure on cross-functional green integration and environmental performance: an empirical study from Chinese firms," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 612-634, June.
    16. Waqar Ahmed & Muhammad Saeed Ashraf & Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan & Simonov Kusi-Sarpong & Francis Kow Arhin & Horsten Kusi-Sarpong & Arsalan Najmi, 2020. "Analyzing the impact of environmental collaboration among supply chain stakeholders on a firm’s sustainable performance," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 4-21, June.
    17. Esfahbodi, Ali & Zhang, Yufeng & Watson, Glyn, 2016. "Sustainable supply chain management in emerging economies: Trade-offs between environmental and cost performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(PB), pages 350-366.
    18. Hung M. Nguyen & George Onofrei & Dothang Truong & Simon Lockrey, 2020. "Customer green orientation and process innovation alignment: A configuration approach in the global manufacturing industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2498-2513, September.
    19. Graham, Stephanie & Graham, Byron & Holt, Diane, 2018. "The relationship between downstream environmental logistics practices and performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 356-365.
    20. Chen, Lujie & Zhao, Xiande & Tang, Ou & Price, Lydia & Zhang, Shanshan & Zhu, Wenwen, 2017. "Supply chain collaboration for sustainability: A literature review and future research agenda," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 73-87.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:255:y:2023:i:c:s0925527322002857. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.