The Process of Responsibility, Decoupling Point, and Disengagement of Moral and Social Responsibility in Supply Chains: Empirical Findings and Prescriptive Thoughts

The aim of the paper is to explore and assess the process of responsibility, decoupling point, and disengagement of moral responsibility, in combination with business sustainability (BSus) in supply chains. The research is based on a qualitative approach consisting of two multifaceted case studies, each including multiple case companies and different empirical research characteristics, and a review of BSus in supply chain literature. The case studies apply moral disengagement (MDis) to propose how moral responsibility can deteriorate in supply chains, and the literature review identifies elements of BSus in supply chain management (SCM). The contribution of this paper is to compare these two research streams and evaluate the efficacy of the concepts proposed in the case studies. Through this study, BSus gains an entirely different and complementary toolkit which should facilitate further and more effective research in SCM. The theory of MDis also provides a foundation for reinforcing explanatory and prescriptive aspects of ‘best practices’ in the SCM literature. The findings also establish a basis for organizing and monitoring supply chains so as to improve BSus efforts. Considering moral responsibility as a flow this research explains why and how certain practices may impede BSus efforts in supply chains. Original and/or innovative outcomes include explanatory and prescriptive insights that emerge from a combination of empirical findings from two case studies, including seven companies and a framework for improving BSus management in supply chains, based on a typology of moral disengagement.