Participation of suppliers in greening supply chains: An empirical analysis of German automotive suppliers

M.C.J. Caniels*, M.H. Gehrsitz, J. Semeijn

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The public increasingly holds companies accountable for environmental misbehavior in their supply chains. To offset that risk corporations start initiatives to green their supply chains. Yet suppliers often fail to properly participate in these initiatives. This paper presents a conceptual framework to explain supplier participation in green initiatives, by investigating customer requirements, supplier readiness, relational norms and customer investment as possible drivers. The framework and hypotheses were tested using survey data of 54 German automotive suppliers. Partial least squares methodology was deployed for hypothesis testing. The study found supplier readiness and customer requirements to be significant drivers in supplier participation. Relational norms and customer investment did not per se yield significant importance for explaining supplier participation, but when taking into account firm size, the data suggests that cooperative relation norms and customer investment work as an additional driver in green supply chain management for larger suppliers. This research is one of the few studies that explore drivers for supply chain participation at the supplier's level.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)134-143
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Purchasing and Supply Management
Volume19
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2013

Keywords

  • Environmental management
  • Supplier-buyer relations
  • Supply chain management
  • Automotive suppliers
  • BUYER-SELLER RELATIONSHIPS
  • MEDIUM-SIZED SUPPLIERS
  • RESOURCE-BASED VIEW
  • ENVIRONMENTAL-MANAGEMENT
  • RESPONSE RATES
  • PERFORMANCE
  • INITIATIVES
  • FIRMS
  • INTEGRATION
  • GOVERNANCE

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