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Socially responsible purchasing in supply chains: drivers and barriers in Sweden

Author

Listed:
  • Oksana Mont
  • Charlotte Leire

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to explore the factors that drive or hinder organisations to implement socially responsible purchasing. Design/methodology/approach - A literature analysis is complemented with empirical data from interviews with 20 private and public Swedish organisations. Findings - The findings from the literature analysis are compared with findings from Swedish organisations. The study finds that in Swedish organisations, the main drivers for socially responsible purchasing include stakeholder influence and organisational values, media and NGOs' attention and employees' concern. The main barriers are a lack of resources for supplier audits, difficulties to ensure that all suppliers fulfil the code of conduct, differences in culture and management style, low levels of social standards and high levels of corruption in some countries of supply, all of which makes assurance practices a very costly enterprise. Research limitations/implications - Future research could compare socially responsible purchasing (SRP) practices of focal organisations from different countries and deepen the understanding of contextual factors that shape responses of suppliers situated in different regions. Practical implications - Although exploratory in nature, this study assists managers and public procurers with a greater understanding of the drivers and barriers of socially responsible purchasing, as well as of success factors for integrating social aspects into purchasing practices. Originality/value - The paper contributes to the limited body of literature on the drivers and barriers for organisations to initiate and maintain the work on socially responsible purchasing.

Suggested Citation

  • Oksana Mont & Charlotte Leire, 2009. "Socially responsible purchasing in supply chains: drivers and barriers in Sweden," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(3), pages 388-407, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:srjpps:v:5:y:2009:i:3:p:388-407
    DOI: 10.1108/17471110910977302
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Noorliza Karia & Ruben Charles Davadas Michael, 2022. "Environmental Practices That Have Positive Impacts on Social Performance: An Empirical Study of Malaysian Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Veronica Scuotto & Tachia Chin & Alberto Pezzi & Marco Pironti, 2022. "CSR best practices for global multi‐tier sustainable supply chain integration of Chinese MNEs," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(6), pages 2038-2052, November.
    3. Steven Greenland & Elizabeth Levin & John F. Dalrymple & Barry O’Mahony, 2018. "Sustainable innovation adoption barriers: water sustainability, food production and drip irrigation in Australia," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(6), pages 727-741, November.
    4. Sadaat Ali Yawar & Stefan Seuring, 2017. "Management of Social Issues in Supply Chains: A Literature Review Exploring Social Issues, Actions and Performance Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 621-643, March.
    5. Jamalnia, Aboozar & Gong, Yu & Govindan, Kannan, 2023. "Sub-supplier's sustainability management in multi-tier supply chains: A systematic literature review on the contingency variables, and a conceptual framework," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    6. M. Isabel Sánchez-Hernández & Dolores Gallardo-Vázquez & Agnieszka Barcik & Piotr Dziwiński, 2016. "The Effect of the Internal Side of Social Responsibility on Firm Competitive Success in the Business Services Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-15, February.
    7. Lixin Shen & Kannan Govindan & Madan Shankar, 2015. "Evaluation of Barriers of Corporate Social Responsibility Using an Analytical Hierarchy Process under a Fuzzy Environment—A Textile Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-22, March.
    8. Chris Mason & John Simmons, 2014. "Embedding Corporate Social Responsibility in Corporate Governance: A Stakeholder Systems Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 77-86, January.
    9. Hussain Bux & Zhe Zhang & Naveed Ahmad, 2020. "Promoting sustainability through corporate social responsibility implementation in the manufacturing industry: An empirical analysis of barriers using the ISM‐MICMAC approach," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1729-1748, July.
    10. Manuel-Francisco Morales-Contreras & Paloma Bilbao-Calabuig & Carmen Meneses-Falcón & Victoria Labajo-González, 2019. "Evaluating Sustainable Purchasing Processes in the Hotel Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-24, August.
    11. M. Isabel Sánchez-Hernández & Živilė Stankevičiūtė & Rafael Robina-Ramirez & Carlos Díaz-Caro, 2020. "Responsible Job Design Based on the Internal Social Responsibility of Local Governments," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-16, June.
    12. Lauriane Robert & Rachel Bocquet & Elodie Gardet, 2016. "Intra-Organisational Drivers of Purchasing Social Responsibility," Post-Print hal-01613396, HAL.

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