Integrating Social Responsibility and Performance Through Quality Management in Supply Chains: A Balanced Centricity Approach

In recent years, sustainability has become increasingly important for both scholars and practitioners of supply chain management (SCM), driven by tighter regulations and strengthening consumer and community pressures. To meet these demands, firms must integrate both environmental and social dimensions into their supply chain strategies and practices. This study focuses on the supply chain social responsibility (SCSR) principle of sustainability, which reflects management orientations toward a commitment to norms underlying the future relationships, information sharing, and product development involvement of suppliers and customers. Specifically, we investigate the linkages among SCSR, management practices, and the resulting supply chain outcomes using a balanced centricity (BC) approach. Our analysis extends quality management (QM) into the supply chain by focusing on two sets of practices—supplier QM (SQM) and customer QM (CQM). For this purpose, data are collected from 209 manufacturing firms and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings confirm the positive relationship between SCSR and QM, emphasizing the significance of responsible behaviors toward both suppliers and customers in shaping the overall QM practices within the firm. Second, we show that effective SQM and CQM practices can contribute to improved overall supply chain performance (SCP). Finally, this study reveals that SQM is a crucial intermediary in linking SCSR with SCP, whereas CQM does not exhibit a similar effect. Our findings contribute to the literature on BC and QM practices in supply chains and have practical implications for firms seeking to improve their sustainability and SCP.