Performance outcomes of supply chain practices for sustainable development: A meta‐analysis of moderators

Abstract

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices have received growing attention but their consequences on firm performance yielded mixed outcomes. This study aims to synthesize quantitative research and to analyze potential moderators on the link between SSCM practices and firm performance. This study draws upon resource‐based view of the firm with the extensions of natural resource‐based view and relational view to underpin study hypotheses. The analysis is based on data collected from 145 independent samples composed of 33,886 firms. The research hypotheses are tested using meta‐analytical procedures. The results show that SSCM practices are significantly and positively correlated with firm's social, operational, economic, and environmental performance dimensions. Additional findings from moderator analysis provide nuanced views of SSCM practices‐performance link. This paper contributes to the literature by underlining the relevance of SSCM, identifying and classifying SSCM practices into a coherent framework. The research findings help policy makers, practitioners and other stakeholders to better understand benefits from the adoption of SSCM practices. Additionally, to the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study that meta‐analytically combined existing empirical evidence of the social supply practices on various types of firm's sustainability performance.