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Citation for published version
Yu, Wantao and Chavez, Roberto and Feng, M. (2017) Green supply management and performance:
a resource-based view. Production Planning & Control, 28 (6-8). pp. 659-670. ISSN 0953-7287.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2017.1309708
Link to record in KAR
http://kar.kent.ac.uk/53456/
Document Version
Author's Accepted Manuscript
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Green supply management and performance
Wantao Yu
Kent Business School
University of Kent
Sail & Colour Loft, The Historic Dockyard, Chatham
Kent, ME4 4TE
Tel.: +44(0)1634888486
Roberto Chavez
Facultad de Economía y Empresa
Universidad Diego Portales
Av. Santa Clara 797, Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile
Tel: +56(0)222130266
Mengying Feng
1*
School of Management
Chongqing Jiaotong University
Xufu Dadao, Nanan District
Chongqing, China
Email: fengmengying@cqjtu.edu.cn
Tel: +86(0)2386079717
* Corresponding author
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Abstract
This study develops and empirically tests, from the resource-based perspective, a conceptual
framework linking green supply management and performance. The proposed model is tested
using data from a sample of 126 automotive manufactures in China. The results suggest that both
green purchasing personnel and green supplier selection have a significant positive effect on
green supplier collaboration, and that building green collaboration with suppliers is significantly
and positively related to both environmental and operational performance. Accordingly,
knowledge and skill development of the purchasing function can be recognized as an important
resource in building green supply capabilities and performance.
Keywords: Green supply management; Performance; Resource-based view; China
1. Introduction
In a physically distributed environment, supply management plays an important role in
enhancing competitiveness of supply chains (Ageron et al. 2012). Contemporary supply
management aims to maintain long-term partnership with suppliers (Ho et al. 2010), who not
only play an increasingly critical role in firm success, but they also influence considerably the
total environmental impact of companies (Wagner and Johnson 2004, Darnall et al. 2008). It has
been suggested that in order to attain the ambitions of sustainability, manufacturers must pay
close attention to their upstream side of the supply chain (Paulraj 2011). Green supply
management (GSM) can be defined as “the complex of mechanisms implemented at the
corporate and plant level to assess or improve the environmental performance of a supplier base”
(Gavronski et al. 2011). In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in identifying
antecedents, practices and performance implications of GSM (e.g., Ageron et al. 2012, Vachon
and Klassen 2008, Paulraj 2011, Lee et al. 2015, Gavronski et al. 2011). Despite this,
sustainability research on supply management is still in its infancy and needs much closer
attention (Ageron et al. 2012, Van Bommel 2011, Paulraj 2011). The expertise and knowledge of
how to organize and facilitate the implementation of sustainability in supply networks is still
poorly developed; sustainability seems to behave like an unknown phenomenon in supply
networks (Van Bommel 2011).
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Companies are under increasing pressure to integrate environmental issues into their
supply chain process (Gavronski et al. 2011, Mohanty and Prakash 2014, Marshall et al. 2015,
Yu et al. 2014). Managers have realized that they should implement environmental initiatives to
assess and improve business performance from the upstream side of the supply chain. However,
managers are having difficulties in developing a greener supply chain. They have little guidance
on how GSM capabilities can be developed to support and implement more sustainable supply
chain practices (Bowen et al. 2001, Gavronski et al. 2011, Yu et al. 2014). Clearly, there is still a
need for more empirical research that provides useful insights for managers seeking to develop
GSM capabilities. To fill the important research gap, using the resource-based view of the firm
(RBV) as the theoretical background, this study develops a conceptual framework and provides
an initial analysis that can help managers build GSM capabilities in order to improve
sustainability performance.
GSM is a multidimensional construct, which encompasses a wide range of
environmental activities (Bowen et al. 2001, Paulraj 2011). Previous research has collapsed the
GSM construct into various dimensions, including supplier selection, supplier evaluation,
environmental collaboration with suppliers, and supplier monitoring (e.g., Paulraj 2011,
Gavronski et al. 2011, Ageron et al. 2012). However, many conceptualizations of GSM have not
considered the central role of green purchasing personnel, and the GSM literature has paid
insufficient attention to human resource management (HRM) (Gowen and Tallon 2003, Farndale
et al. 2010). According to the RBV, knowledgeable and skilled purchasing personnel are
recognized as an important human resource in building green supply capabilities (Lamming and
Hampson 1996, Carter et al. 1998, Bowen et al. 2001). The purchasing function should be
staffed with well-trained professionals, who possess some technical knowledge and competences
(Guy and Dale 1993). Consequently, many businesses have established environmental training
programs for employees in purchasing and supply management positions (Daily and Huang 2001,
Daily et al. 2012). Furthermore, create sustainable awareness on employees through training and
a well-designed reward system is important to reach sustainable goals (Zhu et al. 2008).
Although HRM and GSM are intimately tied to each other in virtually all business scenarios
(Boudreau 2004), the importance of green purchasing personnel and its effect on facilitating
GSM has remained largely unexplored. With these deficiencies in mind, our study views green
purchasing personnel as an important dimension of GSM. In line with previous research on GSM
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(e.g., Carter et al. 1998, Bowen et al. 2001, Paulraj 2011, Ageron et al. 2012, Gavronski et al.
2011), this study recognizes and defines three main dimensions of GSM, i.e., green purchasing
personnel, green supplier selection, and green supplier collaboration. More specifically, from the
RBV perspective, we consider green purchasing personnel and green supplier selection as
important antecedents of green supplier collaboration, which has not been empirically examined
in previous work. Given a growing concern about environmental problems, identifying
antecedents, practices and performance implications of GSM will offer valuable insights into the
GSM literature and reveal new insights into how companies develop GSM capabilities.
In spite of the ongoing debate on the relationships between GSM practices and
performance, previous research is often inconsistent and ambiguous (Rao and Holt 2005, Zhu et
al. 2005). The mixed empirical findings in the existing literature suggest that the GSM–
performance relationship needs further investigation. Accordingly, drawing upon the RBV, this
study is to advance theory building within supply management by developing a theoretical
framework linking GSM capabilities and performance. According to the RBV, GSM is
forwarded as key organizational resources and capabilities that can lead to significant
improvements in environmental and operational performance.
This study makes several compelling contributions to the supply chain research by
filling important research gaps. On a theoretical front, this study recognizes green purchasing
personnel as a strategic and crucial variable in facilitating GSM, which has largely been
neglected in the GSM literature. Building upon the RBV, this study develops an integrative
model that theoretically establishes and empirically tests (1) how manufacturers organize and
facilitate the implementation of sustainability in supply management (i.e., green purchasing
personnel, green supplier selection and green supplier collaboration); (2) the effects of green
purchasing personnel and green supplier selection on green supplier collaboration; and (3)
whether the implementation of GSM practices leads to performance improvement (i.e.,
operational and environmental). More specifically, we view green purchasing personnel and
green supplier selection as core enablers of the establishment of environmental collaboration
with suppliers. On a practical front, this study provides valuable managerial guidelines for
practitioners to successfully develop GSM capabilities in order to reap the full benefits of GSM
efforts.
