Green supply chain management practice adoption in Ugandan SME manufacturing firms. The role of enviropreneurial orientation
| Pages | 154-173 |
| Date | 11 July 2016 |
| Published date | 11 July 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJSTSD-01-2016-0003 |
| Author | Sheila Namagembe,R Sridharan,Suzanne Ryan |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Environmental technology & innovation |
Green supply chain management
practice adoption in Ugandan
SME manufacturing firms
The role of enviropreneurial orientation
Sheila Namagembe, R. Sridharan and Suzanne Ryan
Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle,
New South Wales, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to advance enviropreneurial orientation (EO) as a new internal
driver for green supply chain practice adoption. Because manufacturing supply chains are major
contributors to environmental pollution, green practice adoption is a means of reducing environmental
pollution. However, why owner/managers adopt green practices remains uncertain. The concept
of EO is a potential and important motivation for adoption of green supply chain practices that
has yet to be explored. The study investigates the relationship between EO and green supply chain
practice adoption.
Design/methodology/approach –Cross-sectional survey design was employed to collect data from
owners/managers of SME manufacturing firms in Uganda. The structural equation modelling was
used to analyse results on the influence of each of nine EO on green supply chain practice adoption and
the influence of EO dimensions on green supply chain practice adoption.
Findings –Findings show that EO positively influences green supply chain practice adoption. All but
two of nine dimensions of EO were significant predictors of green supply chain practice adoption.
Competitive aggressiveness and perceived pressure from environmental regulations were not
significant predictors for green supply chain practice adoption.
Research limitations/implications –The study was cross-sectional. A longitudinal survey was
more appropriate because of the presence of a behavioural variable green supply chain practice
adoption. Further a comparative study is required because of the existence of differences in
classifications of SMEs in both the developing and developed countries.
Originality/value –The research contributes to further scholarly understanding of green practice
adoption in SMEs through offering a new construct, EO, and its role in influencing green supply chain
practice adoption. The authors develop EO as a construct, a concept that has not been developed for
more than two decades.
Keywords Adoption, Environmental behaviour
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Over 50% of an average corporation’s carbon emissions are typically from the supply chain
rather than within its own four walls. Managing supply chain emissions is therefore critical if
we are going to address climate change effectively (Carbon Disclosure Project, 2011, p. ii,
Supply chain report).
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are responsible for a significant portion
of environmental pollution globally, however, how they manage environmental issues
and what impact they have on the environment are not well understood (de Oliveira
and Jabbour, 2015; Zekovićet al., 2014; Zobel, 2007). Negative environmental impact
is especially seen in manufacturing supply chains because inbound, outbound
and reverse logistics combined with internal firm operations produce substantial
World Journal of Science,
Technology and Sustainable
Development
Vol. 13 No. 3, 2016
pp. 154-173
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2042-5945
DOI 10.1108/WJSTSD-01-2016-0003
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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WJSTSD
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environmental pollution (Sarkis, 2003; Zhu et al., 2013; Tamyez et al., 2015). These
pollution problems are of local, national and global concern, particularly in
developing nations where regulations are fewer and enforcement less effective
(Blackman, 2010; Ling and Khor, 2002; Najam, 2005). Further, competing in global
markets increasingly requires products that are not only innovative but also
environmentally sound (Coyle et al., 2015; Esty and Simmons, 2011; Smith et al., 2014).
These imperatives have led to a focus on creating “green supply chains”in which
firms adopt practices that minimise environmental harm (Aneyrao and Ahemad,
2014; Cognizant, 2008; Zhang et al., 2012). Green supply chains “entail integrating
environmental thinking into supply-chain management, including product design,
material sourcing and selection, manufacturing processes, delivery of the final
product to the consumers as well as end-of-life management of the product after its
useful life”(Srivastava, 2008, p. 54).
While there is increasing interest in green supply chain practices (Chien and Shih,
2007; Zhu and Sarkis, 2004), there is less on why firms adopt green practices and to
what extent. Literature on green supply chain practice adoption distinguishes between
external and internal factors that drive adoption (Walker et al., 2008). Of the two, less
understood are the internal factors such as management perceptions of the external
pressures and management attitudes towards adoption (Bose and Pal, 2012; Carter
et al., 1998; Henriques and Sadorsky, 1999; Muduli et al., 2013; Taylor, 1992). This
represents a managerial issue that, if better understood, would benefit SMEs and the
broader community. Although the term enviropreneurial orientation (EO) has been
mentioned in various literature, mainly strategic marketing, it has not been developed
as a construct. Based on entrepreneurship and environmental management literature,
we developed dimensions for the new construct, EO, and tested its influence on green
supply chain practice adoption among SME manufacturing firms in the developing
nation of Uganda. The aim of the paper is to report on our study of a new internal
factor, EO and its influence on the adoption of green supply chain practices.
The paper has eight sections, commencing with Section 2, EO and the Theory
of Reasoned Action followed by a review of the determinants of EO in Section 3.
Section 4 explains the proposed conceptual relationship between EO and green supply
chain practice adoption; Section 5 outlines the survey method; Section 6 presents the
research findings; Section 7 discusses the research implications; and Section 8
concludes the paper with an outline of the research limitations and suggestions for
further research.
2. EO and the Theory of Reasoned Action
Introduced over 20 years ago by Varadarajan (1992), no clear definition exists for EO.
It can be assumed that Varadarajan saw no further need to define the term EO,
however EO was raised as an area for further research by Menon and Menon (1997).
Although the term later appears in the work of Hartman and Stafford (1998), Paulraj
(2011), Thoo et al. (2014), the concept has not been developed and tested as a construct.
Because EO is an attitude and our interest is in its relationship to green supply chain
practice adoption, the Theory of Reasoned Action is an appropriate theoretical
framework. An attitude can be defined as an enduring organisation of motivational,
emotional, perceptual and cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of an
individual’s world (Pande and Soodan, 2015; Wannenburg et al., 2015). Within
the environmental management literature, most focus has been on the effects of
mandatory pressures (objective pressures) on firms to force green practice adoption.
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