Title: Sustainable supply chain management as a practice of green innovation - from literature review to conceptualisation

Authors: Stuart So; Henry Xu

Addresses: UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, St Lucia Queensland, 4072, Australia ' UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, St Lucia Queensland, 4072, Australia

Abstract: The challenge of building a sustainable supply chain with an acceptable low carbon emission requires extensive research and remarkable innovation. Based on a comprehensive literature review, a conceptual model is developed to explain the adoption of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) as a practice of green innovation. The aim of this work is to strengthen organisation's commitment to using this emerging practice in the future. A total of 66 articles are identified and assessed and the results show that previous studies lack the consideration of human factors and theoretical basis. Using the innovation diffusion theory as a theoretical lens, this paper demonstrates the concepts in real world applications with four relevant mini-cases. It shows that firms with positive organisational behaviour underpinned by pro-environmental technology and management systems can systematically adopt SSCM where ongoing commitment to this new practice is influenced by its regularisation in operations.

Keywords: green innovation; supply chain management; sustainable SCM; SSCM; sustainability; sustainable supply chains; low carbon emissions; literature review; conceptual modelling; innovation diffusion theory; environmental technology; environmental management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2016.074833

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2016 Vol.10 No.2/3, pp.341 - 362

Published online: 21 Feb 2016 *

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