Sustainability performance in low-income emerging economies hinges on a powerful duo: organizational culture and supply chain learning. But how do they work together—and which cultural values truly drive impact? This insightful study cracks the code, analyzing data from 308 manufacturing firms in Ghana's low-income context through structural equation modeling (SEM) and necessary condition analysis (NCA). The findings shatter assumptions: while developmental, group, and hierarchical cultures directly boost sustainability performance, rational culture—though influential—is not a prerequisite. Even more critical? Only internal and supplier learning act as mediating forces, amplifying sustainability gains. The study's insights further show that sustainability-driven cultural values only unlock their full potential when paired with robust supply chain learning. Flexibility-focused cultures (developmental, group) and control-focused cultures (mainly hierarchical) both play pivotal—but distinct—roles. Our dual-method approach does not just confirm supply chain learning as the missing link between culture and sustainbility performance; it reveals how to strategically align culture and learning for maximum impact. For practitioners in resource-scarce settings, there is a need to merge adaptive and structured cultural values with cross-supply chain learning to overcome barriers and fast-track sustainability wins. This can serve as a roadmap for turning constraints into competitive advantage.
{"title":"Cultural Drivers of Sustainability Performance in Emerging Economies: Understanding the Effect of Supply Chain Learning","authors":"Martin B. Osei, Daniel Ofori","doi":"10.1111/jbl.70036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.70036","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sustainability performance in low-income emerging economies hinges on a powerful duo: organizational culture and supply chain learning. But how do they work together—and which cultural values truly drive impact? This insightful study cracks the code, analyzing data from 308 manufacturing firms in Ghana's low-income context through structural equation modeling (SEM) and necessary condition analysis (NCA). The findings shatter assumptions: while developmental, group, and hierarchical cultures directly boost sustainability performance, rational culture—though influential—is not a prerequisite. Even more critical? Only internal and supplier learning act as mediating forces, amplifying sustainability gains. The study's insights further show that sustainability-driven cultural values only unlock their full potential when paired with robust supply chain learning. Flexibility-focused cultures (developmental, group) and control-focused cultures (mainly hierarchical) both play pivotal—but distinct—roles. Our dual-method approach does not just confirm supply chain learning as the missing link between culture and sustainbility performance; it reveals how to strategically align culture and learning for maximum impact. For practitioners in resource-scarce settings, there is a need to merge adaptive and structured cultural values with cross-supply chain learning to overcome barriers and fast-track sustainability wins. This can serve as a roadmap for turning constraints into competitive advantage.</p>","PeriodicalId":48090,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Logistics","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jbl.70036","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145012472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Supply chains are clearly instrumental to firm-level environmental performance. Yet in research examining these effects, distinctions between arms-length relationships (largely transactional buyers and suppliers) and other influencers, such as strategic research partners (i.e., entities who jointly maintain legal commitments to shared knowledge and resources, with common service or product development interests) are often ambiguous. In our work, we aim to investigate this distinction. Combining arguments that reflect institutional theory, stakeholder theory, and expectancy disconfirmation theory, we anticipate positive associations between the environmental performance of strategic partners and the future performance of related focal firms. We posit these associations to be more easily observable than those between a firm and its arms-length relations. We further suggest that, due to the level of integration and codependency with strategic research partners, losses in environmental performance (backsliding) will be associated with dampened links between strategic partner performance and subsequent firm performance. By weaving together evidence from thousands of firm-year observations, merging representative fields from FactSet, CSRHub, and Compustat sources, we find support for these associations. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
{"title":"Environmental Performance, Strategic Partner Support, and Performance Backsliding in Supply Chains","authors":"Erin McKie, Marcus A. Bellamy, Elliot Bendoly","doi":"10.1111/jbl.70035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.70035","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Supply chains are clearly instrumental to firm-level environmental performance. Yet in research examining these effects, distinctions between arms-length relationships (largely transactional buyers and suppliers) and other influencers, such as strategic research partners (i.e., entities who jointly maintain legal commitments to shared knowledge and resources, with common service or product development interests) are often ambiguous. In our work, we aim to investigate this distinction. Combining arguments that reflect institutional theory, stakeholder theory, and expectancy disconfirmation theory, we anticipate positive associations between the environmental performance of strategic partners and the future performance of related focal firms. We posit these associations to be more easily observable than those between a firm and its arms-length relations. We further suggest that, due to the level of integration and codependency with strategic research partners, losses in environmental performance (backsliding) will be associated with dampened links between strategic partner performance and subsequent firm performance. By weaving together evidence from thousands of firm-year observations, merging representative fields from FactSet, CSRHub, and Compustat sources, we find support for these associations. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":48090,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business Logistics","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jbl.70035","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144998847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}