The Influence of Green Supply Chain Integration on Firm Performance: A Contingency and Configuration Perspective

Abstract

This study investigates the impacts of three dimensions of green supply chain integration (GSCI) on operational and financial performance, from both a contingency and a configuration perspective. From the contingency perspective, we used hierarchical regression to determine the impacts of individual GSCI dimensions (green internal, customer and supplier integration) and their interactions on firm performance. From the configuration perspective, we used cluster analysis to develop patterns of GSCI, which were analyzed in terms of GSCI strength and balance. Analysis of variance was used to examine the relationship between GSCI pattern and firm performance. We used data collected from manufacturing firms in Shanxi, Shandong, Beijing, Guangdong and Jiangsu to test hypotheses. The findings from both the contingency and configuration perspective indicate that GSCI was related to both operational and financial performance. Furthermore, the interaction between green internal integration and green customer integration was positively related to both operational and financial performance, while the interaction between green internal integration and green supplier integration was negatively related to financial performance. The interaction between green customer integration and green supplier integration was positively related to financial performance.

Dependence on Supplier, Supplier Trust and Green Supplier Integration: The Moderating Role of Contract Management Difficulty

“…The major purpose of green supplier integration is to solve environmental problems jointly and reduce the adverse impacts of production and operational processes on the natural environment, which is different from supplier integration in previous studies [6,12]. In the process of green supplier integration, the manufacturer and its suppliers may depend on each other, and the importance of trust becomes more prominent [13][14][15]. Thus, there is a need to investigate the impacts of dependence and trust on green supplier integration.…”

The Influence of Green External Integration on Firm Performance: Does Firm Size Matter?

“…An important issue confronted in this study dealt with the collection of reliable data concerning green external integration. Many studies used a single informant in studying relationship issues between different organizations [19], while some researchers have demonstrated the benefits of using multiple informants [40]. After visiting ten firms during the pilot test of the questionnaire, we found that an appropriate method was to identify a key informant who is knowledgeable in green supply chain management [41].…”

“…Mutual trust and commitment are important in reducing risks and the opportunistic behaviors related to green supplier integration [19]. For small firms, conflicts between manufacturers and suppliers may exist in the early stage of green supplier integration, influencing the performance outcomes of green supplier integration.…”

“…Some supply chain management studies have suggested the use of both operational and business performance as indicators of firm performance [1, 19,35]. This study uses two types of firm performance: operational performance and business performance.…”

“…By implementing green customer and supplier integration, supply chain partners can work to solve environmental problems jointly [19][20][21]. They can combine external resources and internal resource endowments to generate benefits [1, 9,22].…”