Determining and evaluating socially sustainable supply chain criteria in agri-sector of developing countries: insights from West Africa cashew industry

Abstract

Social sustainability issues such as labour rights concern in the agricultural sector receive significant attention from several stakeholders. The role of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) that dominate the sector’s supply chain in developing countries remains critical in implementing initiatives to address these issues. Through a four-phase methodology, this study proposed the criteria of a socially sustainable supply chain (SSSC) guided by ISO 26000 and based on empirical evidence from the cashew industry. Subsequently, based on the Best worst method and Grey relational analysis, the criteria are evaluated by cashew manufacturing SME managers to determine how SSSC initiatives can be implemented. The study shows that food safety, labour and work condition, traceability, and child and force/prison labour emerge in order of importance as a pathway for implementation of SSSC. The study also provides insight into achieving SSSC among various manufacturing SMEs and understanding their assessed SSSC performance. The study suggests that agricultural sector SMEs that implement SSSC practices through social compliance or collaborations are more aware of the implementation challenges. On the other hand, SMEs that generate SSSC practices may perceive their social sustainability performance in the supply chain much higher than adopters who meet customers’ sustainability requirements.

Keywords:

• Social sustainability
• sustainable supply chain
• small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)

Additional information

Funding

The field work of this study was supported by Competitive Cashew Initiative (ComCashew).

Notes on contributors

Martin Agyemang

Dr. Martin Agyemang is Assistant Research Professor at New Huadu Business School, Minjiang University, China. He received a doctorate degree from the Dalian University of Technology, China. His research work has been published in various reputable international peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Cleaner Production; Resources Conservation and Recycling; and Management Decision. Martin is a reviewer for several international peer-reviewed journals. His major research interest includes social sustainability, sustainable supply chain management, circular economy, and green supply chain management.

Simonov Kusi-Sarpong

Dr. Simonov Kusi-Sarpong is a Lecturer in Operations Management at Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, UK. He received the PhD in Management Science and Engineering from Dalian University of Technology, China. Simonov’s research focuses on emerging and developing economies and investigates how green and sustainable initiatives such as lean operations, sustainable supply chains, sustainable risk analysis, circular economy, Industry 4.0, block chain, reverse logistics etc. and their synergies could be used to achieve sustainable operational excellence and supply chain performance. His works has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Production Economics; Resources Conservation and Recycling; International Journal of Production Research; Production Planning and Control; Transportation Research Part A; Journal of Cleaner Production among others. Simonov is a reviewer for many reputable journals and currently an Editorial Board Member for the journal Resources Conservation and Recycling.

John Agyemang

John Agyemang is an Adjunct Lecturer at Christian Service College, Ghana. He studied Mathematics at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana and received his Master in Supply Chain Management from Coventry University, UK. He has published in the International Journal for Quality Research. John has worked for a couple of multinational enterprises and has several years of professional supply chain management experience in automobile, food and solar energy industries. His major research focuses on sustainable supply chain management, green supply chain management, supply chain performance, and decision-making.

Fu Jia

Fu Jia is a Chair Professor of Supply Chain Management at the Management School, University of York and a visiting professor in several universities in China, Italy, and UK. He holds a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from China, an MBA from Birmingham Business School and an MRes and a Ph.D. in Management from Cranfield School of Management. He leads large scale research projects which focus on the relationships between business, nature and value creation. He is a productive author publishing in top OM/SCM, agri-food and IB journals such as Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Food Policy, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, International Journal of Production Economics, International Business Review, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Journal of Business Logistics and Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, and International Journal of Logistics Management among others. Fu is an Associate Editor of International Journal of Operations and Production Management and Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, a Managing Editor of International Food and Agribusiness Management Review(IFAMR) and an Editorial Review Board Member of Industrial Marketing Management.

Mary Adzanyo

Mary Adzanyo is currently the Director of Private Sector Development at the Competitive Cashew initiative/GIZCom Cashew. Mary holds M.Phil in Food Science from the University of Ghana. Her expertise is in the area of food quality, food safety and sustainability in agri-food supply chains. She has published in peer-reviewed journals such as Resources Conservation and Recycling. Mary has worked across Africa, Europe, and Asia with few work visits in the US.