World-class sustainable manufacturing: framework and a performance measurement system

Abstract

Sustainable manufacturing has been the subject of debate in the last few years, amongst both researchers and industrialists. Manufacturing activities have been regarded as amongst the most important factors which have caused major damage to planet. The aim of this paper is to scientifically develop a world-class sustainable manufacturing (WCSM) framework. The study uses a structured questionnaire, which was developed using extant literature and pretested to check content validity. The data was collected following a modified version of Dillman’s total design method to improve the quality of response. The psychometric properties of the instrument including reliability and construct validity were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis for hypotheses testing, and partial least squares approach for testing goodness of fit. We find that the scale and items of our theoretical framework meet the criteria. The multiple regression analysis output suggests that all our hypotheses are supported, which further supports the extant literature. Our present study is unique in terms of scope and its contribution to the theory and practice of supply chain management. This study has empirically tested the research calls of various researchers, extended them to WCSM practices and further developed a scale for the measurement of the framework.

Keywords:

• world class manufacturing
• world class sustainable manufacturing
• confirmatory factor analysis
• PLS
• goodness of fit

Acknowledgements

The authors are most grateful to two anonymous reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief of IJPR, Professor Alexandre Dolgui, for their constructive and helpful comments, which helped to improve the presentation of the paper considerably.