Retailers' management of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in their supplier relationships – does practice follow best practice?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to further explore (a) the extent to which retailers deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) best practices to ensure social and environmental sustainability in international supplier relationships and (b) the association between firm characteristics and the retailers' CSR activities in the supply chain. As a first step, the study identifies eight best practices based on earlier research and the authors' qualitative studies of IKEA. As a second step, a survey of Swedish retailers was conducted. The results of the study suggest that a significant amount of the actors in the Swedish retail sector do not follow the majority of best practice as outlined and discussed in this study. Furthermore, it is found that sector belonging has a considerable impact on the extent that a retailer follows best practice, while firm size and internationalization experience also have a significant, albeit limited, impact on retailer behavior.

Keywords:

• CSR
• retail industry
• supplier relationships
• best practice
• Sweden

Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude to the Swedish Retail and Wholesale Development Council, to the Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation and to the Tore Browaldh Foundation for providing the necessary financial support for this research. The authors also express their gratitude to Therese Hjälmner and Fanny Stener for their assistance concerning data collection and to the EAERCD review panel for their valuable comments on the manuscript.