Supply chain pressures and SMEs’ CSR practices: the moderation effect of supply chain position

ABSTRACT

Drawing from institutional and resource dependence theories, this paper investigates how supply chain pressures influence the various dimensions of CSR, i.e. environmental practices, human resources practices, community involvement practices, and marketplace practices, in SMEs. Using a structural equation modelling approach and data collected from 273 SMEs, our findings indicate that institutional pressures exerted by supply chain partners differently influence the level of CSR practices in SMEs. Notably, the study demonstrates that coercive pressures have no significant influence on CSR practices, whereas mimetic and normative pressures positively and significantly influence the level of CSR practices. Furthermore, the positive influence of normative pressures on CSR practices is stronger for SMEs situated downstream in their supply chains, whereas SMEs in further upstream positions are sensitive to mimetic pressures for their environmental, workplace and marketplace practices. Overall, this study provides unique insight on the association between supply chain pressures and CSR practices in SMEs.

KEYWORDS:

• Supply chain pressures
• corporate social responsibility
• small and medium-sized enterprises
• institutional theory
• resource dependence theory

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 OHSAS 18001 means Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series. This certification aims to improve health and safety at work.

2 The NRE law asks firms traded on a regulated market to disclose information on the manner in which they address the social and environmental impacts of their activities.

3 The CSA Staff Notice 51-333 provides guidance to firms about existing continuous disclosure requirements for environmental matters.

Additional information

Funding

This research, carried out under LabEx Entreprendre, received financial support from the French National Research Agency through the program “Investments for the Future” under reference number ANR-10-LabX-11-01.