Gender diversity in supply chains: towards more sustainable decisions? evidence from interviews

ABSTRACT

Gender diversity (GD) has become an open topic of discussion, with a focus on gender gaps in terms of salary and access to education. There has been little research highlighting the active role women may play in sustainable decision making. This study addresses this gap by considering the case of supply chain management (SCM), a function mostly led by men and where several unsustainable issues prevail. It focuses on determining whether GD has an impact on sustainability-related decisions made in SCM. An exploratory and qualitative approach was taken to look at managerial, operational and hybrid skills and practices. The findings reveal three main opinion groups and show that GD would bring softer skills such as empathy at the managerial level, or more socially responsible supplier selection at the operational level. More GD in SCM would improve social relations, communication, compliance and health and safety issues. This study contributes to filling the gap on the social dimension of sustainability.

KEYWORDS:

• Supply chain management
• gender diversity
• sustainability management
• qualitative study
• managerial and operational skills
• logistics

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. All statistics are retrievable from: https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Standard/Population/ (accessed 16 June 2021)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Salomée Ruel

Salomée RUEL holds a Phd in Management Sciences. She is Associate Professor in Supply Chain Management and Information Systems Management at KEDGE Business School Bordeaux and belongs to the Sustainability excellence centre. Her research focuses on supply chain strategy, inter-organisational relations, information systems, dynamic capabilities (agility, resilience, visibility, viability) and gender diversity in SCM. She is the treasurer of the AIRL-SCM Scientific Association.

Morgane M. C. Fritz

Morgane FRITZ is Associate Professor in Sustainability Management in Supply Chains at Excelia Business School, La Rochelle, France. Her research and teaching interests include supply chain sustainability, sustainable procurement, business ethics, sustainable development goals, and stakeholder management. She is reviewer and guest editor for several academic journals and member of the PRME working group on the Sustainability Mindset and the Global Movement Network.