Understanding Factors Affecting the Adoption of ICT-Enabled Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices

Abstract

In recent years, a growing number of organizations have introduced sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices to enhance their economic, environment and social performance. SSCM practices are supported by information and communication technologies (ICT) to facilitate the coordination among the supply chain partners. Despite the importance of ICT-enabled SSCM practices, their adoption factors are still understudied. This study thus investigates factors affecting the adoption of ICT-enabled SSCM practices, using the Australian food industry as the study context. Through multiple case studies, we identify fifteen factors at the national, industry, supply chain, and organizational levels, including two new factors: environmental uncertainties and ICT resources of supply chain partners. Competitive pressure, though identified in the literature, is not found to be influential in our study. This study offers several implications to research and practice in SSCM.