• Energy Research

PurposeThe pressure of globalization has raised social concerns related to the protection of the environment, forced companies to use sustainability as a strategic weapon to fulfill the legal obligations and achieve overall competitiveness. It is reported that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are globally responsible for approximately 70 percent of the industrial pollution, justifying urgent attention to the operations of these businesses. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of sustainability orientation (SO) and supply chain (SC) integration implemented by SMEs on their sustainable procurement (SP) and design. Moreover, this study examines how SMEs’ SP and design affect their environmental and cost performance (CP).Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop a comprehensive model to test the relationships among SC, SC integration, SP, sustainable design (SD), environmental performance (EP) and CP at the SMEs level. The authors investigate the relationships of the mentoned factors by a data set that is collected from 358 Indian manufacturing SMEs.FindingsThe results indicate that in the SMEs’ context: SO positively influences both SP and SD; external integration positively affects SP; internal integration positively affects SD; SP positively influences EP and has not impact on CP; and SD positively influences both EP and CP.Originality/valueThis study provides a broad view of the relation between driving factors that may direct SMEs toward a better sustainability performance and offers practical managerial insights into these important business entities.

According to recent trends, food production must double by 2050 to meet the world's growing population's expected demand. To achieve this goal, agri-food companies have begun implementing different digital technologies to increase food production while utilising fewer resources, thus reducing production processes' environmental impact. This study aims to review Industry 4.0 and agri-food sustainability research published in the last decade. Text classification and data extraction machine learning techniques have been used to support the literature review process. Notably, text classification was used to support the screening phase of titles and abstracts, while data extraction was used to support the content analysis phase by identifying the main topics on which documents are focused. The descriptive analysis shows a summary of the leading scientific journals in the research field, as well as the most influential countries and the research topic evolution over time. The results of the study allowed us to identify ten main research clusters, providing in-depth discussions and perspectives on critical areas for future research avenues. Finally, this study provides significant implications for the agri-food industry, suggesting firms redesign their business models according to a logic that prioritises long-term, shared value creation over short-term efficiency, and profitability. Incorporating digital technologies may help control farming activities' impact on soil and air quality, minimising the use of natural resources, pollutants, and CO2 emissions, thus providing long-term economic, environmental, and social advantages.

AbstractDue to the hybrid‐competitive market and the economic crisis, consumers are more ethically concerned about companies failing to adhere to environmental and human rights standards. Thus, companies have implemented corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to improve their ethical performance and establish the groundwork for sustainable growth and competitive advantage. Relationship marketing orientation (RMO) contributes to strengthen customers relationships and value co‐creation. Drawing from the stakeholder theory, this study aims to examine how CSR initiatives, that is, customer‐oriented and employee‐oriented, affect customer participation behavior (CPB) and customer citizenship behavior (CCB) in the banking sector. The main findings highlight a significant correlation between the CSR initiatives and customer value co‐creation behavior. Finally, by triangulating CSR, RMO, and value co‐creation, this study aims to provide more insights on RMO and CSR strategies for academicians and practitioners.

Purpose In recent years, economic, environmental and social sustainability has become one of the fastest-growing research fields. The number of primary and secondary papers addressing the triple bottom line is growing significantly, and the supply chain (SC) management discipline is in the same wave. Therefore, this paper aims to propose a novel tertiary systematic methodology to explore, aggregate, categorise and analyse the findings provided by secondary studies. Design/methodology/approach A novel tertiary systematic literature review approach, including 94 secondary studies, is proposed and used to analyse sustainable SC literature. The papers have been analysed using a research protocol, including descriptive and content analysis criteria. Findings This tertiary study does not only provide an overview of the literature on the topic of sustainability in SCs but also goes further, drawing up a categorisation of main research areas and research perspectives adopted by previous researchers. The paper also presents a rank of research gaps and an updated and a prioritised agenda. Originality/value This paper provides a novel interpretation of the research topics addressed by the secondary studies and presents a new classification of the literature gaps and their evolution. Finally, a dynamic research compass for both academicians and practitioners is presented.

This paper provided a novel definition of customer knowledge management (CKM) as the logical intersection of customer relationship management (CRM) and knowledge management (KM). The main aim was to investigate the digital technologies supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in creative industries in their customer knowledge management strategies. To achieve this aim, a survey involving 73 handicraft and/or retail SMEs operating in luxury jewelry industry was conducted. The survey results pointed out that in a few years the scenario has changed and that surveyed SMEs make more intensive use of traditional technologies supporting customer knowledge management processes rather than more innovative digital technologies, which are also cheap and easy to use. This finding showed the difficulties of SMEs operating in creative industries to be responsive to the rapid technological changes that are affecting CKM, as well as the lack of support from information technology vendors in the decision-making process for choosing adequate digital systems.

Sustainability is the prime concern for several organisations, regulatory bodies, and industrial professionals in the contemporary business environment. Therefore, a new consumption and production paradigm emerges as the circular economy (CE), which is considered an effective medium to achieve sustainability. However, the adoption or transformation of the circular economy depends on several factors including organisational factors. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the role of organisational factors in the adoption of CE practices for achieving social sustainability. Initially, the fifteen organisational factors and eight social sustainability performance outcomes are identified through the literature review and expert feedback. Further, the Best Worst Method (BWM) is applied for the prioritisation of these factors. Additionally, the impact of these factors is also evaluated on the social sustainability performance outcomes using the weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) method. The findings show that “long term planning and strategy”, “top management participation” and “alignment of organisation’s vision with CE goals” facilitate CE practices’ adoption. With the implementation of these organisational factors, improvement could be seen in employee satisfaction, fair business operations, and working conditions. The findings are beneficial for managers, policymakers, and researchers to develop strategies for the adoption of CE practices to achieve social sustainability.

AbstractAlthough litter prevention has environmental, social and economic benefits, cigarette butts are the most littered item on earth. While there has been vast research into the relationship between different factors affecting consumer behaviour, further research is needed to examine the antecedents of consumer sustainable behaviour. The aim of this study is to test the impact of feared self and landfill awareness on the sustainable behaviour of consumers using a structural equation modelling approach. Primary data of consumers are used to validate the hypothesised model. The findings highlight that feared self has a positive impact on the sustainable behaviour of consumers, while feared-self congruency and landfill awareness do not affect consumer sustainable behaviour. As for the implications, the results can support academics and strategic managers in the design process of sustainable consumer awareness programs to achieve environmental, social and economic benefits in the era of circular economy.