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

Board structure policy, board diversity and social sustainability in the logistics and transportation sector

Purpose

This study aims to examine the roles of board gender and cultural diversities in driving social sustainability practices through the moderating effect of board structure policies in the logistics and transportation sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted fixed-effects regression with 2005–2019 data from Thomson Reuters Eikon.

Findings

The results showed that female directors are significant predictors of social sustainability across the four dimensions of human rights, workforce, product responsibility and community development. Additionally, directors with different cultural backgrounds (but not the workforce) are significant determinants of community development, human rights and product responsibility. Furthermore, although board structure policies positively moderate the relationship between board gender diversity and social sustainability, they fail to moderate the relationship between board cultural diversity and social sustainability.

Originality/value

The findings have crucial implications for the logistics and transportation sector's social sustainability and may help the sector align with employees' and society's expectations. The incorporation of board gender and cultural diversities into the research design was a response to calls by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to address board configuration and stakeholders' concerns.

Retaining talent in the maritime sector by creating a work-family balance logic: implications from women managers navigating work and family

Purpose

This paper contributes to the social pillar of sustainable supply chain management. It does so by investigating how women managers in the maritime sector handle work-family conflict, thereby acting as institutional entrepreneurs to create a work-family balance logic. The maritime sector is a male-dominated supply chain management environment, which suffers from a talent gap of a lack of women executives. One reason for this problem is work-family balance issues that deter women from staying in the workforce.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors interviewed 35 women working as port managers in different developing countries. The authors analyzed their strategies in coping with the conflict between family and work to create a work-family balance logic.

Findings

The authors found four different types of strategies to handle work-family conflicts. Responses showed that women executives in this sector can be institutional entrepreneurs. Based on the findings, the authors were able to confirm and contribute to the existing model proposed by Silva and Nunes (2021) on sustainable supply chain logic. The authors also provided recommendations for these women as institutional entrepreneurs and for policymakers to retain women talent in the supply chain management.

Research limitations/implications

The research focuses on a specific supply chain management sector, which is the maritime sector. It also relies exclusively on interview data.

Practical implications

The authors propose recommendations to develop a work-family balance logic and retain talented women in the supply chain industry based on monitoring equality and supporting their need for a work-family balance, both in the short and long terms.

Originality/value

The authors interviewed women executives in one of the most male dominated sectors. The authors studied their ability to cope with work-family conflicts and identified four ways to create a work-family balance logic. These findings enabled us to show the contribution and limits of women executives as institutional entrepreneurs for work family balance logics in male dominated sectors.

Supplier diversity for socially responsible purchasing: an empirical investigation in Brazil

Purpose

Based on a critical lens, this paper aims to empirically evaluate the adoption of programs to buy from minority suppliers (MS) and their outcomes in Brazil, considering a multi-stakeholder approach (buying companies, suppliers and third parties).

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected via an exploratory survey involving 109 buying companies and two case studies with 21 in-depth interviews.

Findings

It was revealed that supplier diversity (SD) in Brazil is still developing, and is more rhetoric than a practice promoting real change. The current traditional procurement mindset, the role of third parties, and the focus on supplier selection, rather than on supplier development prevents a social impact that could reduce inequality between MS and their counterparts.

Originality/value

Previous studies were focused on buying companies' perspective in advanced countries that have clear regulation for SD. By exploring the phenomenon in a country with great economic disparities and no regulation, and using a critical lens, this study highlights the difference between desired and effective implementation of social initiatives that promote inclusiveness.