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Implementing Supplier Codes of Conduct in Global Supply Chains: Process Explanations from Theoretic and Empirical Perspectives

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Abstract

Western buying companies impose Supplier Codes of Conduct (SCC) on their suppliers in developing countries; however, many suppliers cannot fully comply with SCC and some of them even cheat in SCC. In this research, we link contract characteristics – price pressure, production complexity, contract duration – to the likelihood of supplier’s commitment to SCC through a mediating process: how the buying companies govern their suppliers. Our structural equation model analysis shows that the hierarchy/relational norms governance is a perfect mediator of contract characteristics’ effects on the likelihood of supplier’s commitment; the market governance, an insignificant one. The managerial implications are provided for successfully implementing SCC in global supply chains.

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Abbreviations

SCC:

supplier codes of conduct

CNTAC:

China National Textile and Apparel Council

H/R:

hierarchy/relational norms

NGO:

non-governmental organizations

CSR:

corporate social responsibility

TCE:

transaction cost economics

RET:

relational exchange theory

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Jiang, B. Implementing Supplier Codes of Conduct in Global Supply Chains: Process Explanations from Theoretic and Empirical Perspectives. J Bus Ethics 85, 77–92 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9750-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9750-z

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