The impact of supply chain disclosure on supplier sustainability: a qualitative analysis in the textile industry

This study aims to investigate the impact of supply chain disclosure on supplier sustainability. After the unfortunate Rana Plaza event in Bangladesh and due to increasing stakeholder pressure, global textile and apparel retailers started to share more information about how they ensure sustainability in their supply chains. One of these practices is publicly sharing supplier lists, which include supplier information such as location, employee size and gender, product type and audit reports. Extant research has focused on understanding the impact of sharing supplier lists on customer buying behavior and buying firm profitability; however, the effect on supplier sustainability has not been investigated yet. This is surprising considering that the ultimate purpose of supply chain disclosure is improving supply chain sustainability. To investigate this research gap, in this study a qualitative approach is adopted, and interviews with Turkish textile firms listed in such lists are conducted. Exploratory analyses illustrate varying effects on supplier sustainability behavior as well as the barriers and enablers for these effects. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.