TY - JOUR
T1 - Gaining customer satisfaction through sustainable supplier development: The role of firm reputation and marketing communication
AU - Fan, Di
AU - Xiao, Chengyong
AU - Zhang, Xiao
AU - Guo, Yujuan
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Co-Editors-in-Chief of Transportation Research Part E, the anonymous Associate Editor, and three reviewers for their constructive comments in the four rounds of review process. This research was supported by Start-up Fund for New Recruits of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Project ID: P0034251). This research was sponsored by the Faculty Research Grants of Macau University of Science and Technology (No. FRG-20-022-FA). This research was supported by the Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. GD20YGL14 and GD17YGL05).
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Co-Editors-in-Chief of Transportation Research Part E, the anonymous Associate Editor, and three reviewers for their constructive comments in the four rounds of review process. This research was supported by Start-up Fund for New Recruits of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Project ID: P0034251). This research was sponsored by the Faculty Research Grants of Macau University of Science and Technology (No. FRG-20-022-FA). This research was supported by the Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. GD20YGL14 and GD17YGL05).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Recent cases demonstrate that negative effects of sustainability-related scandals experienced by upstream suppliers can spill over to downstream firms. Thus, initiatives to help suppliers improve their sustainability performance are becoming increasingly essential for firms’ risk management in relation to supply chains. Thus far, the literature has yet to provide significant evidence on how firms can generate value from sustainable supplier development initiatives. In this study, we conduct dynamic panel data analysis of a dataset of 768 firm–year observations collected from four secondary sources, and find that sustainable supplier development initiatives can contribute to firms’ customer satisfaction, which further contributes to improved sales performance. Moreover, the relationship between sustainable supplier development initiatives and customer satisfaction is negatively moderated by firm reputation, yet positively moderated by the firm's advertising intensity. These results provide robust evidence that customer satisfaction is a valid mechanism that links sustainable supplier development initiatives with improved sales performance.
AB - Recent cases demonstrate that negative effects of sustainability-related scandals experienced by upstream suppliers can spill over to downstream firms. Thus, initiatives to help suppliers improve their sustainability performance are becoming increasingly essential for firms’ risk management in relation to supply chains. Thus far, the literature has yet to provide significant evidence on how firms can generate value from sustainable supplier development initiatives. In this study, we conduct dynamic panel data analysis of a dataset of 768 firm–year observations collected from four secondary sources, and find that sustainable supplier development initiatives can contribute to firms’ customer satisfaction, which further contributes to improved sales performance. Moreover, the relationship between sustainable supplier development initiatives and customer satisfaction is negatively moderated by firm reputation, yet positively moderated by the firm's advertising intensity. These results provide robust evidence that customer satisfaction is a valid mechanism that links sustainable supplier development initiatives with improved sales performance.
KW - Customer satisfaction
KW - Marketing communication
KW - Panel data analysis
KW - Secondary data
KW - Sustainable supplier development
KW - Sustainable supply chain
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114024045&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.tre.2021.102453
DO - 10.1016/j.tre.2021.102453
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1366-5545
VL - 154
JO - Transportation Research, Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review
JF - Transportation Research, Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review
M1 - 102453
ER -