Panarchy theory: myth or reality? Empirical evidence of the socio-ecological nature of supply chains

PurposeThis study builds on the panarchy theory by viewing the supply chain as a socio-ecological system and further expands it by considering the within-level linkages internal to the supply chain level. Three types of linkages are considered: the two cross-level linkages with the planetary and the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of operations & production management Vol. 44; no. 8; pp. 1493 - 1521
Main Authors Madonna, Alice, Boffelli, Albachiara, Kalchschmidt, Matteo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 25.07.2024
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
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Summary:PurposeThis study builds on the panarchy theory by viewing the supply chain as a socio-ecological system and further expands it by considering the within-level linkages internal to the supply chain level. Three types of linkages are considered: the two cross-level linkages with the planetary and the political-economic levels and the supply chain within-level linkages. The research questions are addressed using the data gathered by the Carbon Disclosure Project within its Supply Chain Programme.Design/methodology/approachThis work aims to study, applying the lens of panarchy theory, how the planetary and the political-economic levels affect the supply chain within-level linkages for sustainability. Furthermore, the difference in how these cross-level linkages influence focal firms and first-tier suppliers is explored.FindingsThe results show that considering the planetary-supply chain linkage, climate change risk exposure is likelier to foster within-level linkages with buyers than with suppliers. Further, climate change mitigation investments have different roles in the different tiers: focal firms are pushed to strengthen the linkages with their suppliers when they lose efficacy in improving their carbon performance, whereas first-tier suppliers exploit investments to gain legitimacy. Discussing the political-economic level effect, perceptions from first-tier suppliers could be two-fold: they could perceive a mandating power mechanism or exploit policymakers’ knowledge to advance their capabilities.Originality/valueThe results contribute to the sustainable supply chain management literature by providing empirical evidence of the cross-level linkages theorised by the panarchy theory. Moreover, the concept of within-level linkages is proposed to apply the theory in this field.
ISSN:0144-3577
1758-6593
DOI:10.1108/IJOPM-05-2023-0337