Institutional Pressure as a Catalyst: Linking Green Supply Chain Management to Sustainable Performance

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates the impact of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices on sustainable performance, encompassing environmental, economic, and social dimensions, while examining the moderating role of institutional pressure in the context of an emerging economy. Drawing upon institutional theory and the resource-based view, the research examines how coercive, normative, and mimetic pressures shape the relationship between GSCM adoption and organisational sustainability outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative research design was employed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with Smart-PLS 4.8.0 software. Data were collected from 400 supply chain professionals across multiple industries in Pakistan through a structured questionnaire. The measurement model was assessed for reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity using Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability, average variance extracted, Fornell-Larcker criterion, cross-loadings, and heterotrait-monotrait ratio. The structural model was evaluated through path coefficients, t-statistics, and moderation analysis.

Findings: The results indicate that GSCM practices positively and significantly influence both environmental performance (β = 0.148, p < 0.05) and economic performance (β = 0.219, p < 0.001), while the direct effect on social performance was not statistically significant. The moderation analysis revealed significant interaction effects: normative pressure negatively moderates the GSCM–economic performance link (β = −0.245, p < 0.001), coercive pressure positively moderates the GSCM–economic performance relationship (β = 0.163, p < 0.001) and negatively moderates the GSCM–social performance link (β = −0.109, p < 0.05), and mimetic pressure negatively moderates the GSCM–environmental performance relationship (β = −0.204, p < 0.01).

Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature by decomposing institutional pressure into three distinct dimensions and examining their differential moderating effects on the GSCM–sustainable performance nexus across environmental, economic, and social outcomes. The findings offer novel theoretical insights into how different forms of institutional pressure can either strengthen or weaken the sustainability outcomes of GSCM practices in emerging economies.

Keywords: Green Supply Chain Management, Institutional Pressure, Sustainable Performance, Moderation, PLS-SEM, Emerging Economy