A Study On The Impact Of Buyer-supplier Social Capital On Supplier Sustainability Risk

With the growing awareness of sustainability among stakeholders such as consumers,customers and watchdogs,companies are facing supply risks that go beyond the traditional operational aspects and include risks arising from environmental and social factors.In this context,the concept of supplier sustainability risk has emerged.The sustainability of a company’s operations and growth is severely constrained by its suppliers,and when negative information comes to light about suppliers in areas such as labour,working conditions and environmental protection,it can reflect on the quality of the buyer company’s products and corporate reputation,ultimately affecting the sustainability of the entire supply chain.As a result,companies are beginning to consider ways to reduce the risk issues arising from environmental and social issues at their suppliers and to maintain proper supply chain operations.However,as the market becomes more competitive,companies are finding it difficult to reduce supplier sustainability risks through their own resources alone.As a result,companies are looking upstream in the supply chain,building social capital with suppliers to free themselves from the constraints of their own resources.Through interaction with suppliers,strategic alliances are formed and joint efforts are made to achieve sustainability,which is the basis for achieving supply chain sustainability and thus reducing supplier sustainability risk.To investigate the impact of buyer-supplier social capital on supplier sustainability risk,this paper develops a theoretical model of the relationship between buyer-supplier social capital,sustainable supply management and supplier sustainability risk,based on social capital theory and resource-based theory,with the aim of exploring the following questions:firstly,what is the relationship between buyer-supplier social capital and supplier sustainability risk;secondly,how is the relationship between buyer-supplier social capital and supplier sustainability risk?How buyer-supplier social capital acts on supplier sustainability risk.This paper focuses on manufacturing companies in China as the main research target and uses questionnaires to collect sample data and two analytical software,SPSS and AMOS,to test the hypotheses,explore the mechanism of the role between buyer-supplier social capital,sustainable supply management and supplier sustainability risk and verify the mediating effect of sustainable supply management.The findings reveal that buyer-supplier social capital contains three dimensions:structural,relational and cognitive capital,all three of which have a negative effect on supplier sustainability risk.On this basis,the mediating effects of two dimensions of sustainable supply management are revealed:supplier assessment and supplier collaboration.Specifically,all three dimensions of buyer-supplier social capital have a positive effect on supplier assessment and supplier collaboration,and supplier assessment and supplier collaboration have a negative effect on supplier sustainability risk,indicating that the dimensions of sustainable supply management mediate between buyer-supplier social capital and supplier sustainability risk.It reveals that supplier sustainability risk can be effectively reduced through sustainable supply management practices based on buyer-supplier social capital,i.e.supplier assessment and supplier collaboration are important explanatory paths for using social capital to reduce supplier sustainability risk.In summary,social capital between firms and suppliers can improve supplier sustainability performance and further act on supplier sustainability risk through supplier assessment and supplier collaboration,providing empirical evidence on how firms can use social capital with suppliers to reduce supplier sustainability risk.