Corporate Social Responsibility in supply chains

Driven by consumer and stakeholder pressure Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an important aspect for firms over the last twenty years (Hoejmose & Adrien‐Kirby, 2012). CSR can be described as “the responsibility of a firm towards society in the economical, legal and ethical dimension”(Schwartz & Carroll, 2003). Or, very simply put, CSR is the “positive impact of businesses on their stakeholders” (Turker, 2008). As firms are increasingly dependent on outsourcing (Trent & Monczka, 1998), responsible operations cannot exist without a responsible supply chain (Millington, 2008). For this reason buyers seek ways to improve their supplier’s CSR performance. There are many factors that influence supplier CSR performance. This study specifically focussed on the factors that buying firms can directly control.