Sun Fei, Qu Zhaojun, Wu Ban, Bold Sanchir
College of E-commerce, Tangshan University, Tang Shan, China.
School of Tourism Management, Wuhan Business University, Wuhan, China.
J Environ Manage. 2025 Aug;390:126324. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.126324. Epub 2025 Jun 26.
Sustainability has become a critical strategic priority for organizations, driven by heightened environmental awareness and regulatory pressures. This study examines how international environmental regulations influence firms' environmental policies and supply chain sustainability practices, with a focus on the mediating role of supply chain collaboration and the moderating effects of cultural and institutional contexts. This research aims to explore the pathways through which environmental regulations shape firm-level strategies, assess how collaboration amplifies sustainability outcomes, and analyse cross-country variations in these dynamics. The data were collected from 300 textile firms across India, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, using structured surveys and interviews with supply chain managers and environmental officers. This study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling to analyse the relationship between environmental regulations, supply chain collaboration, and sustainability outcomes, while also conducting multi-group analysis to compare results across different national contexts. Our findings reveal that stringent environmental regulations significantly enhance supply chain collaboration, which in turn drives improvements in sustainability performance, particularly in environmental dimensions. Our study also identifies a partial mediation effect, indicating that collaboration plays a crucial role in translating regulatory pressures into tangible sustainability gains. However, the impact of regulations on social and economic sustainability dimensions is less pronounced, suggesting that environmental mandates primarily drive ecological improvements. The novelty of this study lies in its integrative theoretical framework, combining institutional, resource dependence, and stakeholder theories to explain how external pressures and internal strategies converge to shape sustainability outcomes. Policy implications suggest that regulators could pair enforcement mechanisms with incentives for collaborative networks to enhance sustainability across diverse national settings.
在环境意识增强和监管压力的推动下，可持续发展已成为各组织关键的战略重点。本研究考察国际环境法规如何影响企业的环境政策和供应链可持续发展实践，重点关注供应链协作的中介作用以及文化和制度背景的调节作用。本研究旨在探索环境法规塑造企业层面战略的途径，评估协作如何放大可持续发展成果，并分析这些动态在不同国家间的差异。数据通过对印度、中国、孟加拉国、斯里兰卡和巴基斯坦的300家纺织企业进行结构化调查以及与供应链经理和环境官员进行访谈收集而来。本研究采用偏最小二乘结构方程模型来分析环境法规、供应链协作和可持续发展成果之间的关系，同时进行多组分析以比较不同国家背景下的结果。我们的研究结果表明，严格的环境法规显著增强了供应链协作，进而推动了可持续发展绩效的提升，尤其是在环境方面。我们的研究还发现了部分中介效应，表明协作在将监管压力转化为切实的可持续发展成果方面发挥着关键作用。然而，法规对社会和经济可持续发展维度的影响不太明显，这表明环境要求主要推动了生态改善。本研究的新颖之处在于其综合的理论框架，结合了制度、资源依赖和利益相关者理论来解释外部压力和内部战略如何相互作用以塑造可持续发展成果。政策启示表明，监管机构可以将执法机制与对协作网络的激励措施相结合，以在不同国家环境中提升可持续发展水平。
