Conclusions
Drawing from a theoretical framework rooted in the RBV, this article aimed to evaluate whether two enablers – top and middle management support and strategic purchasing – facilitate the development of sustainable supply chain practices (organizational capabilities), as well as the effect of the latter on the CA of a group of 126 focal firms in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. The testing of the proposed framework indicated positive relationships between the factors involved, with the exception of the link between environmental supply chain practices and CA. Due to the purposive selection of the sample and its relatively small size, our findings cannot be extended to the performance of the whole industry of Colombia or other developing countries. Caution should also be taken, given the diversity of the chosen sample, as it comprises firms from different industrial sectors and organizational cultures, two factors whose eventual effect on the studied relationships might be taken into account from a contingent perspective. Additionally, no interdependencies between social and environmental practices were considered (see Wang and Sarkis, 2013; Wolf, 2014). This article sheds light on the importance of being engaged in SOCPR within supply chains for organizations to obtain CA. The relationship between SOCPR in sustainable supply chains and CA has not been extensively explored to date, especially in the context of emerging economies. Another contribution of this article is to study two internal enablers of SSCM practices (i.e., strategic purchasing, and top and middle management support). Empirical evidence provided by this study indicates that these enablers are influential in the adoption of SOCPR that result in CA and in the adoption of ENVPR that do not confer advantage.
