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Deployment of Sustainable Development Framework in Export Manufacturing Firms for the Common Good

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Integrating Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development

Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

Abstract

Sustainability issues and their management in South Asian countries are gaining in importance in literature, particularly the sustainable development agenda in manufacturing firms. Social sustainability strives to reduce health and safety incidents, eliminate child labour, and aims to improve equality and ensure decent workplaces, however, these efforts need strong leadership initiatives to achieve the United Nation Sustainable Development agenda targets for 2030. This study tests a social sustainability model based on multilevel data collected from export manufacturing industries in Pakistan and using structural equation modelling. It analyzes/investigates into the role of leadership related to governing inter-firm relationships on/when it comes to social issues and sustainability initiatives at firms’ level, describes the importance of achieving sustainable development goals, as well as their theoretical and practical implications. The results provide an input to the body of literature on corporate sustainability arguing that transactional leaders exhibit behaviors associated with corrective and constructive transactions, are ready to assign tasks, guide their teams and make a deal with them about job tasks that must be performed to improve corporate performance. The study supports the view that transactional leadership perspective is important for a successful transition towards sustainable development in export manufacturing firms. Finally, transactional leadership can facilitate a sustainable transition towards a common good and achieving sustainable development targets of the UN agenda 2030. Managers should explicitly model the relationships and consider their interdependency to get a complete picture of sustainability challenges.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Engineering and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland

    Usama Awan, Janne Huiskonen & Andrzej Kraslawski

  2. College of Business, Ohio University, 522 Copeland Hall, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Mohammed Khurrum S. Bhutta

Authors
  1. Usama Awan
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  2. Mohammed Khurrum S. Bhutta
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  3. Janne Huiskonen
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  4. Andrzej Kraslawski
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Usama Awan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba Campus, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

    UbiratĂŁ Tortato

  3. Business School, Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

    Fernanda Frankenberger

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Constructs and measures

Construct

Items

Measures

Transactional governance (TG)

“To what degree do you agree or disagree with the following statements

(1—Strongly disagree, 2—disagree, 3—Somewhat disagree, 4—Neither agree nor disagree, 5—Somewhat agree, 6—Agree, 7—Strongly agree)”

TG1

TG2

TG3

TG4

“We have formal written agreements outlining social issues”

“We have formal written agreements outlining how to Handel technical requirements”

“We have formal written agreements that detail the rights and obligations of both parties”

“We have formal written agreements that precisely state the legal remedies for failure to perform”

Relational governance (RG)

“To what degree do you agree or disagree with the following statements (1—Strongly disagree, 2—Disagree, 3—Somewhat disagree, 4—Neither agree nor disagree, 5—Somewhat agree, 6—Agree, 7—Strongly agree)”

RG1

RG2

RG3

RG4

“Our customer is involved early in the development of social initiatives”

“Our firm has a mutual understanding of how to carry out solutions for failure in the protection of social issues”

“Our firm has a mutual understanding of how to settle down issues with our customer on the social protection of our workers”

“Our firm has a mutual understanding with customers the actions to be carried out when there are accidents at worker place”

Social performance (SP)

Please use the following scale to record an answer for each statement listed below (circle an answer for each item) 1—not at all, 2—a limited extent, 3—slightly improve 4—Neutral, 5—a moderate extent, 6—a great extent, 7—a very great extent”

SP1

SP2

SP3

SP4

“We have Improved safety and health of existing employees”

“We Improved the quality of life and basic health of the local community”

“We have improved the employee level of satisfaction with policies”

“We have improved employee occupational health, safety and labour conditions”

Transactional leadership (TRN)

Please use the following scale to record an answer for each statement listed below (circle an answer for each item) 1—Strongly disagree, 2—Disagree, 3—Somewhat disagree, 4—Neither agree nor disagree Agree 5—Somewhat agree, 6—Agree, 7—Strongly agree”

TRN1

TRN2

TRN3

TRN4

“They let us know what is expected of us in the supply chain process”

“They encourage the use of uniform procedures in the supply chain process”

“They decide what shall be done and how it will be done in the supply chain process”

“They maintain definite standards of performance in the supply chain process”

Social performance (STP)

Please use the following scale to record an answer for each statement listed below (circle an answer for each item) 1—not at all, 2—a limited extent, 3—slightly improve 4—Neutral, 5—a moderate extent, 6—a great extent, 7—a very great extent”

STP1

STP2

STP3

STP4

“The provision of employment opportunities by our company has been continuously increasing in the past three years”

“The expansion of the product/market of our company has been continuously increasing over the past three years”

“The level of recognition of the need to protect the environment in “our company has been continuously increasing in the past three years”

“The level of employee rights of our company has been continuously increasing in the past three years”

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Awan, U., Bhutta, M.K.S., Huiskonen, J., Kraslawski, A. (2021). Deployment of Sustainable Development Framework in Export Manufacturing Firms for the Common Good. In: Leal Filho, W., Tortato, U., Frankenberger, F. (eds) Integrating Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59975-1_9

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