Prabhjot Mukandwal's research has been accepted in Journal of Supply Chain Management

Prabhjot Mukandwal, an Assistant Professor of Global Supply Chain Management at the Mike Ilitch School of Business, has had his paper "Consumer Reactions to Environmentally Irresponsible Sourcing Practices: An Intentionality and Motive Perspective" accepted for publication in Journal of Supply Chain Management

This research explores consumer reactions to firms' environmentally irresponsible sourcing practices, finding that intentional poor sourcing and profit-driven motives negatively impact consumer perceptions, while mandatory corrective actions can mitigate these effects.

Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to better understand how and why consumers pay attention to a firm's environmentally irresponsible sourcing practices. Using signaling theory, this research develops and tests a model that examines how a firm's intentionality and motive behind irresponsible environmental sourcing practices can signal a product's environmental characteristics to consumers. The findings suggest that consumers tend to view products as more environmentally harmful when they learn that a firm intentionally sources from irresponsible suppliers. Likewise, consumers are more likely to react unfavorably to a firm's products when a firm prioritizes profit motives over responsible sourcing practices. This research also offers insight into how a firm's corrective response strategy (e.g., mandatory versus voluntary environmental supplier actions) could mitigate the adverse impact of the firm's environmentally irresponsible sourcing practices on consumer perceptions of environmental risk. The findings indicate that a firm's mandatory corrective actions targeted to its suppliers are more likely to be effective, whereas voluntary actions were found to be ineffective. Two experiments were conducted to test the study's hypotheses. Managerial and societal implications are also discussed.

- Fahmida Khanom