The purpose of this study is twofold: firstly, to provide a literature review of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) critical factors, practices and performance; and secondly, to develop a comprehensive and testable model of SSCM in the food industry. The research conducted comprises a literature review and a case study. The literature review findings propose a theoretical framework linking SSCM critical factors, practices and performance. The case study comprises two sustainability leaders in the Greek food supply chain in order to investigate the three SSCM constructs. A new set of pioneering SSCM practices in the Greek food industry is identified, including daily conversation, local sourcing and HR investments. The end result of this research proposes a testable model that sheds light on SSCM in the food industry and is based on a set of propositions.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a measurement instrument for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) critical factors, practices and performance and validate it in the food industry. A literature review was conducted in order to identify pertinent variables and propose relevant measuring items. An email survey was carried out in 423 Greek companies in the food and beverage sector. The questionnaire was sent by e-mail in the Google Forms format and it was requested to be answered by a representative of the company. The collected data was processed using exploratory factor analysis in order to extract the latent constructs of the SSCM critical factors, practices and performance measures. The validity of the proposed instrument was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. The extracted SSCM critical factors are “firm-level sustainability critical factors” and “supply chain sustainability critical factors”. The extracted SSCM practices are “supply chain collaboration” and “supply chain strategic orientation”. The extracted SSCM performance factors are “economic performance”, “social performance” and “environmental performance”. The three developed constructs constitute a measurement instrument that can be used both by practitioners who desire to implement SSCM and by researchers who can apply the proposed scales in other research projects or use them as assessment tools.

This paper presents a model designed to measure and investigate the relationships between critical factors, practices, and performance of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in the food industry. A survey of 423 firms in the Greek food industry was conducted to meet these objectives. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, followed by confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, to explore the relationships between the model’s constructs. The results indicate that “firm-level critical sustainability factors” and “supply chain critical sustainability factors” significantly enhance “supply chain collaboration” and “supply chain strategic orientation”. Additionally, “supply chain strategic orientation” positively influences “social performance” and “environmental performance”, while “supply chain collaboration” positively affects “economic performance” and “environmental performance”. Furthermore, “social performance” is found to have a significant positive impact on “economic performance”. This study provides empirical evidence that helps managers understand the importance of the relationships among SSCM critical factors, SSCM practices, and SSCM performance, and enables them to allocate resources effectively and design SSCM strategies. Finally, the developed constructs offer a measurement tool useful for both practitioners implementing SSCM in their firms and researchers who wish to apply or test the proposed scales in other projects or use them as benchmarks.