Relationship between sustainability and risk management in fashion supply chains

Abstract

Purpose Fashion supply chain (FSC) research has identified two important issues of sustainability management and risk management. However, investigation of these issues is relatively sparse and has primarily been independent with little combinatory research, despite their important interrelationships. The purpose of this paper is to address that gap by critically reviewing extant literature to synthesise important sustainability risk issues in FSCs and proposing an empirical research agenda. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a structured literature review approach and Denyer and Tranfield’s (2009) context, intervention, mechanisms and outcome (CIMO) criteria for critical analysis to enable the development of future empirical research areas. Findings While sustainability and risk are discussed independently in the supply chain literature, combinatory discussions are very limited, despite the interdependence of these concepts. There is little substantial research on sustainability risk in global FSCs and therefore, an empirical research agenda is proposed with the four research directions to address the gap and take forward the notion of supply chain sustainability risk management in FSCs: definition; organisation and management; influence on performance; and development of a conceptual framework. Research limitations/implications This paper provides a critical literature review and thus lacks empirical study. Practical implications This paper highlights important issues in sustainability risk management for FSCs and presents an agenda for future empirical research. Originality/value This paper contributes by providing a combinatory synthesis of sustainability and risk management in FSC literature and an agenda for future empirical research.