Multi-Level Perspectives on Supply Chain Emissions Reduction: Three Essays on Triadic Supply Chain Structures, Alignment Mechanisms, and Paradoxical Cognition

Supply chains’ environmental impact is now, more than ever, in the spotlight. Policymakers are pressuring businesses to address emissions coming from their own direct operations and power consumption, as well as emissions generated in their extended networks. The topic is also capturing the attention of supply chain management scholars, as supply chains represent a central intervention point for solving the climate crisis. Yet, academic research on the issue still lags behind practice, thus sparking diverse calls for more research. This dissertation rests on the recognition of the critical role played by the numerous and sparse actors in supply chains in tackling climate change, and investigates relational and alignment dynamics among actors in a triad, as well as organizational characteristics that allow achieving supply chain emission reduction goals. To address the topic, this dissertation employs a multi-method design approach, complementing a systematic literature review of 128 research papers from top logistics and supply chain journals with exploratory, qualitative research that builds on interviews collected from Italian businesses. The first essay systematically reviews existing logistics and supply chain management literature to understand how it has incorporated inter-organizational triads, motivated by the potential for a triad to offer insights into broader supply chain relational dynamics. The review highlights gaps related to sustainability, despite large evidence that shows that the vast majority of the environmental impact of a firm is not under its direct control, but rather it is concentrated in its supply chain. Thus, it sets the stage for the following empirical essays that adopt a multi-level approach. Essay 2 uses interviews collected from three firms in the household appliances sector to empirically investigate relational dynamics and interactions among actors in a logistics triad. Moreover, it extends the scope to further levels of analysis (i.e., functional and organizational) and finds that actors find alignment more easily when environmental initiatives deliver simultaneous benefits in terms of efficiency or cost advantages. Instead, when regulatory signals are ambiguous or external customer pressure is not matched by collaborative development or strategic prioritization, misalignment emerges, slowing implementation of initiatives. Essay 3 further frames the conditions that hinder alignment as tensions and analyzes how organizations that are effective in reducing their emissions look like, internally and throughout their supply chain, as these are the organizations that are equipped to also address the intrinsic competing tensions surrounding supply chain emissions reduction. The study adds a cognitive account and extends cognitive aspects of paradox theory, highlighting how individuals within organizations cope with paradoxical tensions and how organizational elements influence their sensemaking. Overall, this dissertation intends to provide new insights into a critical research field, advancing theory and practice.