Recent cases demonstrate that negative effects of sustainability-related scandals experienced by upstream suppliers can spill over to downstream firms. Thus, initiatives to help suppliers improve their sustainability performance are becoming increasingly essential for firms’ risk management in relation to supply chains. Thus far, the literature has yet to provide significant evidence on how firms can generate value from sustainable supplier development initiatives. In this study, we conduct dynamic panel data analysis of a dataset of 768 firm–year observations collected from four secondary sources, and find that sustainable supplier development initiatives can contribute to firms’ customer satisfaction, which further contributes to improved sales performance. Moreover, the relationship between sustainable supplier development initiatives and customer satisfaction is negatively moderated by firm reputation, yet positively moderated by the firm’s advertising intensity. These results provide robust evidence that customer satisfaction is a valid mechanism that links sustainable supplier development initiatives with improved sales performance.

最近的案例表明，上游供应商所经历的与可持续性相关的丑闻的负面影响可能会蔓延到下游公司。因此，帮助供应商提高其可持续性绩效的举措对于公司与供应链相关的风险管理变得越来越重要。迄今为止，文献还没有提供关于公司如何从可持续供应商发展计划中创造价值的重要证据。在本研究中，我们对从四个二级来源收集的 768 个公司年度观察数据集进行动态面板数据分析，发现可持续供应商发展计划有助于提高公司的客户满意度，从而进一步有助于提高销售业绩。而且，可持续供应商发展计划和客户满意度之间的关系受公司声誉的负面影响，但受公司广告强度的积极影响。这些结果提供了强有力的证据，表明客户满意度是将可持续供应商发展计划与提高销售业绩联系起来的有效机制。