Purpose

While it is known that digital transformation facilitates data flow in supply chains, its importance on green supply chain management (GSCM) has not been investigated concisely. This paper aims to expand the theory of digital transformation in GSCM by investigating the interconnections between these concepts and providing an integrative view of a smart green supply chain management (Smart GSCM).

Design/methodology/approach

This adopts a configurational perspective on digital transformation and supply chain management (SCM) to investigate the different dimensions of Smart GSCM and their contribution to green performance. Therefore, this paper analyzes data from 473 manufacturing companies using regression techniques.

Findings

The results show how smart supply chain contributes to green performance through managing green relationships (external GSCM activities) and establishing green operations (internal GSCM activities). Furthermore, this paper finds partial mediating effects for external and internal GSCM activities on green performance. These findings show that smart supply chain (i.e. digital transformation strategy and front-end technologies, supported by several back-end technologies) is directly associated with higher levels of GSCM. It is specifically associated with one of the internal dimensions of green operations, namely, green purchasing activities. Hence, the findings suggest that digital transformation alone is insufficient to achieve green performance, needing a GSCM configuration to mediate this effect.

Practical implications

This study calls attention to how managers should integrate these at least three different perspectives of SCM: digital transformation, external relationships and internal operations to increase green performance.

Originality/value

As the main contribution, this study provides a configurational and holistic understanding of the different dimensions and mechanisms in Smart GSCM.

中文翻译：

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智能绿色供应链管理：通过数字化转型提升绿色绩效的配置方法

目的

虽然众所周知，数字化转型促进了供应链中的数据流动，但其对绿色供应链管理 (GSCM) 的重要性尚未得到简明研究。本文旨在通过研究这些概念之间的相互联系并提供智能绿色供应链管理 (Smart GSCM) 的综合视图来扩展 GSCM 中的数字化转型理论。

设计/方法/方法

这采用了数字化转型和供应链管理 (SCM) 的配置视角来研究 Smart GSCM 的不同维度及其对绿色绩效的贡献。因此，本文使用回归技术分析了来自 473 家制造公司的数据。

发现

结果显示智能供应链如何通过管理绿色关系（外部 GSCM 活动）和建立绿色运营（内部 GSCM 活动）来促进绿色绩效。此外，本文发现外部和内部 GSCM 活动对绿色绩效的部分中介作用。这些发现表明，智能供应链（即数字化转型战略和前端技术，由多种后端技术支持）与更高层次的 GSCM 直接相关。它与绿色运营的内部维度之一，即绿色采购活动特别相关。因此，研究结果表明，仅数字化转型不足以实现绿色绩效，需要 GSCM 配置来调节这种效果。

实际影响

本研究提请注意管理者应如何整合供应链管理的至少三个不同视角：数字化转型、外部关系和内部运营，以提高绿色绩效。

原创性/价值

作为主要贡献，本研究提供了对 Smart GSCM 中不同维度和机制的配置和整体理解。