Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management ] (]]]]) ]]]]]]

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pursup

Drivers of green supply management performance: Evidence from Germany

Rudolf O. Large a,n, Cristina Gimenez Thomsen b,1
a

Dpt. of Business Logistics, University of Stuttgart, Keplerstrae 17, D-70174-Stuttgart, Germany

Dpt. of Operations and Innovation Management, Group on Business Network Dynamics (BuNeD), ESADE, Universitat Ramon Llull, Torre Blanca, 59,
08172 Sant Cugat del Valle s, Spain
b

a r t i c l e i n f o

Keywords:
Supplier management
Green purchasing
Sustainability

abstract
Five potential drivers of green supply management performance were identied in the literature
review: green supply management capabilities, the strategic level of the purchasing department, the
level of environmental commitment, the degree of green supplier assessment, and the degree of green
collaboration with suppliers. These constructs were used to form a structural model explaining the
environmental performance and the purchasing performance. The model was analysed with SmartPLS
2.0 using data collected among German purchasers. The results suggest that the degree of green
supplier assessment and the level of green collaboration exert direct inuence on environmental
performance. These two practices are driven by the strategic level of the purchasing department and
the level of environmental commitment of the rm. Whereas commitment inuences green assessment
directly, the impact of commitment on green collaboration is mediated by the capabilities of the
purchasing department. Furthermore, the results show that environmental performance has a positive
impact on purchasing performance.
& 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Protecting the environment is an ethical value in itself. Ethics
establishes moral norms in consideration of the natural environment. Individuals should feel obliged to protect and maintain the
sources of human life. They should have a sense of responsibility
for their actions and the consequences that these actions provoke (Oliveira de Paula and Negra~ o Cavalcanti, 2000, p. 110).
These moral requirements are not only relevant for private
individuals but also for managers acting as representatives of
their companies. Managers have the duty to take into account the
attitudes, values and beliefs of the public regarding environmental protection. Nevertheless, environmental responsibility is not
only an encumbrance to managers. Environmental commitment
could be a source of competitive advantage and sustainable
development of a rm. In summary, environmental performance
is a concern for managers due to reasons ranging from regulatory
and contractual compliance, to public perception and competitive
advantage (Theyel, 2001).
Many rms have realised that customers and other stakeholders do not always distinguish between a single company and
its partners in the supply chain. Also, the lead company in a

Corresponding author. Tel.: 49 711 685 83422; fax: 49 711 685 83594.
E-mail addresses: rudolf.large@bwi.uni-stuttgart.de (R.O. Large),
cristina.gimenez@esade.edu (C. Gimenez Thomsen).
1
Tel.: 34 932 806 162; fax: 34 932 048 105.

particular supply chain is often held responsible for the adverse

environmental impacts of all organisations within its supply
chain (Rao and Holt, 2005; Kovacs, 2008). Managers of a focal
rm select and govern business partners throughout the supply
network. Therefore, they are responsible for the environmental

performance of the entire supply chain (Seuring and Muller,

2008). For this reason, Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM)
is a concept that is gaining popularity. Green Supply Chain
Management is dened as a buying rms plans and activities
that integrate environmental issues into SCM in order to improve
the environmental performance of suppliers and customers
(Bowen et al., 2001). Greening the supply chain is one of the
three major issues of sustainable SCM besides the economic and

social dimensions (Seuring and Muller,

2008).
Although the literature on GSCM has been growing during the
last decade, there are still some areas that need further research.
Intra- and inter-rm diffusion of best practices and the transfer of
environmental technologies were identied as critical areas
needing research (Angell and Klassen, 1999). Theyel (2001)
pointed out that the literature offers insight on potential patterns in supply-chain relations for improving environmental
performance. However, more understanding is needed on the
ways rms work with their customers and suppliers for environmental purposes and whether supply-chain interaction helps
rms improve their environmental performance. More recently,
Vachon and Klassen (2006) stated that little research has focused
on the management of the interactions with immediate

1478-4092/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2011.04.006

Please cite this article as: Large, R.O., Gimenez Thomsen, C., Drivers of green supply management performance: Evidence
from Germany. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (2011), doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2011.04.006

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customers and suppliers and their potential impact on an organisations environmental management. This paper tries to cover
these gaps and focuses on how to extend green practices to
immediate suppliers. The emphasis of this research is on the
greening of suppliercustomer relationships (Green Supply Management), as buying rms are normally in the strategic position to
exert signicant inuence on the environmental behaviour of
their suppliers.
Green Supply Management (GSM) is being adopted by industry, but the extent and mode of implementation vary signicantly
(Rao, 2002). In some instances, it takes the form of questionnaires
or suppliers visits to assess suppliers environmental performance (Noci, 1997). In other cases, companies go for a partnering
and mentoring approach, such as site visits, exchange of personnel, technical assistance, and various other tactics (Lamming and
Hampson, 1996; Handeld et al., 1997; Geffen and Rothenberg,
2000; Zsidisin and Sifert, 2001). Although companies can follow
both approaches simultaneously, few papers have considered the
joint effect of these two different approaches on environmental
performance improvement (see Theyel, 2001; Klassen and
Vachon, 2003; Lee and Klassen, 2008).
Furthermore, only few papers have considered the development process of the preconditions needed to adopt these
approaches of supplier environmental improvement. Bowen
et al. (2001) identied the following potential drivers of green
supply: a more strategic purchasing approach and the supply
capabilities developed by a proactive rms environmental management. There is also a gap in the literature concerning the impact of
environmental performance improvements on purchasing performance. Carter et al. (2000) found evidence for a positive inuence of
environmental purchasing activities on rms nancial performance.
However, from a supply perspective the performance outcome of a
purchasing department (Sanchez-Rodriguez et al., 2005) is more
relevant to evaluate the appropriateness of the assessment and the
collaboration approach than the general nancial performance of
the rm.
Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the effectiveness of different approaches used to extend sustainable
practices to suppliers. More specically, the research objectives
of this paper are (1) to study the impact of different approaches
(green assessment and green collaboration) on environmental
performance improvement; (2) to analyse the factors that drive or
contribute to the implementation of such efforts; and (3) to
investigate the impact of environmental performance improvement on the performance outcome of a purchasing department.
The structure of the paper is as follows: rst, we provide a
literature review and the conceptual model and related hypotheses. Next, we explain the methodology employed. Then, we
present the results and discuss them. Finally, we highlight the
main conclusions and managerial implications and provide some
directions for future research.

2. Literature review and hypotheses

The literature on GSCM has been growing as organisations and
researchers have begun to realise that the management of
environmental programs and operations do not end at the
boundaries of the organisation (Zhu et al., 2005). Different
authors offer insights on the potential of developing supply chain
related programs for improving environmental performance (see
for example, Florida, 1996; Handeld et al., 1997; Geffen and
Rothenberg, 2000; Klassen and Vachon, 2003; Zhu and Sarkis,
2004; Rao and Holt, 2005; Lee and Klassen, 2008).
Similar to the concept of SCM, the boundary of GSCM depends
on the goal of the researcher (Zhu et al., 2005). Zhu et al. (2008)

provided an empirical examination of the construct of GSCM

practices. Their results suggested that GSCM practices implementation should be multifaceted and should include the following
factors: internal environmental management, green purchasing,
cooperation with customers, eco-design practices, and investment recovery. In this paper, we will focus on green supply or
green purchasing.
2.1. Green supply management
Environmental or green purchasing is the integration of
environmental considerations into purchasing policies, programmes, and actions. The objective of green purchasing is to
facilitate recycling, reuse, and resource reduction (Min and Galle,
1997; Carter and Carter, 1998). Purchasing can contribute to
environmental performance in a number of ways: buying packaging materials that can be more easily recycled or reused (Min
and Galle, 1997; Carter and Carter, 1998), participating in the
design stage and suggesting alternative sources of supply, asking
upstream members of the supply chain to commit to waste
reduction goals (Carter and Carter, 1998), using early supplier
design involvement (Carter and Carter, 1998), evaluating supplier
performance, selecting suppliers based on environmental criteria
(Noci, 1997), etc. As a boundary spanning unit, purchasing
generally plays an important role in communicating green concepts and efforts to other companies (Green et al., 1996).
Different authors have considered different aspects of environmental purchasing. For example, Drumwright (1994) established a typology of companies that approached environmental
purchasing. Zsidisin and Hendrick (1998) explored the extent of
involvement that purchasing managers had in some environmental issues. Carter et al. (1998) provided a reliable and valid scale
for environmental purchasing and examined the impact of different organisational factors on these activities. Bowen et al.
(2001) explored the role of supply management capabilities in
green supply. Min and Galle (1997), Noci (1997), and Zhu and
Geng (2001) considered supplier selection based on environmental criteria. Walton et al. (1998) examined how managers were
able to drive environmentally friendly practices within their own
supply base. Our paper focuses on this latter aspect: the effectiveness of different practices used to extend sustainable practices
to suppliers.
2.2. Extending sustainable practices to suppliers: supplier
development
Buying rms that encounter shortcomings in supplier performance or supplier capabilities have several options: (1) invest
resources to increase supplier performance, (2) manufacture the
purchase item in-house, (3) search for an alternative supplier, or
(4) a combination of the previous three (Krause et al., 2000). This
paper is based on the premise that the buying rm has chosen
option one (supplier development). Handeld et al. (2000) dene
supplier development as any activity that a buyer undertakes to
improve a suppliers performance and/or capabilities to meet the
buyers short term or long term supply needs. To improve
supplier performance buying rms have different options, including (1) supplier assessment, (2) providing suppliers with incentives to improve performance, (3) instigating competition among
suppliers, and (4) working directly with them with training or
other activities (Krause et al., 1998).
To improve suppliers environmental performance, the practices adopted by industry vary signicantly in the extent and
mode of implementation (Rao, 2002). In some instances it takes
the form of questionnaires or suppliers visits, and some authors
have shown that these evaluative practices help reduce

Please cite this article as: Large, R.O., Gimenez Thomsen, C., Drivers of green supply management performance: Evidence
from Germany. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (2011), doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2011.04.006

R.O. Large, C. Gimenez Thomsen / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management ] (]]]]) ]]]]]]

environmental risk on the supply side (see for example, Walton

et al., 1998). In other cases companies go for a partnering and
mentoring approach to achieve sustained improvements in environmental performance (Lamming and Hampson, 1996; Handeld
et al., 1997; Geffen and Rothenberg, 2000). This paper focuses on
these two fundamental approaches: green supplier assessment
and green collaboration with suppliers (working directly with
suppliers by providing training, support or other activities).
In the literature, we have found few papers that considered
both approaches simultaneously. Theyel (2001) analysed the
adoption of different types of environmental supply chain relations and found that (1) companies use several types of relations
and (2) environmental requirements is the only one that is
signicantly related with environmental performance. Klassen
and Vachon (2003) explored two dimensions of supply chain
activities (collaboration and evaluation) and its relationship to
environmental investment at the plant level. They found that
customers who implement evaluative activities are likely to see
positive changes in how suppliers regard environmental issues.
However, they found that customer initiated collaboration does
not have an impact on the level of investment. Recently, Lee and
Klassen (2008) after conducting several case studies, found that
the presence of both monitoring and support-based GSCM provide a synergistic effect, resulting in a greater rate of development
of suppliers environmental management capabilities. Based on
these results, we hypothesise that both approaches have a
positive impact on environmental performance:
H1. There is a positive relationship between the implementation
of the green supplier assessment approach and the environmental
performance improvement.
H2. There is a positive relationship between the implementation
of the collaborative approach with suppliers and the environmental performance improvement.
Despite the increased use of supplier development strategies
across industries, little is known about the process of implementing such efforts (Hartley and Choi, 1996; Krause et al., 2000). In an
attempt to explain the enablers in the implementation of these two
approaches (green supplier assessment and green collaboration
with suppliers), in the following sections we analyse the strategic
level of purchasing, the environmental commitment of the rm and
the purchasing capabilities.
2.3. The strategic level of purchasing
During the last decades purchasing has evolved from a mere
buying function to a strategic function (Ellram and Carr, 1994).
Strategic purchasing has been dened as the process of planning,
evaluating, implementing, and controlling strategic and operating
decisions (Carr and Pearson, 1999). Following Reck and Long
(1988), we consider that when a purchasing function is part of the
strategic planning process, it is considered a strategic purchasing
function.
Carr and Pearson (1999) found that strategic purchasing
had a positive impact on rms nancial performance, supplier
evaluation systems, and buyersupplier relationships. As strategic
purchasing increases, it is expected that rms improve their
nancial performance and increase their efforts of managing
suppliers with respect to evaluation and collaboration.
In the study of green supply management, little attention has
been given to the strategic level of purchasing (Bowen et al.,
2001). Lamming and Hampson (1996) analysed ve companies
that had implemented green supply management, and found that
in three of them purchasing was considered to be a very
important function. Bowen et al. (2001) found no direct impact

of strategic purchasing on supply management practices; however, an indirect effect through supply management capabilities
was identied.
Based on the results of Carr and Pearson (1999) and Lamming
and Hampson (1996) we hypothesise that the higher the strategic
level of purchasing the higher the extent of implementation of
both approaches:
H3. There is a positive relationship between the strategic level of
the purchasing department and the extent of implementation
of the green supplier assessment approach.
H4. There is a positive relationship between the strategic level of
the purchasing department and the extent of implementation of
the collaboration with suppliers approach.
2.4. The environmental commitment of the rm
Antecedent theory proposes that a rms response to the
environmental requirements of its stakeholders is inuenced by
its existing level of environmental commitment (Henriques and
Sadorsky, 1999; Aragon-Correa and Sharma, 2003). Following
Simpson et al. (2007) we measured environmental commitment
through the rms policies, values and employee awareness of
environmental programs.
One of the most cited predictors of the implementation of
green supply is the proactivity of the rms towards environmental management (Bowen et al., 2001). Bowen et al. (2001) found a
positive and direct impact of environmental proactivity on greening the supply process, a construct that shares similarities with
our green supplier assessment approach. Supplier assessment is a
technocratic method based on standardized tools and instruments. If a company usually performs supplier monitoring and
general supplier audits, it would not be challenging to enlarge
these tools to cover environmental issues. Therefore we expect
direct inuence of environmental commitment on green supplier
assessment:
H5. There is a positive relationship between the environmental
commitment of the rm and the implementation of the green
supplier assessment approach.
In comparison to environmental assessment the nature of
collaboration is more focused on human interactions and communications. Therefore, buyers involved in environmental collaboration need specic knowledge and skills in the eld of green
purchasing. Following this basic idea, we anticipate an indirect
relationship between commitment and the collaborative approach.
We expect that environmental commitment leads to the development of green purchasing capabilities which enable the implementation of the collaborative approach. Sharma and Vredenburg
(1998) and Bowen et al. (2001) argue that following a proactive
environmental approach can foster the development of capabilities. Accordingly, we hypothesise that:
H6. There is a direct and positive relationship between the environmental commitment of the rm and purchasing capabilities.
H6.1. There is an indirect and positive impact of the environmental commitment of the rm on the green collaboration with
suppliers approach (mediated by purchasing capabilities).
2.5. Purchasing capabilities
Some studies have analysed the role of purchasing capabilities in
the implementation of green supply (Carter et al., 1998; Bowen et al.,
2001). Capabilities are the internal and external organisational skills,
resources, and functional competences developed within rms to

Please cite this article as: Large, R.O., Gimenez Thomsen, C., Drivers of green supply management performance: Evidence
from Germany. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (2011), doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2011.04.006

R.O. Large, C. Gimenez Thomsen / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management ] (]]]]) ]]]]]]

match the requirements of a changing environment (Teece et al.,

1997).
In the environmental management context, rms competing in
the same industry appear in practice to follow different environmental strategies (Bowen et al., 2001). One explanation for this is
that they differ in their set of available resources and capabilities
(Hart, 1995; Russo and Fouts, 1997; Klassen and Whybark, 1999,
Bowen et al., 2001).
Bowen et al. (2001) found that supply management capabilities facilitate the implementation of product-based green supply
(a construct similar to our green collaboration with suppliers
approach) but not the greening of the supply process (construct
similar to our green supplier assessment approach). Developing
purchasing capabilities, the rm enables a collaborative approach
in the extension of green practices to suppliers. We expect
managers to facilitate the implementation of the collaborative
approach by training their purchasing personnel regarding the
purchase of environmentally friendly products, setting clear goals
for environmental activities and evaluating purchasing personnel
based on their levels of environmental activities. Purchasing
capabilities facilitate working with suppliers to improve the
environmental performance. However, developing purchasing
capabilities is not necessarily an enabler of the assessment
approach. Bowen et al. (2001) found in some interviews with
managers that the green supplier assessment approach was
attempted regardless of whether the rm had the appropriate
capabilities. Based on these results we hypothesise that:

evidence for a positive inuence of environmental purchasing

activities on rm performance. Greening the inbound function of
the rm may lead to enhanced economic performance (Rao and Holt,
2005). Although we found no sources postulating a direct inuence
of environmental performance on purchasing performance these
studies provide support for the assumption of the positive relationship between these constructs. Accordingly, we propose that:
H8. There is a positive relationship between the degree of
environmental performance improvement and the level of purchasing performance.
Hence, as supplier assessment and green collaboration with
suppliers are general practices of strategic purchasing a direct
impact on purchasing performance is conceivable. There is
evidence that the extent of basic supplier development practices
exerts positive effects on the buyers purchasing performance
(Sanchez-Rodriguez et al., 2005). In particular, Vachon and
Klassen (2008) showed that collaboration with suppliers on
environmental issues is related with manufacturing performance
improvements. Wen-li et al. (2003) indicated a positive correlation between the degree of supplier evaluation and purchasing
performance. Therefore, two additional research hypotheses were
formed covering the direct relationship between these practices
and purchasing performance:
H9. There is a positive relationship between the level of green
supplier assessment and the level of purchasing performance.

H7. There is a positive relationship between the extent to which

the rm possesses appropriate purchasing capabilities and its
implementation of the green collaboration with suppliers
approach.

H10. There is a positive relationship between the degree of green

collaboration with suppliers and the level of purchasing performance.

2.6. Purchasing performance

3. Methodology

Although, companies should adopt green practices due to ethical

values, the proof of a positive impact of environmental performance
on purchasing performance would help to enhance the acceptance of
sustainable supply. Zhu and Sarkis (2004) showed that enterprises
having higher levels of adoption of green supply chain practices and
internal environmental management observe positive economic
performance improvements. Furthermore, Carter et al. (2000) found

The questionnaire was elaborated based on the literature

review. The list of items is provided in the Appendix. The sample
was drawn from a contact list of the University selecting
addresses of German managers in the eld of purchasing and
supply. For the collection of data an online survey was used. In
August 2009, 725 individuals received an invitation to contribute
by email. Within a period of four weeks 181 respondents

Strategic
level of
purchasing

H3 +

The path model based on the ten hypotheses is shown in Fig. 1.

Green supplier
assessment

Environmental
performance
improvement

Purchasings
environmental
capabilities

H8 +

H6 +

Environmental
commitment

H7 +

Green
collaboration
with suppliers

H10 +

Purchasing
performance

Fig. 1. Hypothetical path model (calculation with SmartPLS).

Please cite this article as: Large, R.O., Gimenez Thomsen, C., Drivers of green supply management performance: Evidence
from Germany. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (2011), doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2011.04.006

R.O. Large, C. Gimenez Thomsen / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management ] (]]]]) ]]]]]]

participated. As usual in web-based data collection there was a

high abandonment rate after the rst web-page (Grant et al.,
2005). After excluding discontinued cases and cases with extensive missing data, a sample of 109 responses was available for
data analysis. Therefore, the data collection resulted in an
effective response rate of 15.0%. The means and standard variations of the items used are given in the Appendix.
The rms size was measured in terms of annual turnover.
Firms with an annual turnover lower than 10 million euros
amounted to 7.4%; 51.0% had an annual turnover between 10
million and 1000 million euros; and the remaining 41.6% had an
annual turnover higher than 1000 million euros. About 90% of the
respondents are employed in purchasing (68.2%), in the materials
management department (10.0%) or in SCM (9.1%). The sample
covers a variety of industries. The vast majority of the companies
(91%) belongs to the manufacturing sector (automotive, mechanical engineering industry, electrical industry, chemical industry,
and other industries).
SmartPLS 2.0 (Ringle et al., 2005) was used for the analysis of
the path model. This Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) software package is an application of the Partial Least Square Method
(PLS) (Chin, 1998; Tenenhaus et al., 2005). In comparison to
covariance-based procedures of SEM such as LISREL or AMOS
the PLS algorithm is advantageous if the sample size is small
(Chin, 1998). Covariance-based procedures perform a simultaneous estimation of the totality of the model parameters. Hence,
these procedures require very large samples especially if models
are complex as in this paper (Bentler and Chou, 1987). In contrast,
the PLS estimation is based on a set of multiple regressions.
Following the recommendations of Chin and Newsted (1999) the
sample size should be at least ten times either the largest number
of formative indicators or the largest number of independent
variables inuencing a dependent variable of the structural
model. In this research the measurement model consists
of reective indicators exclusively. Therefore, only the second
criterion is relevant. The dependent variable with the largest
number of predictor variables is purchasing performance. This
number is three. Thus, sample size should be at least 30. Based on

this recommendation the sample meets the sample size requirements of PLS. In contrast, AMOS would need about 200 cases
following the recommendations of Bentler and Chou (1987).
3.1. Measurement assessment
Reliability analysis and exploratory factor analysis with SPSS
were performed. The evaluation was based on the criteria
provided by Hair et al. (2009). The calculations show sufcient
degrees of reliability (Cronbach Alpha) and convergent validity
(loadings, one-factor solution) after excluding item AS3 (audit)
(Table 1). Only in the case of green collaboration with suppliers
Cronbach Alpha is slightly smaller than the threshold of 0.7.
Nevertheless, we decided not to exclude COL3 because this item
covers an important topic of environmental collaboration.
Finally, SmartPLS was used to evaluate the scales of the model.
Common criteria to evaluate reective measures of PLS path
models are the average variance extracted, the composite reliability and the communality (StoneGeissers Q2) (Chin, 1998). The
results of these calculations are shown in Table 2. The common
quality requirements were met by almost each of the constructs.
Only the average variance extracted of green collaboration with
suppliers (0.56) fails to meet the threshold of 0.6.

4. Results
The path relationships (standardized regression coefcients) of the
model were estimated performing SmartPLS. The bootstrap procedure
(Efron, 1979; Diaconis and Efron, 1983) was used to obtain t-statistics
in order to evaluate the signicance of the parameters. The bootstrap
sample means match with the original sample estimates. Therefore,
bootstrapping is an appropriate method to evaluate the signicance
of the estimators of the proposed model. The results of the parameter
estimation are shown in Fig. 2 and Table 3.
These results provide empirical support for nine of the ten
hypotheses. All regression coefcients are in the predicted direction
and signicant with the exception of the relationship between green

Table 1
Measurement assessment (calculation with SPSS).
Construct

Indicator

Cronbach
alpha 40.7

Loadings
40.7

Variance
explained 450%

Source

Strategic level of purchasing

POS1
POS2
POS3
EC1
EC2
EC3
CAP1
CAP2
CAP3
AS1
AS2
COL1
COL2
COL3
EF1
EF2
EF3
EF4
EF5
EF6
PERF1
PERF2
PERF3
PERF4
PERF5

0.901

0.874
0.933
0.934
0.947
0.961
0.917
0.920
0.888
0.848
0.922
0.922
0.836
0.820
0.632
0.883
0.896
0.866
0.908
0.890
0.931
0.877
0.787
0.841
0.839
0.853

83.6%

Carr and Pearson (1999) and Chen and Paulraj (2004)

88.7%

Simpson et al. (2007)

78.4%

Carter et al. (1998) and Bowen et al. (2001)

85.0%

Krause et al. (2000)

59.0%

Krause et al. (2000) and Bowen et al. (2001)

80.3%

Rao and Holt (2005) and Daily et al. (2007)

70.5%

Sanchez-Rodriguez et al. (2005)

Environmental commitment

Purchasings environmental capabilities

Green supplier assessment

Green collaboration with suppliers

Environmental performance improvement

Purchasing performance

0.936

0.862

0.804
0.651

0.950

0.892

Please cite this article as: Large, R.O., Gimenez Thomsen, C., Drivers of green supply management performance: Evidence
from Germany. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (2011), doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2011.04.006

R.O. Large, C. Gimenez Thomsen / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management ] (]]]]) ]]]]]]

Table 2
Measurement assessment (calculation with SmartPLS).
Scale

Strategic level of purchasing

Environmental commitment
Purchasings environmental capabilities
Green supplier assessment
Green collaboration with suppliers
Environmental performance improvement
Purchasing performance

POS
EC
CAP
AS
COL
EP
PERF

reective
reective
reective
reective
reective
reective
reective

Average variance
extracted
40.6

Composite
reliability
40.7

StoneGeissers
Q2 (communality)
40

0.83
0.89
0.77
0.85
0.56
0.80
0.71

0.94
0.96
0.91
0.92
0.79
0.96
0.92

0.83
0.89
0.77
0.85
0.56
0.80
0.71

R2 = 0.202
Strategic
level of
purchasing

H3 +
0.273***

Green supplier
assessment

*
**
***

p < 0.1
p < 0.05
p < 0.01

R2 = 0.293
Environmental
performance
improvement

H6 +
0.461***

H8 +
0.406***

Environmental
commitment

Purchasings
environmental
capabilities

H7 +
0.423***

Green
collaboration
with suppliers

Purchasing
performance

H10 +
-0.209*

R2 = 0.365

R2 = 0.299

R2 = 0.212

Fig. 2. Approved path model (calculation with SmartPLS).

Table 3
Parameter estimation (calculation with SmartPLS).
Hypotheses

H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
H6
H7
H8
H9
H10

pos.
pos.
pos.
pos.
pos.
pos.
pos.
pos.
pos.
pos.

AS ) EP
COL ) EP
POS ) AS
POS ) COL
EC ) AS
EC ) CAP
CAP ) COL
EP ) PERF
AS ) PERF
COL ) PERF

Original
sample (O)

Sample
mean (M)

Standard deviation
(STDEV)

Standard
error (STERR)

Statistics
(9O/STERR9)

Signicance

0.287
0.380
0.273
0.261
0.287
0.461
0.423
0.406
0.396
 0.209

0.274
0.395
0.255
0.251
0.291
0.469
0.430
0.417
0.378
 0.207

0.115
0.092
0.093
0.103
0.116
0.082
0.081
0.090
0.113
0.113

0.115
0.092
0.093
0.103
0.116
0.082
0.081
0.090
0.113
0.113

2.506
4.143
2.930
2.538
2.475
5.620
5.201
4.531
3.492
1.845

0.012
0.000
0.003
0.011
0.013
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.065

collaboration with suppliers and purchasing performance which is

negative in contrast to H10 and only signicant at the 10% level. In
detail, we found support for H1, which predicted that green supplier
assessment is positively linked to the level of environmental performance improvement. As well, the higher the magnitude of green
collaboration with suppliers the more positive is the environmental
performance improvement (H2). In support of H3 and H4, the results
indicate that the strategic level of purchasing exerts signicant effects
on the degree of green supplier assessment and the perceived level of
green collaboration with suppliers. Furthermore, there is evidence
that the degree of a rms environmental commitment inuences the

intensity of green supplier assessment (H5) and the extent of

environmental capabilities created and maintained by the purchasing
department (H6). The extent of environmental capabilities exerts
impact on the level of green collaboration with suppliers (H7).
Consequently, these two relationships result in an indirect inuence
of environmental commitment on the level of green collaboration
(H6.1). It seems that such an obligation is a crucial precondition for
environmental cooperation with other parties in the supply chain.
The signicant effect of environmental performance improvement on the degree of purchasing performance (H8) corresponds
to the predictions of the literature that assumes positive

Please cite this article as: Large, R.O., Gimenez Thomsen, C., Drivers of green supply management performance: Evidence
from Germany. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (2011), doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2011.04.006

R.O. Large, C. Gimenez Thomsen / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management ] (]]]]) ]]]]]]

inuences of green purchasing on rms performance (Carter

et al., 2000). Accordingly, green supplier assessment as a special
area of supplier assessment also exerts inuence on purchasing
performance (H9). Contrary to H10 the inuence of green collaboration with suppliers on purchasing performance is negative
and only signicant at the 10%-level.
The coefcients of determination (R2) for each dependent
construct indicate whether the independent variables of the
model exert substantial inuence on this construct (Chin, 1998).
The coefcients of determination are comparatively small but of
considerable value (Fig. 2). This result provides evidence that the
model is suitable.

5. Discussion
Following Theyel (2001), Klassen and Vachon (2003), and Lee
and Klassen (2008) we developed a conceptual framework which
posited a positive relationship between each approach (green
collaboration and green assessment) and the environmental performance. Our analysis provides empirical support for a direct impact
of the collaborative and assessment approaches on environmental
performance. Theyel (2001) and Klassen and Vachon (2003) only
found a positive effect of assessment on environmental performance. The reason why we may have found a positive impact of
green collaboration on environmental performance can be that
when these two studies were conducted the level of collaboration
with suppliers was considerably lower than the level of adoption of
evaluative practices. In our study, the level of green assessment is
higher than the level of green collaboration but the difference is
marginal. Our results are, however, consistent with the results of a
recent case study: Lee and Klassen (2008) found that the presence of
both monitoring and support-based GSCM provides a synergistic
effect, resulting in a greater rate of development of suppliers
environmental management capabilities.
From Bowen et al. (2001) we incorporated in our framework
some enablers or drivers of these two approaches. Our results
show that the two approaches are driven by the strategic level of
the purchasing department and the level of environmental
commitment of the rm. The positive effect of the strategic level
of purchasing on suppliers assessment and collaboration with
suppliers is consistent with the results of Carr and Pearson (1999)
and Lamming and Hampson (1996). This means that the higher
the participation in the strategic planning process the higher the
implementation of both approaches to improve the rms environmental performance.
Our results show that whereas commitment inuences assessment directly, the impact of environmental commitment on green
collaboration is mediated by the capabilities of the purchasing
department. These results are in accordance with the ndings of
previous studies: First, the direct impact of commitment on green
supplier assessment is consistent with the results of Bowen et al.
(2001). Second, the indirect impact of commitment on green
collaboration with suppliers means that in order to implement
the collaborative approach the rm should possess the appropriate purchasing capabilities, which are in turn inuenced by the
rms environmental commitment. These results are consistent
with the ndings of Bowen et al. (2001). These authors found
that: (1) supply management capabilities are developed by a
proactive corporate environmental approach and (2) supply capabilities have an impact on collaborative approaches whereas
supplier assessment is attempted regardless of whether the rm
has the appropriate capabilities.
Our results show that environmental performance has an
impact on purchasing performance. We did not nd any study
relating the environmental and purchasing performances.

However, our nding may be in line with all those studies that
have found a positive relationship between environmental management and economic performance (see for example, Alvarez-Gil
et al., 2001; Zhu and Sarkis, 2004).
Finally, with regards to the impact of both supplier development
approaches (collaboration and assessment) on purchasing performance the results are contradictory. Whereas green supplier assessment has a positive impact on purchasing performance, green
collaboration with suppliers has a negative effect. The positive effect
of assessment on purchasing performance is consistent with the
results of Krause et al. (2000) and Sanchez-Rodriguez et al. (2005).
However, the possible negative relationship between green collaboration and purchasing performance is contradictory to the ndings of these two previous studies. Our results show that visits to
suppliers, training suppliers and having joint efforts to reduce waste
could have a negative impact on purchasing performance: these
practices may lead to increases in costs and non-conformance,
dissatisfaction of customers departments, non-accomplishment of
quantities, etc. One possible explanation for this is that while green
collaboration with suppliers aimed at improving environmental
performance pays off in terms of environmental results, these
collaborative practices may interfere with other logistics activities.
This interference may result in a negative impact on purchasing
measures such as on-time delivery, target costs, and quantities.
Nevertheless, this effect is only signicant at the 10% level. Furthermore, the total effect of green collaboration on purchasing performance amounts to almost zero ( 0.054), because the negative
direct impact is balanced by the positive indirect inuence mediated
by environmental performance.

6. Conclusions, limitations, and further research

As a result of this study we have a better understanding of how
green collaboration with suppliers and green supplier assessment
can impact rms environmental performance. The results suggest
that the degree of green supplier assessment and the level of green
collaboration exert direct inuence on environmental performance.
These two practices are jointly driven by the strategic level of the
purchasing department and the level of environmental commitment
of the rm. Whereas commitment inuences assessment directly,
the impact of commitment on collaboration is mediated by the
capabilities of the purchasing department. This indirect inuence
moderated by environmental capabilities is plausible, because
collaboration is based on human interactions between individuals
whereas assessment is rather a technocratic approach. The main
contribution of this paper is the complex interaction of these single
effects. No previous study had considered enablers, practices (green
assessment and green collaboration) and performance (environmental and purchasing performance) together.
The study is also important to management because it provides managers with some understanding of the impact of
different purchasing practices. Our model has shown that green
supplier assessment and green collaboration with suppliers have
a positive impact on environmental performance. Our results also
show that these two practices are driven by the strategic level of
the purchasing department and the level of environmental
commitment of the rm. Whereas commitment inuences assessment directly, the impact of commitment on green collaboration
is mediated by the capabilities of the purchasing department.
The managerial implications of this paper can be summarised
as follows:

 In order to improve environmental performance, companies

should pursue both types of approaches: green supplier
assessment and green collaboration with suppliers.

Please cite this article as: Large, R.O., Gimenez Thomsen, C., Drivers of green supply management performance: Evidence
from Germany. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (2011), doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2011.04.006

R.O. Large, C. Gimenez Thomsen / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management ] (]]]]) ]]]]]]

 To implement these approaches companies should have an

environmental commitment. This means that they should

have the protection of the environment as a central corporate
value and a clear policy statement urging environmental
awareness in every area of the business. This commitment
should result in (1) the implementation of green supplier
assessment practices, such as the implementation of formal
evaluation systems; and (2) the development of supply capabilities needed to implement a collaborative approach.
The purchasing department should also have a strategic level.
This means that the purchasing department should (1) have a
formal long-term plan to develop and support business
strategy and (2) participate directly in the business strategic
planning process. This would contribute to the successful implementation of the collaborative and assessment approaches.

Although this study has an important contribution to research

and some key managerial implications, it has some limitations
that should be pointed out: the fact that green collaboration with
suppliers, green supplier assessment and environmental performance have been measured in general terms and not for specic
buyersupplier relationships is also an important limitation.
Another limitation is that performance has been measured only

from the perspective of the buying rm; suppliers environmental

performance has not been considered. Finally, the data of this
research was collected in Germany whereas previous studies used
data from other countries. A bias caused by different cultures and
national institutions should be excluded.
Further research should try to overcome the aforementioned
limitations. Future research should also consider if different
approaches or environmental practices are more appropriate for
different types of environmental performance (pollution reduction, pollution control, etc.).

Acknowledgement
Cristina acknowledges nancial support from research grant
ECO2010-16840 from the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Appendix
See Table A1.

Table A1
Construct

No.

Item

Phrase

Sources

Strategic level of
purchasing

POS1

Strategy
Planning process

Carr and Pearson (1999) and 5.01

Chen and Paulraj (2004)
4.83

1.80

POS2
POS3

Planning revisions

5.24

1.74

EC1

Policy statement

5.67

1.49

EC2
EC3

Value
Understanding

5.56
5.28

1.55
1.46

CAP1

Training

3.80

1.82

CAP2
CAP3

Goals
Evaluation

4.38
2.54

1.68
1.68

AS1

Evaluation

5.93

1.48

AS2
AS3

Feedback
Audits

5.39
3.67

1.98
2.14

COL1

Visit

4.91

2.01

COL2

Training

The purchasing department has a formally written long-term plan to

develop and support business strategy.
The purchasing department participates directly in the business
strategic planning process.
Purchasing plans are continuously revised to adapt them to changes
in Business strategic planning.
Our rm has a clear policy statement urging environmental
awareness in every area of the business.
Protecting the environment is a central corporate value in our rm.
At our rm, we make a concerted effort to make every employee
understand the importance of environmental management.
Purchasing personnel receive training regarding the purchase of
environmentally friendly products
Our department establishes clear goals for environmental activities
Purchasing personnel are evaluated based on their levels of
environmental activities
We assess our suppliers performance through formal evaluation,
using established guidelines and procedures.
We provide suppliers with feedback about results of their evaluation.
We perform environmental audits for suppliers internal
management systems.
We visit our suppliers premises to help them improve their
performance.
We provide training/education to these suppliers
personnel.
We make joint efforts with these suppliers to reduce waste.
We have achieved a reduction of pollution and waste.
We have improved compliance with environmental laws.
We have increased the level of recycling.
We have preserved the environment.

2.99

2.08

4.56
5.10
5.39
5.37
5.28

1.69
1.62
1.58
1.47
1.45

5.15
5.36

1.59
1.47

6.21

1.18

5.31
5.66
5.78
5.51

1.11
1.04
1.19
0.92

Environmental
commitment

Purchasings
environmental
capabilities

Green supplier
assessmentn

Green collaboration
with suppliersn

Environmental
performance
improvement

Purchasing
performance

COL3
EF1
EF2
EF3
EF4

Joint efforts
Waste reduction
Compliance
Recycling
Environmental
protection
EF5
Reputation
EF6
Overall
environmental
performance
PERF1 Specications
PERF2
PERF3
PERF5
PERF6

On time delivery
Target cost
Quantities
Internal
satisfaction

Simpson et al. (2007)

Carter et al. (1998) and

Bowen et al. (2001)

Krause et al. (2000)

Krause et al. (2000) and

Bowen et al. (2001)

Rao and Holt (2005) and

Daily et al. (2007)

We have improved the environmental reputation of our company.

We have improved the overall environmental performance of our
company.
Most raw materials and parts received are in conformance with
specications.
All raw materials and parts arrive within the delivery date.
Purchasing meets its materials target cost.
The quantity of materials purchased t to the planned quantities.
Customer departments are satised with the service performed by
the purchasing department.

Sanchez-Rodriguez et al.
(2005)

Mean SD

1.91

In the introduction part of this question we focused on green issues.

Please cite this article as: Large, R.O., Gimenez Thomsen, C., Drivers of green supply management performance: Evidence
from Germany. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (2011), doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2011.04.006

R.O. Large, C. Gimenez Thomsen / Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management ] (]]]]) ]]]]]]

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Please cite this article as: Large, R.O., Gimenez Thomsen, C., Drivers of green supply management performance: Evidence
from Germany. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (2011), doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2011.04.006