Leveraging industry standards to improve the environmental sustainability of a supply chain

This paper examines how the use of industry standards enable knowledge sharing, process integration, environmental collaboration, and control among supply chain partners, which eventually contribute to the environmental performance of the firms. Survey data were collected from 205 firms in China that implemented RosettaNet standards. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses related to our research model. The results show that the use of industry standards enhances environmental collaboration and control between supply chain partners, mainly by improving interorganizational knowledge sharing and process integration. In turn, engaging in environmental collaboration and control with supply chain partners improves environmental performances of firms. Further, our empirical analysis indicates that participation in standards consortia positively moderates the effects of industry standards use on knowledge sharing and process integration.