Investigation of the influential strength of factors on adoption of green supply chain management practices: An Indian mining scenario

Rapid industrial development that leads to economic growth and massive employment generation needs intense support from mining industries which act as a downstream supply chain partner for an industry. The counter side of intensive and unregulated mining activities is the massive waste generation and environmental degradation. Waste produced by mining industries is acquired by their upstream supply chain partners. So, there is a growing pressure on mining companies to enhance their ecological performance. In this regard, green supply chain management (GSCM), emerged as an environmental strategy that not only improves the environmental performance of individual organizations, but also that of the entire supply chain which has also been accepted by industries. However, an exception is observed in the case of the mining industries in India. This can be attributed to the poor understanding of the involved factors. Hence, an attempt is made here to identify the drivers of GSCM and extract the causal relationship among them through the use of decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL). Further, the strength of influence of these drivers on each other as also on the entire system is investigated to prioritize the drivers according to their influential strength. The results of the study, explore 'top management commitment' and 'competitiveness' as the two most important drivers whereas 'employee pressure' is the least important driver.