A framework for supply chain sustainability in service industry with Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Supply chain sustainability has attracted less attention in the Arab world compared to the western countries. There is dearth in existing research on this topic, particularly in service organizations, and techniques of sustainability are in the development stages compared to manufacturing companies. The typical challenge that is faced by organizations in this regard is how to be productive and profitable while being sustainable. This study identifies and consolidates various relevant factors to develop a Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) construct conducive to service supply chains. To this end, a comprehensive framework of sustainability measurement has been developed through successive stages of data collection, analysis and refinement. Data has been collected from major service companies in the Abu Dhabi area. The outcome of this research is a set of reliable, valid and unidimensional first order measurements that can be subsequently used in conceptualization and measurement of the sustainability of supply chains in service industries. This contributes to the continuing research of supply chain sustainability and provides supply chain managers with a practical approach for measuring and implementing sustainability practices across service supply chains.