The state of corporate sustainability due diligence in sustainable supply chain management practices – A social perspective

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDD) Directive, effective in the EU from 2027, mandates businesses to conduct extensive human rights due diligence in their supply chains, particularly concerning labour issues. This paper examines the relationship between CSDD and Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) Practices, and in doing so, explains how CSDD can be understood as a process within SSCM. A systematic, content-analysis-based review of 70 peer-reviewed articles, using contingency analysis, highlights the association between CSDD and SSCM practices. Key findings include a reliance on codes of conduct and auditing as the main drivers for ensuring supplier compliance with working condition standards. However, over-reliance on auditing to identify and track the management of labour abuses in focal firm supply chains is problematic, given widely documented issues with the reliability of audit reports in global supply chains. Through the lens of institutional theory, decoupling was identified at the supplier level in the form of mock compliance, and at the focal firm level through the deployment of strategic ambiguity in reporting practices. To enhance supplier compliance with social standards, the study recommends partner development programs and engaging in joint problem-solving to address the root causes of the violations. The findings of this study highlight significant gaps in the literature, emphasising the need for further research on human rights in the supply chain management field.