Sustainable supplier selection factors and supply chain performance in the Nigerian healthcare industry

Abstract

Background: There has been considerable effort amongst commercially-oriented services firms towards achieving sustainable supplier selection. However, little is known about the specific sustainability factors employed by healthcare supply chain managers when selecting medical materials vendors in developing economies, and the impact that such selection approaches has on the buying firm’s performance. Objective: This study examines the sustainability factors mostly considered by Nigerian healthcare supply chain managers in their supplier selection processes. It further assesses the supply chain performance impact of the identified sustainable supplier selection factors. Methodology: The study adopted a quantitative survey approach to randomly collect and analyse primary data from a large sample of 116 logistics and supply chain executives in 58 healthcare organisations in Nigeria. The descriptive scores (mean and standard deviation) were summarised and used to estimate the relationship among variables. Results: Overall, the results suggest that economic sustainability towers above other sustainability factors for the selection of healthcare suppliers in the context of this study. In addition, economically sustainable supplier selection correlates strongly and positively with supply chain performance, while social sustainability supplier selection had moderate correlation with performance. Conclusion: Based on these findings, it is our conclusion that most healthcare supply chain managers in Nigeria attaches importance to economic sustainability factors in their supplier selection process than environmental and social sustainability factors. Keywords: sustainability; supplier selection; procurement; triple-bottom-line; sustainable supply chain management.