Driving green procurement in a developing country: The roles of corporate environmental ethics, environmental training, and top management commitment

Abstract

Green procurement expands firms’ possibilities to contribute to environmental sustainability goals in supply chains, although knowledge of its drivers remains underdeveloped in developing countries. This research extends the literature on corporate environmental ethics to green procurement by developing a conceptual model, which posits that environmental training mediates the link between these variables under varying top management commitment conditions. The study’s hypotheses are tested on survey data from 189 firms in Ghana. The results indicate that corporate environmental ethics does not directly relate to green procurement. Additional results suggest that corporate environmental ethics is a significant driver of green procurement if channeled through environmental training. Furthermore, the study finds that the contribution of environmental training to green procurement is amplified in firms where top managers demonstrate a strong commitment to environmental issues. Accordingly, this article presents insights into how firms in developing countries can leverage environmental ethics to pursue green procurement objectives.