Survey finds mixed green supply chain performance associations in Hawassa

A survey-based study of manufacturing firms in Hawassa City, Ethiopia, found that green manufacturing and green distribution practices were significantly associated with higher firm performance, while green reverse logistics had a weaker but still significant positive association. Green procurement showed the opposite pattern, with a significant negative association with performance. The results also identified supply chain ecocentricity as a direct correlate of firm performance and as a factor that strengthened the modeled relationships between green supply chain management practices and performance.

The study examined green supply chain management within a manufacturing-firm population in Hawassa City. Survey data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling, and the research model was grounded in the Natural Resource-Based View and Stakeholder Theory. The statistical results separated the modeled performance associations of green manufacturing, green distribution, green reverse logistics and green procurement rather than treating all environmentally oriented supply chain practices as a single uniform category.

Manufacturing and distribution showed positive performance relationships, reverse logistics was also positively associated but more weakly, and procurement was negatively associated with firm performance in the fitted model. Supply chain ecocentricity accounted for two distinct roles in the analysis. Its direct path was positively associated with firm performance, indicating that the modeled form of ecological orientation within supply chain activity coincided with stronger reported performance.

It also served as a moderator, changing the strength of the relationships between green supply chain management practices and firm performance. In the reported model, this moderating role reinforced the performance associations of environmentally oriented supply chain initiatives. The findings therefore support two related but distinguishable propositions: supply chain ecocentricity was associated with performance on its own, and it was also associated with the strength of the modeled practice–performance relationships.

The results do not show that every green supply chain practice follows the same performance pattern. The significant negative association for green procurement is particularly notable because it contrasts with the positive associations observed for manufacturing, distribution and reverse logistics. Rather, it indicates that the relationship varied across the practices examined in the surveyed Hawassa manufacturing firms.

Because the evidence comes from a survey analyzed with structural equation modeling, the results are best understood as modeled associations rather than proof that green practices or supply chain ecocentricity caused the reported performance levels. The study’s scope is also bounded: its population consisted of manufacturing firms in one Ethiopian city, and the findings concern the specific practices, constructs and statistical relationships included in the research model. Within those limits, the evidence provides a developing-economy case in which the performance associations of green supply chain management were mixed and appeared stronger in models incorporating supply chain ecocentricity.

Subject of Research: Survey analysis of green supply chain practices, supply chain ecocentricity and firm performance among manufacturers in Hawassa City, Ethiopia.

Article Title: Green supply chain management practices and firm performance through the direct and moderating roles of supply chain ecocentricity among manufacturing firms in Hawassa City, Ethiopia

Article References: Yirga, S. A. (2026). Green supply chain management practices and firm performance through the direct and moderating roles of supply chain ecocentricity among manufacturing firms in Hawassa City, Ethiopia. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04792-4

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04792-4

Keywords: green supply chain management, firm performance, supply chain ecocentricity, green manufacturing, green procurement, green distribution, reverse logistics, Hawassa City, Ethiopia, manufacturing firms, Green, supply