Abstract:
Real sustainability encompasses three dimensions, i.e., economic, environmental,
and social, and these three dimensions are commonly termed as Triple Bottom Line.
Since the main objective of business organizations is profit maximization, economic
sustainability can be identified as the widely considered dimension of sustainability.
Many scholars have carried out their studies giving major attention to environmental
and economic practices, and thus far, the social pillar has been received less
consideration in literature, especially in developing countries. Therefore, the present
research study makes an effort to investigate the extent of social practices used by
manufacturing companies and assess sustainability performance in order to social
sustainability practices followed by manufacturing companies. To address this issue
through a quantitative study, data was collected using a questionnaire survey from
88 apparel manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka. A PLS structural equation
modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings indicate that both internal and
external social sustainability practices positively impact on all sustainable
performance, i.e., economic, environmental, and social. Further external social
sustainability practices show a relatively higher impact on firm performance. Social
practices as a dimension of sustainability enable organizations to motivate their
employees, satisfy their customers, and gain goodwill among the general public.
Since the contribution of people is essential to achieve all triple bottom line
performance, social practices can play a vital role in motivating the personnel to get
their contribution for achieving sustainability goals in supply chains.
