Purpose

The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (GSCDDA), as a comprehensive regulation for due diligence in supply chains, will exert profound pressure on companies’ sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). This study aims to examine the affected stakeholders’ polarizing expectations stemming from the GSCDDA, the resulting impacts on SSCM and how these findings compare with theoretical SSCM developments.

Design/methodology/approach

From 5,490 GSCDDA posts on X (formerly “Twitter”), the authors extracted 556 qualitative posts illustrating the GSCDDA discourse and analyzed them from a stakeholder perspective. The posts were classified according to the dimensions of stakeholder groups and expectations (i.e. challenges and opportunities). The authors then synthesized the posts across these dimensions and compared the identified expectations with the SSCM literature.

Findings

Seven stakeholder groups were identified, along with nine challenges (e.g. legal flaws) and four opportunities (e.g. increased transparency). The synthesis of both components revealed highly discussed and conflicting expectations. The theoretical SSCM developments partly differ from the discourse, indicating discernible gaps between theory and practice

Practical implications

Identifying key stakeholder groups supports building synergies between GSCDDA implementers and stakeholders to tackle their challenges and reinforce opportunities.

Originality/value

Due to the growing prevalence of supply chain due diligence regulations, it is essential to consider the legal implications for SSCM. This study explores the link between due diligence concepts and SSCM, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze how legal pressure shapes stakeholders’ expectations on companies’ SSCM.

中文翻译：

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德国供应链尽职调查法案：从利益相关者的角度对可持续供应链管理的影响

 目的

德国供应链尽职调查法案（GSCDDA）作为供应链尽职调查的综合性法规，将对企业的可持续供应链管理（SSCM）产生深远的压力。本研究旨在探讨受影响的利益相关者因 GSCDDA 产生的两极分化期望、对 SSCM 产生的影响以及这些发现如何与理论 SSCM 发展进行比较。

设计/方法论/途径

作者从 X（以前称为“Twitter”）上的 5,490 个 GSCDDA 帖子中提取了 556 个说明 GSCDDA 讨论的定性帖子，并从利益相关者的角度对其进行了分析。这些帖子根据利益相关者群体的规模和期望（即挑战和机遇）进行分类。然后，作者综合了这些维度的帖子，并将确定的期望与 SSCM 文献进行了比较。

 发现

确定了七个利益相关者群体，以及九个挑战（例如法律缺陷）和四个机遇（例如增加透明度）。两种成分的合成揭示了备受讨论且相互矛盾的期望。 SSCM 的理论发展与论述部分不同，表明理论与实践之间存在明显差距

 实际影响

确定关键利益相关者群体有助于在 GSCDDA 实施者和利益相关者之间建立协同作用，以应对挑战并抓住机遇。

 原创性/价值

由于供应链尽职调查法规的日益普及，有必要考虑 SSCM 的法律影响。本研究探讨了尽职调查概念与 SSCM 之间的联系，据作者所知，这是第一项分析法律压力如何影响利益相关者对公司 SSCM 期望的研究。