A Study on the Determinants of Stakeholders Influencing the Level of Green SCM Adoption by Manufacturing SMEs: Moderating Effect of ISO 14001 Data Implementation Period

Recently, changes in the export environment are expanding the scope of mandatory environment in the eco-friendly distribution and logistics sector. Accordingly, domestic small and medium-sized export manufacturing companies are also included in the list of external stakeholder pressure on the implementation of an eco-friendly system for sustainable operation. Therefore, it is necessary to derive stakeholder determinants that affect the level of Green SCM adoption in the distribution and logistics sector of domestic small and medium-sized export manufacturing companies and present their eco-friendly management strategy directions. Based on Freeman’s stakeholder model, the purpose of our paper is to analyze how it affects the level of introduction of Green SCM by deriving stakeholder factors of small and medium-sized export manufacturers, and to analyze the significance of the moderating effect by conducting a multiple group analysis on the ISO 14001 data implementation period. To this end, our study distributed the questionnaire designed through pending research and in-depth interviews with experts to workers of domestic distribution logistics small and medium-sized export manufacturing companies, and used member lists of the Carbon Convergence Industry Research Association, Korea Trade Association, and professional trading companies to secure objectivity and reliability of samples. The analysis results of our study are as follows. First, the threat of government regulation had a negative (-) effect on the level of Green SCM adoption. Similar results were derived from studies by Xue et al. (2021) and Li et al. (2019) in that the stronger government regulations, the more negatively they affect corporate decision-making and performance. Second, supplier cooperation had a positive (+) effect on the level of Greem SCM adoption. These results are similar to the studies of Kitsis & Chen (2021), Park Chan-kwon, etc. (2019), and the higher the level of awareness of supplier cooperation, the higher the level of Green SCM adoption. Third, community responsibility had a positive (+) effect on the level of Green SCM adoption. This was similar to the study of Khosroshahi et al. (2021) in that small and medium-sized export manufacturing companies have an environmental responsibility as a member of the community and introduce eco-friendly management to contribute to the community. Fourth, the ISO 14001 data implementation period showed a significant moderating effect in the relationship between supplier cooperation and Green SCM adoption level. As a result, it was confirmed that the longer the ISO 14001 data implementation period, the higher the level of adoption through continuous eco-friendly activities to maintain eco-friendly certification.