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Call for Papers: Special issue “Sustainability in Retailing”

Introduction

Regarding recent developments such as climate change and shifts towards more conscious consumer behaviour, enhancing sustainability has become important for governments and companies alike. Retailers and their suppliers have to incorporate and enhance the sustainability of their business processes, facing various requests of their stakeholders. Stakeholders mainly considered relevant are consumers, employees, shareholders, governments, communities, and – particularly important in the sustainability context – the environment. Problems within these stakeholder groups might occur due to conflicting targets, for instance economic and ecological aims are in general not easy to bring into agreement. Nevertheless, an insufficient commitment to sustainability might harm the company reputation as recent scandals show. In contrast, a good sustainability commitment might enhance the company’s image.

Relevance of the topic

Along supply chains, retailers have a particular influence on the whole chain due to their gatekeeper position – connecting consumers’ requests with suppliers’ production processes. Considering this significant position, a focus on sustainability in the retail area is worthwhile. Retailers have the power to stimulate sustainability efforts down-stream towards their customers as well as up-stream towards their suppliers. Thereby, they can incorporate sustainability along their supply chains and can support consumers in behaving more sustainably. Besides, they have to consider the requests of their stakeholders in general, trying to fulfil them as good as possible. For instance, clothing retailers have to think about the production methods of their products and need to take care of the compliance of certain regulations and standards. Food retailers offer an increasing assortment of organic and fair trade products to satisfy the requests of their customers. Also, some retailers start producing their own energy by putting solar panels on the roofs of their stores, thereby lowering the environmental impact of their business processes.

The special issue aims to provide a selection of relevant research connected to sustainability in retailing. Papers in the special issue should in particular discuss how retailers can address sustainability aspects in their distribution processes and their business practices, how consumers react to these sustainability initiatives and if these initiatives economically pay off. Papers can address and ideally combine the following perspectives: 1. Retail and distribution management (the retailer’s business practices and processes regarding the collaboration between retailers and suppliers), and 2. Consumer behaviour (outcomes).

Recent research has shown that the issue of sustainability in retailing has been analysed only scarcely so far (Wiese et al., 2012, IJR&DM). A time lag between the consideration of sustainability issues in research and practice can be observed. Hence, a strong research potential exists. Part of these research gaps shall be closed by the special issue. The special issue stimulates further research by addressing research areas in the respective field of sustainability in retailing. Thereby, future research areas are defined. Furthermore, input on theory development and improvement is expected. In addition to the contribution to research, the special issue will yield knowledge on how retailers can improve their sustainability commitment and on how consumers might react on this.

Contents focus

Relevant topics might include, but are not limited to:

Retail and distribution management:

• Sustainability issues in retail operations (e. g. energy use, packaging, waste)
• Sustainability issues in assortment strategies (organic products, fair trade products, local products)
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives
• Communication of sustainability issues
• Supporting customers in more environmentally-friendly behaviour
• Environmental management systems in retailing
• Carbon emissions/CO2 footprint of processes along supply chains
• Cooperation between retailers and stakeholder organisations (e. g. NGOs)
• Motivation and conflicts in supply chains regarding sustainable behaviour
• Information asymmetry and controlling sustainable behaviour of supply chain members

Consumer behaviour:

• Perception and acceptance of retailers’ sustainability efforts among consumers
• Impact of retailers’ sustainability initiatives on retailers’ images and store loyalty
• Customer segments attracted by retailers’ sustainability initiatives and their willingness to pay for sustainability
• Cross-national/-cultural differences in retailers’ sustainability initiatives and their impact on customers

Submission

Submissions in English should be made via ScholarOne Manuscripts, IJRDM’s online submission and peer review system.

Registration and access is available at: . Full information and guidance on using ScholarOne Manuscripts is available at the Emerald ScholarOne Manuscripts Support Centre:

The Full Author Guideline for the journal can be found here:

Submission deadline: March 28, 2014.

Guest Editors

Dr Anne Wiese (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany), Associate Professor Dr Stephan Zielke (Arhus University, Denmark) and Professor Dr Waldemar Toporowski (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany) will be the Guest Editors of this Special Issue.

For more information about the International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management visit the journal homepage.

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