Circular supply chain practices and corporate sustainability performance: do ethical supply chain leadership and environmental orientation make a difference?

PurposeThis study draws insight from the leader-member exchange theory to examine the link between supply chain ethical leadership and circular supply chain practices. This study further draws on the contingent theory to explore the interactive effect of environmental orientation and circular supply chain practices on corporate sustainability performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a quantitative research approach where partial least square structural equation modelling (SMART PLS) is used to analyse survey data gathered from 122 managers of small and medium enterprises in Ghana.FindingsThis study reports that there is a significant positive relationship between ethical supply chain leadership and circular supply chain practices. The findings further reveal that internal environmental orientation and external environmental orientation moderate the relationship between circular supply chain practices and corporate sustainability performance.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on ethical supply chain leadership's influence on circular supply chain practices. The study also offers an empirical argument to explain contradictory relationships between circular supply chain practices and corporate sustainability performance by applying the contingency roles of internal and external environmental orientation.