Analysing the barriers to corporate social responsibility in supply chains: an interpretive structural modelling approach

The purpose of this paper is to identify barriers to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in supply chains and understand their mutual relationships. Interpretive structural modelling was applied to present a hierarchy-based model and identify the contextual relationships among these barriers. The research shows that not all barriers to CSR in supply chain require the same amount of attention. There exists a group of barriers that have high driving power and low dependence, requiring maximum attention, and are of strategic importance and another group that has a high dependence but low driving power. This classification will help supply chain managers to differentiate between independent and dependent variables and further help them to focus on those variables that are most important for the transformation of the supply chain in a socially responsible entity.