The Effects of Customer Perception and Participation in Sustainable Supply Chain Management: A Smartphone Industry Study

This empirical study aims to identify the relationship between the role of customer and the customer’s perception and participation in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). It also aims to examine the relationships among customer’s perception in the SSCM practices, self–brand connection, trust, purchase intention, and the willingness to pay a price premium. Previous studies were reviewed, and statistical analysis was conducted with reliability and validity tests, correlation analysis, and a structural equation model. A smartphone industry was selected and a total of 367 data were utilized for this empirical study. The analysis results showed that the customer’s perception of a brand’s SSCM has a positive impact on the customer’s self–brand connection and trust prospectively. Customer’s participation in SSCM also had a positive relation to customer’s self–brand connection and to trust. Self–brand connection and trust played mediating roles between the customer’s perception and purchase intention and between the customer’s perception and the willingness to pay a price premium. The same mediating roles of self–brand connection and trust were found between customers’ participation and purchase intention as well as between customers’ participation and the willingness to pay a price premium. This study identifies the roles of customers as end users in sustainable supply chain management. This study provides managerial insights about customers’ perception of SSCM and their participation in it, resulting in better financial outcomes and improved operational excellence.