(Un)ethical Decision-Making in Supply Chains: Understanding the Drivers of Ethical Failure in Operations and Supply Chain Management
DETAILS
Call for Papers
(Un)ethical Decision-Making in Supply Chains: Understanding the Drivers of Ethical Failure in Operations and Supply Chain Management
Journal: International Journal of Operations & Production Management
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Manuscript Submission Opens: 1 December 2026
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 28 February 2027
The International Journal of Operations & Production Management invites submissions for a Special Issue examining why unethical decisions persist in operations and supply chains, despite decades of sustainability initiatives, auditing systems, codes of conduct, certification schemes, and regulatory interventions.
About the Special Issue
Persistent problems such as forced labour, ineffective auditing, symbolic compliance, and gaps between corporate commitments and actual supply chain practices suggest that unethical conduct cannot always be explained simply as a failure of governance or compliance. This Special Issue shifts attention toward the structural, organizational, behavioural, political, and technological conditions that make unethical decisions rational, routine, and persistent.
The issue is particularly timely as supply chains confront new regulatory requirements, geopolitical fragmentation, and rapid adoption of artificial intelligence across procurement, logistics, and supplier management. Rather than concentrating primarily on how supply chains can become more ethical, the Special Issue seeks to identify the causal mechanisms and root conditions that repeatedly produce ethical failures.
Topics of Interest
Submissions may address, but are not limited to:
Structural drivers of unethical supply chain decisions
Macroeconomic pressures and ethical failure
Political drivers of unethical decision-making
Geopolitical pressures on supply chains
Ethical consequences of global sourcing decisions
Organizational drivers of unethical behaviour
Behavioural mechanisms behind unethical decisions
Institutional pressures and ethical compromises
Procurement decision-making and ethical trade-offs
Supply chain managers and ethically compromised decisions
Forced labour and persistent supply chain failures
Sustainability certifications and substantive outcomes
Compliance systems and symbolic conformity
Corporate codes of conduct and organizational decoupling
Effectiveness and limitations of supply chain audits
Ethical implications of supply chain restructuring
EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)
Regulation versus substantive ethical improvement
Technological drivers of unethical decisions
Artificial intelligence in procurement and logistics
AI in supplier management
Algorithmic bias in supply chains
Algorithmic opacity and accountability
Historical data and systemic bias in AI systems
Ethical oversight of emerging technologies
Responsibility, rights, harm, and fairness in supply chains
Research Focus
The Special Issue particularly seeks research addressing the central question:
What makes unethical decisions in modern supply chains rational, routine, and structurally produced?
Contributions are encouraged to move beyond treating unethical conduct solely as a compliance problem and instead investigate the deeper causal mechanisms responsible for persistent ethical failures.
The issue brings together perspectives from:
Operations management
Supply chain management
Business ethics
Technology management
Organization theory
Submission Information
Submission Opens: 1 December 2026
Submission Deadline: 28 February 2027
Manuscripts should be submitted through the International Journal of Operations & Production Management ScholarOne Manuscripts system.
Authors must select “(Un)ethical Decision-Making in Supply Chains: Understanding the Drivers of Ethical Failure in Operations and Supply Chain Management” from the Special Issue options during submission.
Submitted manuscripts must follow the journal's author guidelines, be original, and must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere while under review.
Guest Editors
Frank Wiengarten
ESADE, Spain
Email: frank.wiengarten@esade.edu
Annachiara Longoni
ESADE, Spain
Email: annachiara.longoni@esade.edu
Javier Amaya
ESADE, Spain
Email: Javier.amaya@esade.edu
Anton Shevchenko
Concordia University, Canada
Email: anton.shevchenko@concordia.ca
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