The COVID-19 pandemic, social sustainability and global supply chain resilience: a review

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-12-2020-0554
• Published date: 10 June 2021
• Date: 10 June 2021
• Pages: 1142-1154
• Subject Matter: Strategy,Corporate governance
• Author: Aymen Sajjad

The COVID-19 pandemic, social

sustainability and global supply

chain resilience: a review

Aymen Sajjad

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the impactsof the COVID-19 pandemic on global

supply chain sustainabilityand provide an important pathway to develop an initial understandingof how

organizationscan develop more resilientand socially sustainable supply chainsin a post-COVID world.

Design/methodology/approach –To gain fresh insights on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemicon

supply chain socialsustainability and resilience issues, an extensiveliterature review was conducted. To

this end, recent scholarly research articles, articles from practitioner journals, magazine articles and

policy documents and reports, as well as blogsand briefings published by international organizations

were criticallyreviewed.

Findings –The findings suggestthat the COVID-19 pandemic has beenassociated with a major shake-

up of global supply chain operations and has contributed to varied sustainability outcomes. While the

pandemic caused reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, it has had serious social

implications for the livelihoods and well-being of workers and their families. The findings further

suggested thatit is imperative for companies to build resilience in theirglobal supply chain operations to

better respond to future shocks and disruptions by adopting strategies such as employee protection

schemes, advanceddigital technologies, diversification,localization and regionalizationand stakeholder

collaboration.

Originality/value –This review paper contributes to emerging global supply chain sustainability

literatureand practice by synthesizing and explicatingthe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply

chain social sustainabilityand resilience. In addition, this paper offers some practicalrecommendations

to enhancethe social sustainability impacts and resilienceof global supply chains in a post-COVID world.

Keywords Collaboration, Resilience, Social sustainability, Diversification,Global supply chains,

COVID-19 pandemic, Localization/regionalization, Digital supply networks

Paper type General review

1. Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic is considered as the most serious global health crisis of our time

and continues to paralyze the economic and social life of most countries. The COVID-19

pandemic is providing strong evidence that social, economic and environmental

sustainability dimensions are inextricably intertwined (Lenzen et al.,2020;Sarkis, 2020).

The pandemic is having devastating social-economic implications for the global population

and economic sectors (Nicola et al.,2020). On the one hand, the pandemic has produced

considerable negative impacts on public health and mental well-being including a higher

level of depression, anxiety, frustration, isolation, anger, post-traumatic stress disorder and

hostility (Paredes et al.,2020). The United Nations (2020) noted that the pandemic is

causing profound pain, misery and anxiety for people across the world. On the other hand,

“the impact [of COVID-19 pandemic] on the global economy has been equally draconian”

(Gereffi, 2020, p. 288) and the World Trade Organization estimates that global trade will

Aymen Sajjad is based at

the School of Management,

Massey University,

Auckland, New Zealand.

Received 14 December 2020

Revised 1 April 2021

8 April 2021

Accepted 10 April 2021

PAGE 1142 jCORPORATE GOVERNANCE jVOL. 21 NO. 6 2021, pp. 1142-1154, ©EmeraldPublishing Limited, ISSN 1472-0701 DOI 10.1108/CG-12-2020-0554