Essays on People-Centric Supply Chains

Abstract

In recent years, attention has increasingly turned to socially sustainable supply chains. However, the people who actually operate and sustain these systems are often overlooked. Supply chains are ultimately built on human labor. They shape, and are shaped by, workers across the globe. Therefore, a people-centered perspective is important in supply chain management. Because supply chains are deeply embedded in daily life, they have the capacity to generate meaningful social impacts across diverse contexts, regardless of geography or economic conditions. This dissertation addresses that gap through a series of three essays that focus on the individuals who make up global supply chains, contributing to the broader literature on social sustainability and exploring the human dimension at the core of modern supply chain systems. The first essay examines the role of loan tagging, highlighting the purpose or cause of a loan, on online crowdfunding microfinance platforms. It explores how these tags help lenders navigate the large number of funding options. The analysis focuses on how both the number of tags and the emotional tone of loan descriptions influence funding outcomes. Results show that increasing the number of tags improves funding performance. Also, the emotional tone does not significantly moderate this relationship. Overall, the essay suggests that tagging serves as an important design feature in platform-based lending systems. By reducing the friction created by too many choices, tags help address the “tyranny of choice” that can arise when lenders are faced with an overwhelming set of options. The second essay looks at how changes in regulation that allow faster production speeds affect worker safety in high-intensity environments. Drawing on Sociotechnical Systems Theory, it investigates whether higher allowable line speeds influence both the number and severity of workplace injuries. The results suggest that plants allowed to run at higher line speeds experienced lower rates of both injury incidence and injury severity. Also, it finds evidence that operational intensity moderates these relationships. The evidence indicates that greater production flexibility through the option to operate at greater production speeds does not necessarily come at the expense of worker safety. The third essay looks at worker well-being through the context of food insecurity. Specifically, it asks if higher rates of food insecurity lead to more workplace injuries. Also, it explores whether industry and the number of hours worked moderate this relationship. The results indicate that food insecurity does not significantly impact workplace injuries. While this relationship is not statistically significant, the findings suggest that workplace safety may be shaped more by organizational and operational factors than by community-level food insecurity alone.