The Role of Digital Technologies in Enhancing Social Sustainability in International Supply Chains

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainability is playing a steadily increasing role in international logistics and supply chain management. The focus is mostly on ecological aspects (that are often in line with the economic dimension of sustainability), while social aspects of sustainability are comparatively rarely taken into account. However, the consideration of social sustainability aspects plays an important role in the implementation of a holistic sustainability approach. Social sustainability focuses on people and includes compliance with human rights and ensuring appropriate working conditions (e.g., avoiding exploitation as well as child and forced labor). Although the topic has tended to be pursued with less emphasis by companies in recent decades, it is increasingly coming into focus, particularly in the wake of the development of supply chain laws in various countries (see also Supply Chain Act and Modern Slavery Act). Companies need to be prepared to gain more transparency about their supply chain networks, and recent research approaches can assist to achieve that.

In the area of sustainable supply chain management, digital solutions are also increasingly being used as tools to increase efficiency and quality. For example, there are various pilot projects in which blockchain technology is used to check working conditions along the supply chain. Artificial Intelligence (i.e., machine learning) approaches are also being developed that seek to leverage the potential of big data in achieving more socially sustainable supply chains.

This Special Issue seeks to contribute to the discussion about the potentials of digital technolgies in LSCM to enhance social sustainability in logistics and supply chain management. Authors are cordially invited to submit original research papers, review articles, and empirical studies to this Special Issue of Sustainability until 31 December 2021 as long as they aim at researching modern technologies and their contribution to social sustainability in supply chains. Qualitative as well as quantitative research approaches are welcome. Manuscripts or papers can be submitted on the following topics:

• Current challenges and barriers to achieving socially sustainable supply chains;
• Investigations on the potential of modern technologies contributing to achieving socially sustainable supply chains;
• Technology utilization to enhance transparency in supply chains as an enabler to ensure compliance with social standards;
• Application area of artificial intelligence to detect, mitigate or eradicate social issues in the supply chain;
• Supply Chain Act (Modern Slavery Act) and the role of technologies contributing to more supply chain transparency across all the stakeholders involved;
• The role of blockchain technology on the future pathway of social supply chain management;
• Can the social supply chain also be a cost-efficiency one?
• Technology-oriented multistakeholder approaches in social supply chain management;
• And all other research articles that contribute to the interplay of modern technologies and social supply chain management.

This list is not exhaustive. Other articles in the field of social sustainability and technolgy in LSCM are highly welcome. We look forward to your submissions.

Dr. Benjamin Nitsche
Mr. Peter Verhoeven
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• social sustainability
• corporate social responsibility (CSR)
• transparency
• logistics and supply chain management
• digitization
• blockchain
• artificial intelligence
• supply chain 4.0
• process automation