Investigating enablers to improve transparency in sustainable food supply chain using F-BWM

Abstract

Food Supply Chains (FSC) are complex and dynamic in behavior and prone to increasing risks of unsustainability. Consumers increasingly demand food quality, safety, and sustainability, which are fast becoming issues of great importance in FSC. Lack of real-time information sharing and connectivity among stakeholders make these issues tougher to mitigate. Supply chain transparency (SCT) is thus an essential attribute to manage these supply chain complexities and enhance the sustainability of FSC. The paper identifies and analyses key enablers for SCT in FSC. Several technical, as well as sustainability-related enablers, contribute to the implementation of SCT. The identified enablers are analyzed using Fuzzy-best worst methodology (F-BWM), which determine the most critical factors using the decision maker’s opinion. Extending BWM with fuzzy logic incorporates the vagueness of human-behaviour into decision making approach. The results of this research provides decision makers with the priority of enablers to the decision maker. Enhancing these enablers in will help improve the transparency for better management of FSC. The article expands upon the practical as well as theoretical implications of SCT on sustainability in FSC. It addresses the requirement of including sustainability in the decision-making process. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the F-BWM for the decision making process. The study is conducted by considering downstream supply chain activities in Indian context. It is one of the first studies that analyzes SCT enablers using F-BWM method in Indian context. The study contributes towards improving the environmental, economical, and social sustainability of FSC. © 2021, The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.