Configurational pathways for technology-enabled ESG value creation in global supply chains

ESG issues are increasingly critical in the business landscape, with mounting institutional and stakeholder pressures driving firms’ ESG activity. Deploying digital technologies can enhance ESG performance. This study conceptualizes and empirically tests a Technology-Enabled ESG Integration Framework, which explains how firms integrate Industry 4.0 and 5.0 technologies into global supply chain operations to enhance ESG performance. Using twelve case studies from the textiles, apparel, and luxury goods sector, we apply fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to examine multiple pathways that lead to strong ESG outcomes. The quality of ESG-focused technology integration, rather than the breadth of adoption, drives ESG performance, and technologies only generate ESG impact when strategically aligned with human-centric and dimension-specific objectives. Findings also highlight the central role of feedback mechanisms and configurational logic, revealing that different capability combinations can produce equivalent outcomes, and that integrated feedback systems are essential for sustaining ESG performance in global supply chains.