Bridging Institutional Pressures and Critical Raw Material Supply Risk: The Mediating Role of Green Supply Chain Practices

The ongoing transition towards a sustainable and digitally integrated economy has been shown to have a significant impact on demand for critical raw materials (CRMs), essential for strategic industries such as automotive, aerospace, defense, and renewable energy. However, geopolitical instability, dependency on limited suppliers, and sustainability challenges are exacerbating the risks associated with CRM supply. While strategic actions undertaken by governments to deal with CRMs such as legislation, rules etc. (i.e., institutional pressures) play a successful role in reducing CRM supply risk, there still be scarce evidence of how this mechanism may act. In the context of CRM, institutional pressures often encourage firms to adopt green supply chain practices, but there is still a paucity of research on the effectiveness of these practices in mitigating CRM supply risks. The present study integrates institutional theory and resource dependence theory to develop a conceptual model that investigates whether green supply chain practices mediate the relationship between institutional pressures and CRM supply risks. This research contributes theoretically and practically, highlighting green supply chain practices as underlying mechanisms through which institutional pressures influence the mitigation of CRM supply risks.