This study was aimed at examining the effect of sustainable production management practices (SPMPs) on the environmental, social, and economic performances of clothing manufacturing companies in Ethiopia and their competitive advantages. The purposive sampling technique was employed to select clothing manufacturing companies located in Addis Ababa and Hawassa cities, Ethiopia. The sites were selected because of the availability of a relatively larger number of clothing manufacturing companies in industry parks. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 274 participants selected purposively. Furthermore, 28 top and middle‐level managers of clothing manufacturers were interviewed, and 18 clothing manufacturing companies were checked through checklists. Covariance‐based structural equation modeling was employed to test hypotheses. The findings indicated that SPMPs have a significant impact on the environmental performance and competitive advantages of the case industry. In addition, environmental performance had a significant impact on competitive advantages. However, SPMPs had an insignificant influence on economic and social performances, and economic and social performances also had an insignificant impact on competitive advantages. The findings provide insights for policymakers and managers of clothing manufacturing companies, indicating the environmental good practices and the social and economic intervention areas to improve the competitiveness of the clothing industry in Ethiopia.
Bizuneh et al. (Thu,) studied this question.