Dr Fan Di, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of SFT, together with his co-authors Dr Christian Felix Durach (ESCP Business School, France), Dr Frank Wiengarten (ESADE Business School, Spain), and Dr Veronica Villena (Arizona State University, USA), have been awarded the 2024 Chan Hahn Best Paper Award at the 2024 Academy of Management (AOM) conference. Their groundbreaking paper, "Diffusion of Irresponsible Workplace Practices in Supply Chains: The Chinese Industrial Sector Case", was recognised for its outstanding theoretical contribution to the field of operations and supply chain management (OSCM), methodological rigour, and relevance to managers and practitioners.
This award-winning paper addresses the crucial issue of social sustainability in supply chains, specifically the diffusion of unsafe workplace practices among suppliers in the Chinese industrial sector. The study reveals that when buying firms, especially state-owned enterprises, experience workplace safety lapses, these practices are likely to be mirrored by their suppliers, thus leading to further worker harm. The findings have significant implications for policymakers, industry leaders, and managers who are focused on improving workplace safety standards in global supply chains.
The AOM is one of the world's largest and most prestigious professional association for management and organisation scholars. Its annual conference is a premier event that brings together leading academics and industry experts to discuss the latest developments in management research. The Chan Hahn Best Paper Award, presented by the OSCM Division, is a highly coveted honour, given to the paper that demonstrates the most significant theoretical and practical contributions to the field, evaluated through criteria including methodological rigour, clarity, and managerial relevance. Winning this award is a testament to the high impact of the work of the authors in shaping contemporary OSCM research.
This achievement highlights the global influence and academic leadership of SFT in addressing critical challenges in OSCM.