Author

  • Premkumar Rajagopal

    • Malaysia University of Science and Technology, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
    • Malaysia

  • M Selvam

    • Department of Commerce and Financial Studies, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India
    • India

  • Umahdevi Jayamani

    • Logispreneur Academy, Selangor, Malaysia
    • Malaysia

  • Irwan Ibrahim

    • Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, Malaysia
    • Malaysia

  • N.Sureshkumar PP Narayanan

    • University of East London, London, England
    • United Kingdom

  • Veera Pandiyan Kaliani Sundram

    • RIG – Sustainable Supply Chain Logistics / Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA Selangor, Malaysia/ Institute of Business Excellence, UiTM Shah Alam, Malaysia
    • Malaysia

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of ESG metrics, GRI guidelines, and supplier audit frameworks, current approaches to ethical performance measurement in supply chains often lack depth, consistency, and cultural relevance. These tools frequently prioritize investor transparency or compliance checklists while neglecting long-term moral accountability and relational stakeholder impacts. Global supply chains now sprawl across continents and cultures, yet most ethical audits still treat them as static checklists. To close this gap, the study introduces the Supply-Chain Karma Score (SCKS)—a culturally rooted framework that borrows the Eastern idea of karma to track how today’s sourcing decisions echo through tomorrow’s social, environmental, and governance outcomes. The scorecard grades firms across five intertwined arenas: Labour Karma, Planet Karma, Governance Karma, Equity Karma, and Resilience Karma. Each dimension pairs practical metrics with a cause-and-effect timeline, shifting the focus from box-ticking compliance to dynamic, consequence-based accountability. The SCKS stands on three theoretical pillars: stakeholder theory, which expands moral duty beyond shareholders; the Triple Bottom Line, which balances people, planet, and profit; and virtue ethics, which asks who a company becomes when no auditor is watching. By fusing moral philosophy with systems thinking, the framework offers a holistic, scalable way to diagnose ethical risk, benchmark sustainability, and steer strategic procurement. For scholars, the SCKS opens fertile ground for empirical tests of how ethical “karma profiles” influence resilience, reputation, and value creation over time— especially in emerging economies where formal governance is thin. For managers and policymakers, it provides an actionable dashboard that translates lofty values into day-to-day decisions. In turning karma into a measurable construct, this study invites a re-imagining of responsible supply-chain management for an interconnected, ethically complex world.

Keywords

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How to Cite

Rajagopal, P., Selvam, M., Jayamani, U., Ibrahim, I., Narayanan, N. P., & Sundram, V. P. K. (2025). Supply Chain Karma Score (SCKS): A Conceptual Framework for Measuring Ethical Footprint in Global Supply Chains. Information Management and Business Review, 17(2(I)S), 454-466. https://doi.org/10.22610/imbr.v17i2(I)S.4622

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Vol. 17 No. 2(I)S (2025) AI in Audit, Workplace Safety & Digital Consumer Society View issue contents

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2025-08-10

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