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1. Introduction
More recently, the issue of sustainability has become a very important subject in the domain of manufacturing industries across the globe. Consequently, manufacturing firms that previously focused on only economic gains are steadily appreciating the need to protect the environment via the implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) initiatives (Chin et al., 2015). One of the significant SSCM initiatives that has been on the agenda of researchers, ethicists, strategists and practitioners is the concept of green manufacturing practices (GMPs) (Ghosh, 2017).
GMPs can be delineated as the adoption of manufacturing practices that do not have negative consequences on the environment. They involve the conscious integration of environmental management initiatives during a product's life cycle and cover critical manufacturing issues such as the design of green products with reusable and recyclable content, pollution control and environmental protection, environmental regulatory compliance and waste management, just to mention a few (Rehman et al., 2016). GMPs are rooted in the idea that manufacturing firms in their quest to satisfy customer demands generate hazardous substances; hence, it behooves on them to know their acceptable level of pollution on natural resources, stakeholders and the environment at large (Maruthi and Rashmi, 2015).
The contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector to national development cannot be understated. According to Asare (2014), Ghanaian SMEs in the manufacturing sector provide about 85% of manufacturing employment. But in spite of this significant contribution, there is a gloomy picture which clouds Ghana's manufacturing industry in so far as the environmental impact of the sector is concerned. From 2008 to 2011, the contribution of the manufacturing sector to gross domestic product (GDP) was approximately 1.7%; however, the environmental cost of the sector was about 10% of GDP (UNEP, 2013). The same United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report highlighted that the manufacturing subsector is the highest contributor of greenhouse gas in Ghana (UNEP, 2013). On the backdrop of this situation, the onus, therefore, lies on Ghanaian manufacturing firms to consider going “green” via the adoption of GMPs to offset a higher percentage of this environmental cost, while at the same time enhance environmental, social and economic performance.
However, firms' decision to adopt green initiatives such as GMPs may yield...