Sustainable Supplier Selection under Financial Hardships: The Conflicting Impact of Spatial and Temporal Psychological Distances

Economic crises stress trade-offs between costs and sustainability for environmentally orientated firms impacting supply-chain management decisions. Inspired by the disruption to supply caused COVID-19 pandemic, we explore supplier selection during a financial crisis, studying impact of psychological distance on cost–environmental performance trade-off. Across three experiments (N = 420), examine choice low-cost an environmental at close far distances. Study 1 2 demonstrate that closer spatial social distances, respectively, increase preference supplier. 3 extends these studies showing influences perceptions firm’s objectives, mediating preference. In contrast, 4 shows temporal increases selecting supplier, differing from distance, due reversal in appraisal objectives. Taken together, our results provide greater understanding cognitive sustainable procurement decision-making crisis.