An Institutional-Technological Framework for Carbon Footprint Tracking in ASEAN Cross-Border Supply Chains

Abstract

Carbon footprint tracking has become a critical capability for firms in global supply chains, yet adoption remains deeply uneven across ASEAN, and this paper sets out to explain that variation by integrating the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework with institutional theory into a single Institutional-Technological Framework. The framework is developed through a conceptual, non-empirical theory-building approach, grounded in a narrative review of the sustainability-technology adoption, institutional theory, and ASEAN supply chain governance literatures, and complemented by policy and infrastructure data from the ASEAN Secretariat, the Asian Development Bank, and the International Telecommunication Union. The analysis finds that regulative, normative, and cognitive pressures function as upstream institutional forces, while organizational readiness and technological compatibility operate as conditional enablers that determine whether pressure translates into genuine adoption or symbolic compliance; infrastructure readiness, firm size, and supply chain complexity further moderate these relationships and explain divergent adoption trajectories across member states. Eight falsifiable propositions are derived, specifying the conditions under which institutional pressure fails to produce adoption in resource-constrained, emerging-economy contexts. The framework advances TOE theory by embedding legitimacy-seeking mechanisms within its environmental dimension and contributes to institutional theory by specifying when pressures produce behavioral change rather than symbolic response. Practically, the framework informs policy sequencing, supplier capability investment, and the design of buyer-driven carbon disclosure programs across ASEAN’s heterogeneous institutional landscape, offering researchers and policymakers a falsifiable basis for future empirical testing.