Journal article 2026
Production Planning & Control Published online 8 July 2026
Satellite technologies can strengthen social supply chain governance by adding independent, repeated and place-based evidence, but only when those signals are interpreted, verified and connected to meaningful governance action.
Social sustainability risks are often difficult to observe across multi-tier and geographically dispersed supply chains. This research examines how satellite technologies can complement audits, supplier disclosures, traceability systems and other digital tools by providing an external observational layer. It develops the concept of satellite-enabled evidentiary governance, explaining how satellite-derived signals can become useful for governing weakly observable social risks without treating remote sensing as a substitute for worker-centred verification, supplier engagement or remediation.
How can satellite technologies complement existing digital tools to strengthen socially sustainable supply chain governance?
Under what conditions are satellite technologies more or less likely to do so?
The article is a conceptual development study. It synthesizes research on socially sustainable supply chain management, digital supply chain governance and satellite technologies, then integrates three theoretical lenses: socio-technical governance, institutional theory and contingency logic. The resulting framework specifies the evidentiary properties of satellite technologies, the mechanisms through which signals may enter governance, the operational domains in which they can be used and the boundary conditions that limit their contribution.
Their distinctive contribution is not universal transparency or direct detection of social harm. Satellite systems can provide observational independence, synoptic spatial reach, repeated temporal observation and place-based geolocation that complement evidence generated inside the supply chain.
Satellite-enabled evidence can support four governance mechanisms: risk surfacing, prioritization, targeted verification and evidentiary accountability. The signal itself is insufficient; it must be interpreted, triangulated and embedded in organizational and inter-organizational routines.
Satellite-enabled governance is strongest when social risks have spatially inferable correlates, relevant sites or actors can be identified, institutional scrutiny creates demand for credible evidence, and organizations possess verification and remediation capabilities. It is weaker for harms that are relational or hidden within workplaces.
The research shifts the digital supply chain debate from visibility as disclosure toward evidentiary governance. It explains why generating more information is not enough: evidence must be credible, independent, actionable and legitimate before it can strengthen social sustainability governance.
For organizations designing due-diligence systems, the framework provides a disciplined way to decide when satellite technologies are appropriate, which observable traces to use, how to combine them with audits and worker-centred evidence, and how to connect signals to follow-up and remediation rather than symbolic monitoring.
Paravano, A. (2026). How satellites strengthen socially sustainable supply chain governance. Production Planning & Control. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2026.2695694
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