Technology-enhanced auditing: Improving veracity and timeliness in social and environmental audits of supply chains

Social and environmental audits (SEA) in supply chains prove to be difficult: costly, administratively challenging, retrospective and often lacking veracity and timeliness. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of technology (such as blockchain, satellite imaging and others) in improving the veracity and timeliness of SEA in supply chains. We develop conceptualizations of veracity and timeliness appropriate to the SEA context. We also link veracity and timeliness to key steps in the auditing process (data collection, recording and sharing, and analysis and interpretation) and explore technology's role in these steps. We then contrast the traditional audit process to a technology-enhanced audit process and develop an organizing framework to generate a research agenda linking technology-enhanced auditing to veracity and timeliness of the audit process, and, in turn, enhancing social and environmental supply chain performance. The novelty and value of our work lie in its exploration of how technology-enhanced auditing relates to (1) issues related to scope/focus, firm motivations for SEA, and governance of the audit function, (2) three conditions under which the benefits of technology-enhanced audits are most likely, (3) the 4 V's of data (volume, variety, velocity/timeliness and veracity); and (4) possible mechanisms by which veracity and timeliness affect social and environmental performance in the supply chain. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.