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This study aims to advance a behavioural approach towards understanding how managerial perception impacts the enactment of responses to risk management during the implementation of digital technologies in industrial operations and supply chains. The purpose is to investigate the influence of (digital) technology and task uncertainty on the risk perception of managers and how this impacts risk responses adopted by managers.

Following an exploratory theory elaboration approach, the authors collected more than 80 h of interview material from 53 expert interviews. These interviews were conducted with representatives of 46 German companies that have adopted digital technologies for different industrial applications within manufacturing, assembly and logistics processes.

The findings provide nuanced insights on how individual and combined sources of uncertainty (technology and task uncertainty) impact the perception of decision makers and the resulting managerial responses adopted. The authors uncover the important role played by the interaction between digital technology and human being in the context of industrial operations. The exploratory study shows that the joint collaboration between humans and technologies has negative implications for managerial risk responses regardless of positive or negative perception, and therefore, requires significant attention in future studies.

The empirical base for this study is limited to German companies (mainly small and medium size). Moreover, German culture can be characterised by a high uncertainty avoidance and this may also limit the generalizability of the findings.

Managers should critically revise their perception of different types of digital technologies and be aware of the impact of human-machine interaction. Thereby, they should investigate more systematic approaches of risk identification and assessment.

This paper focuses on the managerial risk responses in the context of digitalisation projects with practical insights of 53 expert interviews.

The purpose of this study is to examine how supply chain strategy affects a firm's sustainability performance and how the strength of that relationship is influenced by managerial authentic leadership (AL) and its associated impact on interorganizational citizenship behavior (ICB).

Building on the intersection of three theories: organizational ambidexterity, AL and ICB, a mediated moderation model is developed and tested using structural equation modeling based on the responses from a cross-sectional survey administered by the authors.

The results reveal that an ambidextrous supply chain strategy is positively related to firm sustainability performance and this relationship is strengthened by AL. Furthermore, this study finds that this moderating relationship is partially mediated by ICB.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first to empirically test the effect of supply chain ambidexterity on sustainability performance by explicitly considering how leadership characteristics can both directly and indirectly affect the efficacy of this relationship. The findings complement existing literature by providing novel insights into the ability of firm supply chain strategy to affect sustainability performance.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant changes in consumer behaviour, which has had a cascading effect on consumer-centric logistics. As a result, this study conducts a focused literature review of pandemic-related consumer behaviour research to address two research questions: 1) what are the pandemic's direct effects on consumer consumption behaviour, with an emphasis on changes in their basic and psychological needs? and 2) what are the consequences of behavioural changes on consumer-centric logistics?

The scientific procedure and rationales for systematic literature review (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol and the theory, context, characteristics and methodology (TCCM) framework were adopted as a guideline to map, refine, evaluate and synthesise the literature. A total of 53 research articles were identified for further analysis.

Using Maslow's hierarchy of human needs as a theoretical guide, this review synthesises the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on consumer behaviour into four categories: abnormal buying behaviour, changes in consumer preferences, digitalisation of shopping behaviour and technology-related behaviour. Furthermore, four consumer-centric logistics propositions are proposed based on the four aspects of consumer behavioural changes.

This study outlines the significant behavioural changes in consumers in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and how these changes impact consumer-centric logistics, with implications for managing consumers' involvement in logistics and pointing out future research directions.

Crowd logistics is a rising phenomenon in last-mile delivery that integrates technological applications and sources a large number of participants to do logistical activities, achieving sustainable shipping in urban environments. However, up until now, there has been limited literature in this field. This research aims to investigate the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that impact the participative behaviour of driver-partners in crowd logistics.

An integrated model is developed based on motivation theory, incorporating attitude as a contributor to both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. A questionnaire was constructed and distributed to collect data from 303 respondents who are existing or potential driver-partners in Vietnam.

Our findings confirm (1) the influence of monetary rewards on extrinsic motivation and (2) the power of self-efficacy, trust and sense of belonging on intrinsic motivation. Further, we find that attitude positively impacts extrinsic motivation, whereas there is no effect between attitude and intrinsic motivation. Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are demonstrated to significantly influence driver-partners' participative intentions. Additionally, a positive association is found between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations.

Findings from this study theoretically enrich the literature on crowd logistics, especially on the supply side, and empirically contribute to implications that are valuable to crowd logistics firms on driver-partner recruitment and business strategy development.

This research paper aims to examine two hybrid models of logistics service quality (LSQ) and its influence on satisfaction, loyalty and future purchase intention in a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce context. This study extends the literature for LSQ by incorporating the second-order assurance quality construct, which comprises personnel contact quality, order discrepancy handling and order returns, into one of the hybrid models.

A survey-based approach is used to collect data. Participant responses to questions concerning multiple LSQ dimensions and behavioral perceptions from their most recent online shopping experience are measured using structural equation modeling.

Findings highlight the importance of including a second-order construct assurance quality as a more explanatory model. Results illustrate that online ordering procedures and assurance quality impact customer satisfaction more than other prominent LSQ dimensions. Furthermore, the findings revealed a customer loyalty is a partial mediator between customer satisfaction and future purchase intention. This underscores the significance of improved logistics services as a competitive edge for e-commerce retailers.

Implications are limited to the e-commerce B2C domain.

The findings of this study underscore critical LSQ dimensions that garner greater satisfaction and retention in the online shopping experience. The results indicate that the effective and efficient handling of the initial order and any order problem significantly influences customer satisfaction and reaps the long-term benefits of customer retention.

The authors present and empirically test a hybrid model of LSQ in a B2C e-commerce domain that captures many of the important elements of the customer experience as espoused in the literature.

This paper aims to explore the conditions in a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) context characterized by new technologies. Innovations enhance disintermediation and pursue sustainability goals that drive customers’ willingness to use eco-friendly delivery options, namely, parcel lockers – in e-commerce and their impacts in terms of communication and transparency along the supply network.

The study conducted an extensive survey in Italy and Germany, collecting 1,010 usable responses. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data with the aim of identifying the factors that drive customers’ willingness to use parcel lockers and the effect on customers’ behaviour as determined by the disclosure of information about the environmental performance of different delivery options.

The results highlight several factors affecting the willingness to use parcel lockers, namely, performance and effort expectancy, social influence, technology anxiety, hedonistic motivation and environmental knowledge. The results also demonstrate that the disclosure of information about the environmental performance of different delivery options influences customers’ behaviour.

This paper faces several limitations, mostly related to the focus on just two countries, the use of cross-sectional data and the survey’s explicit reference to just one type of product. Nevertheless, the findings contribute to the discussion on the relevance of information sharing along the supply chain, providing favourable evidence in this regard. It also improves the stream of research concerning technology adoption in the context of e-commerce, highlighting factors that can lead consumers to use eco-friendly self-service technologies.

The results can support companies in understanding how they can design and manage the last mile of delivery to jointly achieve customer satisfaction, process efficiency and superior environmental performance.

This pioneering contribution studies the adoption of delivery solutions for e-commerce and its implications for the supply network.

To investigate the influence of logistics and transportation workers’ perceptions of their management’s simultaneous safety and operations focus (or lack thereof) on related worker safety and operational perceptions and behaviors.

This multi-method research consisted of two studies. Study 1 aimed to establish correlational relationships by evaluating the impact of individual-level worker perceptions of operationally focused routines (as a moderator) on the relationship between worker perceptions of safety-related routines and workers’ self-reported safety and in-role operational behaviors using a survey. Study 2 aimed to establish causal relationships by evaluating the same conceptual relationships in a behavioral-type experiment utilizing vehicle simulators. After receiving one of four pre-task briefings, participants completed a driving task scenario in a driving simulator.

In Study 1, the relationship between perceived safety focus and safety behavior/in-role operational behavior was strengthened at higher levels of perceived operations focus. In Study 2, participants who received the balanced pre-task briefing committed significantly fewer safety violations than the other 3 treatment groups. However, in-role driving deviations were not impacted as hypothesized.

This research is conducted at the individual (worker) level of analysis to capture the little-known perspectives of logistics and transportation workers and explore the influence of balanced safety and operational routines from a more micro perspective, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of how balanced routines might influence worker behavior when conducting dynamic tasks to ensure safe, effective outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to determine if blockchain-supported carbon offset information provision and shipping options with different cost and environmental footprint implications impact consumer perceptions toward retailers and logistics service providers. Blockchain and carbon neutrality, each can be expensive to adopt and complex to manage, thus getting the “truth” on decarbonization may require additional costs for consumers.

Experimental modeling is used to address these critical and emergent issues that influence practices across a set of supply chain actors. Three hypotheses relating to the relationship between blockchain-supported carbon offset information and consumer perceptions and intentions associated with the product and supply chain actors are investigated.

The results show that consumer confidence increases when supply chain carbon offset information has greater reliability, transparency and traceability as supported by blockchain technology. The authors also find that consumers who are provided visibility into various shipping options and the product's journey carbon emissions and offset – from a blockchain-supported system – they are more willing to pay a premium for both the product and shipping options. Blockchain-supported decarbonization information disclosure in the supply chain can lead to organizational legitimacy and financial gains in return.

Understanding consumer action and sustainable consumption is critical for organizations seeking carbon neutrality. Currently, the literature on this understanding from a consumer information provision is not well understood, especially with respect to blockchain-supported information transparency, visibility and reliability. Much of the blockchain literature focuses on the upstream. This study focuses more on consumer-level and downstream supply chain blockchain implications for organizations. The study provides a practical roadmap for considering levels of blockchain information activity and consumer interaction.