Transition management theory-based policy framework for analyzing environmentally responsible freight transport practices

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126209Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Environmentally responsible transport practices (ERTPs) classification based on transition management theory.

  • Grey clustering algorithm is used to identify high priority ERTPs.

  • VIKOR method is used to prioritize important ERTPs.

  • Sensitivity analysis of results show the proposed model robustness.

  • Managerial implication of research is presented.

Abstract

The freight transport industry of developing nations are trying very hard to achieve environmental sustainability in their logistics business. Meanwhile, it is essential to identify the transformation path towards sustainable freight transport for every nation. This paper has presented a framework based on transition management (TM) theory to identify, classify, and measure the important environmentally responsible transport practices (ERTPs). This work utilizes a two-step methodology comprised of a grey clustering (GC) algorithm and a compromise ranking method, i.e., VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) for prioritization of ERTPs performance. The GC algorithm is used to classify the ERTPs based on their impact on selected transport processes. Initially, this study identifies thirty-five ERTPs and four transport performance clusters. The proposed framework is validated with the Indian freight transport industry. The GC algorithm classifies twenty-one and fourteen practices as a high priority and moderate priority, respectively. The VIKOR method is used to compute the group utility, individual regret, and possibility value of high priority ERTPs. The ERTPs such as developing efficient freight terminal, compliance with government transport emission law and practice, promoting the use of the green container, environmental certification of freight carriers, and using alternative fuels are found as poor performing practices in the Indian freight transport industry. The proposed decision model robustness is tested with the sensitivity analysis, and a final ranking of the high priority ERTPs is presented. The outcomes of this research help logistics practitioners and policymakers in managing the ERTPs of freight logistics systems and develop a roadmap for improving freight transport sustainability.

Introduction

Over the last two decades, increasing freight demand has been put high pressure on supply chain companies to improve their logistical performance and reduce environmental and social externalities (Kumar and Anbanandam, 2020a). Freight logistics operations have been cause various externalities, such as air pollution, noise, accidents, and visual intrusion (Demir et al., 2015). In addition to this, transport activities are responsible for 15 percent of the total greenhouse gas emission (GHG) globally (OCED, 2010) and increase with the growth of nations’ GDP (International Energy Agency (IEA), 2014). The negative impact of transport activities can be reduced by promoting green transport practices and adopting environmental sustainability practices (Ezra and Lembrikov, 2014). Sustainable freight transport practices are significantly contributing to the economic and social development of any nation (Shankar et al., 2019). On the other side of transport development, freight transportation’s adverse effects on climate change have to be accounted for and need policymakers’ attention (Parikh, 2012).

To promote sustainable freight transport practices, companies need to incorporate environmentally sustainable freight transport practices in their organizational goal (Bask and Rajahonka, 2017). The freight transportation activities are one of the major sources of GHGs emission and energy consumption (He et al., 2017) and required to focus on logistics industry environmental performance (Kim and Han, 2011). The environmental dimension of sustainability involves all activities and decisions related to minimizing the impact of a company’s logistical activities (Oberhofer and Dieplinger, 2014).

The role of freight shippers and transport firms plays a vital role in improving the freight logistics process (Evangelista et al., 2017; Kumar and Anbanandam, 2020a) and can consider as a source of competitive advantage (Orji et al., 2019). The environmental impact of the freight transportation industry is less focused compared to the manufacturing industries (Behrends, 2017; Kiani Mavi et al., 2019; Sureeyatanapas et al., 2018), and limited attention has been paid to addressing the environmental impact of freight transportation (Ellram and Golicic, 2015). Also, an improvement in transport-related sustainability has been recognized as an initiative in response to the global climate change agenda (Shiau and Liu, 2013). The environmental sustainability practices adopted in the freight transport industry would improve the overall sustainability of any supply chain process. This paper tries to identify the important environmental sustainability practices and their impact on transport processes to improve the overall sustainable operations in the freight logistics industry of any emerging economy.

Environmentally responsible transport (ERT) is broadly defined as a transportation system that provides effective and efficient use of natural resources, a combination of multiple transport modes, reduces fossil fuel use, and the adoption of modern transport technologies (Ellram and Golicic, 2016). The ERTPs adoption is a great challenge for logistics service providers and freight shippers due to the scarcity of a holistic research framework (Bask et al., 2016; Ellram and Golicic, 2016; Kumar and Anbanandam, 2020b). Choudhary et al. (2015) highlighted the importance of carbon reduction policies (such as carbon taxes, carbon cap, and carbon offset on reducing transport emission) to improve the freight transport system’s environmental sustainability. Hence, to reduce freight transportation’s negative impact, freight transport organizations should make more considerable effort to reduce transport externalities (Chakraborty et al., 2014). Most of the developing and logistics policymakers fail to incorporate the ERTPs in their freight transport processes due to the uncertainty and adequate environmental policy framework (Evangelista, 2014). The holistic sustainability policy documents and initiatives from freight shippers, transport firms, and transport stakeholders are still weak.

The sustainability practices adoption and monitoring require a long-term vision and policy document. Sustainability issues of socio-technical systems such as transportation, energy, and food production require substantial changes and system innovation (Markard et al., 2012). The long term sustainability practices assessment of transport and energy processes are significantly driven by transition management (TM) theory (Noboa and Upham, 2018; Shum, 2017). The TM theory helps to formulate coherence and consistency in public policy and can be the spur to sustainable development (Ceschin and Gaziulusoy, 2016; Noboa and Upham, 2018; Rotmans et al., 2001). Pålsson and Kovács (2014) have been an early attempt to address the challenges of ERTPs adoption in the freight logistics business. They found that a company’s internal motives for environmental sustainability may differ from company to company. Most of the emerging economies freight transport organizations are facing numerous challenges for adopting ERTPs in their business processes (Bask et al., 2016). In contrast, the developed economies’ freight transport companies are having institutional pressure for adopting ERTPs (Evangelista et al., 2017). Cantor et al. (2013) has been discussed the role of individuals and organizations to achieve environmental sustainability and discuss the need for sustainability practices in the freight transport business. Still, the role of transition management theory on ERTPs adoption has seldom been discussed. There is a dearth of study that proposes an ERTPs based framework for improving the freight transport industry’s environmental sustainability. This scientific gap has to answer through an environmentally responsible transport practice research framework. This research is based on following two essential research questions;

  • What are the environmental responsibilities of the freight logistics processes?

  • What are the important environmentally responsible practices for the freight logistics industry, and how policymakers or LSPs would consider their degree of importance in their sustainability agenda?

To answer the above research questions, this study is the first attempt to develop an ERTPs assessment framework for the freight transport industry. The present study elucidates to fill the research gap by proposing the following objectives;

  • To identify environmentally responsible transport practices based on transition management theory.

  • To develop a decision framework for analyzing the impact of ERTPs on selected transport processes.

  • To Classify the ERTPs based on their priority using a grey clustering algorithm.

  • To prioritize the high importance ERTPs by using a compromise multicriteria decision-making method, i.e., VIKOR.

The above objectives utilize TM theory’s concept to identify the ERTPs used in the freight transportation industry. A list of ERTPs is identified with a critical literature review and a semi-structured interview with the freight industry experts. The importance and impact of the ERTPs are computed by using the grey clustering algorithm, and prioritization of the most influential ERTPs is done with the VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method. The VIKOR method is a multicriteria decision-making method that focuses on compromise ranking and selecting the best alternative from a set of alternatives under conflicting criteria (Opricovic and Tzeng, 2007). The VIKOR method is mostly compared with the TOPSIS method, and both the methods used their aggregation function and normalization process, but the VIKOR method is capable of incorporating the decision making risk under multiple scenarios (Zhang and Wei, 2013). The detailed computation steps are presented in Section 3.

The rest of the paper is arranged in the following way. Section 2 elucidates the literature review on transition management theory and environmental sustainability practices used in the freight industry. Section 3 presents the solution methodology. The validation of the proposed research framework and computational analysis are presented in section 4. Section 5 shows the result discussion and implication of the study. The conclusion and limitations of the present work are presented in Section 6.

Section snippets

Literature review

The present section highlights the importance of transition management theory in sustainable development and literature related to the freight transport system’s environmental sustainability. The seminal work in sustainable freight transportation is considered for the review purpose and used the following search protocol. The keywords such as “freight logistics,” “freight transport,” “green freight,” “environmental freight sustainability,” “sustainability measure∗,“sustainable freight

Methodology

This paper utilizes the integration of grey system theory with a clustering algorithm and the VIKOR method. Professor Julong Deng developed a grey system theory in the year 1985. It is the best modeling approach when the information is uncertain, unquantifiable, and incomplete (Golinska et al., 2015). The grey clustering method is derived from grey system theory (Liu and Lin, 2010) that helps decision-makers in a way to check the similarities of the group indices without losing the decision

Empirical validation of the proposed framework

The proposed research framework is validated by taking the case of the Indian freight industry. The Indian freight industry has grown at a CAGR of 10.5% and is expected to reach USD 215 billion in 2020 (NITI Aayog & Rocky Mountain Institute, 2019). The Indian freight transport industry faces challenges related to environmental and social sustainability (Kumar and Anbanandam, 2020a). Improving the performance and efficiency of the National logistics system is a high priority of the nations’

Result discussion and implications

This study reveals the environmentally responsible transport practices status of the Indian freight industry by examining the quality of high priority ERTPs. The freight transport organizations should keep abreast of the environmental sustainability issues in the freight transport industry. More specifically, this study used transition management theory to identify the environmentally responsible practices such as thirteen, twelve, and ten practices that have come under a strategic, tactical,

Conclusion

This paper discusses environmentally responsible transport practices relevant to environmental sustainability and planning for sustainable freight transportation. The TM theory-based framework’s findings would help the logistics service providers, transport planners, government policymakers, and freight shippers to include environmentally sustainable practices in their business. The freight transport industry practitioners and researchers face challenges in categorizing the most critical ERTPs

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Aalok Kumar: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data collection and analysis, manuscript preparation and handling.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgment

The authors are very thankful to the experts who participate in this study. The author is also very grateful to the Editor and reviewers of this journal for giving insightful suggestions and comments.

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