Field trips for sustainable transport education. Impact on knowledge, attitude and behavioral intention

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-05-2017-0138
• Pages: 1424-1450
• Published date: 16 August 2018
• Date: 16 August 2018
• Author: Lisa-Maria Putz,Horst Treiblmaier,Sarah Pfoser
• Subject Matter: Logistics,Management science & operations

Field trips for sustainable

transport education

Impact on knowledge, attitude and

behavioral intention

Lisa-Maria Putz

Department of Logistics, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Wels, Austria

Horst Treiblmaier

Department of International Management, MODUL University Vienna,

Vienna, Austria, and

Sarah Pfoser

Department of Logistics, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Wels, Austria

Abstract

Purpose –Field trips can change students’attitudes and improve their learning performance, but they have

rarely been investigated in logistics education research. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings

from field trips that were designed to increase students’knowledge of sustainable transport as well as to

change their attitudes and behavioral intentions.

Design/methodology/approach –A total of 104 logistics students participated in this longitudinal panel

study. Non-parametric statistical tests were used to test for significant effects.

Findings –Field trips build students’knowledge, improve their attitudes and increase their behavioral

intentionsto use sustainable transport modesin the short and in the long term. Gainsin knowledge exceed the

results expectedfrom traditional learningtheories. Gender and school typeare important moderating variables.

Gender did not play an important role for knowledge gains, but for attitude and behavioral intentions.

Research limitations/implications –More research is needed to generalize the findings to other

populations and longitudinal panel studies are necessary to investigate a long-term effect of field trips.

Practical implications –Field trips are an effective means for successful knowledge transfer and are

suitable to trigger attitudinal and behavioral changes. The involvement of practitioners and the hands-on

experience ensure that students combine theoretical with practical knowledge.

Originality/value –This is the first longitudinal panel study that investigates the effects of logistics field

trips, which were developed collaboratively by industry, educational and research institutions.

Keywords Knowledge, Attitude, Behavioral intention, Sustainable transport, Logisticseducation,

Industry educationpartnership, Learning performance, Supply chain management education,Field trips,

Memory retention

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Alarmed by the climate crisis as well as other negative environmental and societal impacts

of industrialization on sustainability (Wagner, 2015), policy makers and people from various

areas around the world exert substantial pressure on firms to adopt more sustainable

business practices. Managers need to be equipped with the capabilities and knowledge to

act toward those sustainable business practices. Thus, integrating sustainability in

education has become an increasingly important goal during the last two decades (Lozano

et al., 2015). Sustainable transport, which is an important part of supply chain management

(SCM), represents one subtopic of sustainability that future managers should be aware of.

Modern supply chains (SCs) are complex value networks that pose an ever-increasing

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 29 No. 4, 2018

pp. 1424-1450

© Emerald PublishingLimited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-05-2017-0138

Received 31 May 2017

Revised 9 November 2017

16 February 2018

23 April 2018

Accepted 4 May 2018

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-4093.htm

This research study is part of the research field ‘sustainable transport systems,’which was funded by

the State of Upper Austria as part of the research program ‘FTI Struktur Land Oberösterreich’.

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IJLM

29,4

challenge for logistics and SC professionals. It is therefore crucial that logistics students at

all levels understand their economic and environmental importance. Furthermore, it is

important to motivate skilled students to consider logistics as a possible future career path

(Gardner, 2013). They need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge to cope with the

manifold demands of the labor market. But reality tells a different story: the gaps between

stakeholders’needs and education providers’offerings, as well as between academic and

practitioner perceptions, are growing (Fawcett and Rutner, 2014). Empirical data from the

USA indicates that a mismatch exists between the SCM talent pool, transport requirements

from the industry and the knowledge/skill training provided by business schools (Sinha

et al., 2016; Ozment and Keller, 2011). In a recent publication, Trautrims et al. (2016, p. 887)

even lament that “[…] education has lagged behind […] in preparing students for their

chosen careers in a method of work necessary in today’s supply chain environment.”Thus,

the question arises as to how awareness of the importance of sustainable transport as part

of logistics and SCM can be raised amongst students and how educational institutions can

efficiently impart knowledge about the importance of sustainable SCM practices.

In this paper the application of field trips is proposed to achieve a change in individuals’

attitudes and behavioral intentions toward sustainable transport by enhancing their

knowledge. Field trips are excursions that allow students to gain firsthand experience away

from the classroom(Krepel and DuVall, 1981; Friess et al.,2016), which can be consideredas a

tool to provide real-life problems for students and to establish the link between industry and

education (Taylor,2017; Bak and Boulocher‐Passet,2013). Previous literature has highlighted

the manifoldbenefits of field trips, but studiesin the logistics sector are scarce,as are rigorous

measurementsof the benefits which arise from such trips.Already in 2007, Bergin et al. (2007,

p. 193) commented that “much has been written on this topic, though relatively little of this

literature on field trips included quantitative research.”As will be shown in the subsequent

sections, this gap still exists and only few quantitative studies have been conducted in the

meantime in business-related contexts. Furthermore, existing field trip studies in other

academic communities have beentailored to the specific needs ofthe respective target groups,

such that the results are not necessarily transferable to the SCM/logistics community. Only

Four studies report on field trips in the SCM/logistics field (Brymer and Newman, 2016;

Xu et al., 2012; Gardner et al., 2009/Gardner, 2013), but none of them specifically addresses the

topic of sustainable transport. Additionally, there is a dearth of literature which rigorously

investigates the long-term effects of field trips by applying longitudinal measurement.

This study intends to close this gap and reports the findings from field trips in which

students actively participatedin an excursion that includedrepresentatives from the industry

and involveda simulationgame. Students’knowledge gainsfrom the trips were assessedwith

measurements taken before, directly after, and two weeks after the field trip, while their

attitudes and behavioral intentions toward sustainable transport alternatives were also

measured. Following the recommendations from Gravier and Farris (2008), a longitudinal

panel study was used to assess the efficacy of field trips. The goal of this paper is to

investigate the impact of field trips that were explicitly designed to increase students’

knowledge as well as their attitudes and behavioral intentions toward sustainable transport.

Sustainable transport is deemed importantas the transport sector is responsible foraround a

quarter of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Europeand a reduction of the GHG emissionis

deemed necessary for sustainable development into the future (Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change,2015). The detailed descriptionof the workshops should inspire educators to

also consider field trips for sustainable transport in their study programs or schools.

Sustainable transport is an applied management field that emerged in the past decade

and has gained growing attention (Bontekoning et al., 2004). However, the efficacy of

traditional teaching techniques has been questioned for applied subjects (Brandon-Jones

et al., 2012) such as sustainable transport (Bontekoning et al., 2004). Thus, the use of field

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transport

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