The role of green logistics management practices, supply chain traceability and logistics ecocentricity in sustainability performance

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-05-2020-0187
• Published date: 10 December 2020
• Date: 10 December 2020
• Pages: 538-566
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics
• Author: Yaw Agyabeng-Mensah,Ebenezer Afum,Innocent Senyo Kwasi Acquah,Essel Dacosta,Charles Baah,Esther Ahenkorah

The role of green logistics

management practices, supply

chain traceability and logistics

ecocentricity in

sustainability performance

Yaw Agyabeng-Mensah and Ebenezer Afum

Transportation Engineering College, Dalian Maritime Uniersity, Dalian, China

Innocent Senyo Kwasi Acquah

Department of Marketing and Supply chain Management,

University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Essel Dacosta and Charles Baah

Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, China, and

Esther Ahenkorah

Regent University College of Science and Technology, Accra, Ghana

Abstract

Purpose –The priority giving to green practices in today’s competitive market has made green logistics

management practices (GLMPS) a significant driver of organizational performance. The purpose of this study

is to explore the influence of GLMPS, logistics ecocentricity and supply chain traceability on sustainability

performance.

Design/methodology/approach –The study uses structured questionnaires to gather data from 274

managers of manufacturing firms in Ghana. The partial least square structural equation modeling approach is

used to analyze the data to test the proposed hypotheses.

Findings –The results obtained from the analysis indicate that GLMPS positively influence social

sustainability and environmental sustainability. However, GLMPS negatively influence business performance.

The results further reveal that logistics ecocentricity and supply chain traceability augment GLMPS to achieve

significant improvement in both business performance and environmental sustainability through the

mediation effect approach.

Originality/value –The study proposes a conceptual framework that tests the combined effect of GLMPs,

logistics ecocentricity and supply chain traceability on environmental sustainability, social sustainability and

business performance from the Ghanaian perspective.

Keywords Green logistics management practices, Logistics ecocentricity, Supply chain traceability,

Environmental sustainability, Social sustainability, Business performance, Ghana

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Logistics is a key contributor to environmental pollution and excessive use of resources in

supply chain (United Nations, 2014;Zaman and Shamsuddin, 2017). Ghana, which relies

heavily on vehicular transportation to undertake logistics activities, suffers from

environmental pollution through emission. Today, Ghana is one of the fastest growing

economies in Africa where logistics activities of manufacturing firms pose a significant threat

IJLM

32,2

538

The authors want to express their profound gratitude to the Editor in Chief, Senior Associate Editor and

our selfless Peer Reviewers for their time, constructive suggestions and commitment towards the course

of improving the quality of this paper.

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

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0957-4093.htm

Received 5 May 2020

Revised 4 August 2020

11 November 2020

18 November 2020

Accepted 22 November 2020

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 32 No. 2, 2021

pp. 538-566

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-05-2020-0187

to human lives and natural environment due to urbanization and industrialization (Afum

et al., 2020a,b;Agyabeng-Mensah et al., 2020a,b,c,dand e). The introduction of laws, access

to international market and stakeholder pressures have caused firms to adopt green logistics

practices to reduce adverse effect of firms’operations on the environment and societal safety

and health (Agyabeng-Mensah et al., 2020a,b,c,dand e;Famiyeh et al., 2018). Existing

studies suggest that the introduction of green strategies and policies into logistics activities

serve as a solution to environmental, social and economic problems created through supply

chain activities (Halld

orsson and Kov

acs, 2010;Agyabeng-Mensah et al., 2020a,b,c,dand e).

Several studies relating to green logistics management practices (GLMPS) have been

conducted in other parts of the world. However, meta-analysis study conducted by Tseng

et al. (2019) indicates that literature on green supply chain practices and performance in

Africa, particularly, Ghana has not attracted enough attention from scholars. Besides,

existing studies on supply chain sustainability largely focus on environmental sustainability

(El Baz et al., 2019;Glock et al., 2012). This motivates us to conduct a study to explore the

influence of GLMPS on sustainability performance. Other prior studies argue that firms are

faced with challenges associated with the implementation of green supply chain practices

such as GLMPS, causing them not to reap the full benefits of these practices (Kirchoff et al.,

2016;Cousins et al., 2019). This calls for the exploration of other related practices that may

augment GLMPS to achieve sustainability goals. Supply chain traceability (SCT) and

logistics ecocentricity (LEC) are supply chain practices that support the implementation of

green supply chain practices (Cousins et al., 2019). LEC is a firm’s tendency to engage,

collaborate with, and learn from both traditional and nontraditional external stakeholders to

improve logistics practices to accomplish sustainability objectives (Pagell and Wu, 2009).

LEC is a section of supply chain ecocentricity that focuses on learning from, engaging with

and collaborating with external stakeholders to specifically improve logistics practices to

advance sustainability performance. Literatur e suggests that ecocentricity has been

understudied empirically (Gold et al., 2013;Wu and Pagell, 2011;Cousins et al., 2019) and

demands attention from scholars. In order to fill this gap, this study employs LEC as a

mediator between GLMPS and sustainability performance. Besides, the study develops and

validates measurement scales for LEC. According to Dabbene et al. (2014) and Wowak et al.

(2016), the concept of SCT examines the extent of knowledge of a firm concerning the

processes and location of its products from their original source to their end customer.

Regardless of the wide implementation of SCT among firms, Cousins et al. (2019) and

Hoejmose et al. (2014) state that SCT has received less attention in empirical studies. Hence,

this study employs it as a mediator between GLMPS and sustainability performance to

examine its role in fostering sustainability in the supply chain.

Generally, SCT and LEC may play a resounding mediation role between GLMPS and

sustainability performance. However, the role of nontraditional stakeholders such as

Environmental Protection A gencies, NGOs, Civil Societi es, Trade Unions and even

competitors, who may possess a significant expertise in solving environmental, social and

economic problems associated with logistics is normally underestimated (Cousins et al., 2019).

Besides, firms’ability to track and trace raw materials and products throughout the supply

chain gives them certain level of control and capability to fish out environmental problems

associated with logistics activities in the supply chain (Bosona and Gebresenbet, 2013). In

summary, this study seeks to provide an answer to following interesting questions;

(1) Does GLMPS directly improve sustainability performance?

(2) Do the presence of logistics ecocentricity and supply chain traceability improve or

worsen the effect of GLMPS on sustainability performance (environmental, social and

business performance)?

Role of

sustainability

performance

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