Purpose

Sustainability approaches across product supply chains are well-known, while similar knowledge on transport supply chains (TSC) is limited. The purpose of this paper is to explore sustainability approaches and managerial challenges in extending sustainability across a TSC.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a case study of a TSC with a shipper, a third-party logistics firm and a hauler. Each actor’s views on sustainability-related communication and relations with other TSC actors are analyzed through the lens of agency theory.

Findings

Each dyad in the TSC reveals different, more or less collaboration-based approaches. Challenges are revealed, including the lack of shipper understanding for the TSC context and the use of immature contracts, which disincentivizes sustainability compliance. The multi-tier study object reveals the silencing of distant actors and the need for actors to take on mediating roles to bridge information asymmetries.

Research limitations/implications

Combining literature perspectives (relations, communication and agency theory) provides a deeper understanding of the approaches applied and identifies different challenges. The inclusion of agency theory reveals principal problems such as information asymmetries between agents and less-informed principals and suggests complementary labels of supply chain actors.

Practical implications

Practical contributions include the highlighting of managerial challenges, which can aid managers in extending sustainability across TCSs.

Social implications

The case study method offers insights into collaboratively improving sustainability in supply chains (such as using contracts), thus having social and environmental implications.

Originality/value

The paper narrows knowledge gaps about managing sustainability among logistics service providers and analyzes data from multi-tier actors.

中文翻译：

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在整个运输供应链中扩展可持续性的挑战

目的

跨产品供应链的可持续性方法是众所周知的，而关于运输供应链 (TSC) 的类似知识却很有限。本文的目的是探讨将可持续性扩展到 TSC 的可持续性方法和管理挑战。

设计/方法/方法

本文介绍了一个 TSC 与托运人、第三方物流公司和运输商的案例研究。通过代理理论的视角分析每个参与者对与可持续发展相关的沟通和与其他 TSC 参与者的关系的看法。

发现

TSC 中的每一对都揭示了不同的、或多或少基于协作的方法。挑战暴露出来，包括托运人对 TSC 环境缺乏了解以及使用不成熟的合同，这不利于可持续性合规性。多层研究对象揭示了远处参与者的沉默以及参与者需要扮演中介角色以弥合信息不对称。

研究限制/影响

结合文献观点（关系、沟通和代理理论）可以更深入地理解所应用的方法并确定不同的挑战。代理理论的包含揭示了主要问题，例如代理人和信息较少的委托人之间的信息不对称，并提出了供应链参与者的互补标签。

实际影响

实际贡献包括突出管理挑战，这可以帮助管理人员扩展跨 TCS 的可持续性。

社会影响

案例研究方法提供了有关合作提高供应链可持续性的见解（例如使用合同），从而产生社会和环境影响。

原创性/价值

该论文缩小了物流服务提供商之间在管理可持续性方面的知识差距，并分析了来自多层次参与者的数据。