SUPPLY CHAIN SUSTAINABILITY:
MASTER THESIS WITHIN: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION NUMBER OF CREDITS: 30
PROGRAMME OF STUDY: International Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
AUTHOR: Muhiyadin Ali Sharawe, Sandeep Kumar. Tutor: Dr. Elvira Ruiz Kaneberg.
JÖNKÖPING 2021
A case study about 3PL service providers’ environmental and
social sustainability in Sweden.
Master Thesis in Business Administration
Title: Supply chain sustainability: A case study about third-party logistics providers’ environmental and social sustainability in Sweden.
Authors: Muhiyadin Ali Sharawe and Sandeep Kumar Tutor: Dr. Elvira Ruiz Kaneberg
Date: 2021-05-24
Key terms: Supply Chain management, Supply Chain Sustainability, Third-party logistics, Environmental Sustainability, Social Sustainability, Resourced Based View RBV.
Abstract
Over the decades, there has been an increased demand for logistics services for different supply chain operations globally. Increased globalization and outsourcing logistics services have created competition in the supply chain as well as the demand to take their social and environmental responsibility. Customers, media, and regulators now ask for verification to show social and environmental aspects of sustainability are seriously considered at all levels of supply chains. As 3PL providers are a part of the supply chain, they contribute towards environmental degradation in form of carbon emissions, noise, air pollution, global warming, and resource depletion. Selecting suitable 3PL is important to improve business performance, lowering carbon tax, contribution to societies as well as improving the overall sustainability of the supply chain. The purpose of this study is to analyze the supply chain management sustainability in global markets, especially 3PL service providers' support to improve social and environmental sustainability in Sweden. We choose qualitative research as our strategy and apply a single case study as a method. The case study method is useful in understanding complex social phenomena and allows us to study a phenomenon more in-depth. The results of the study show that third-party logistics services providers work with both social and environmental sustainability. Social sustainability focuses more broadly on human resources such as workers' safety and security, gender equality, and diversity. While environmental sustainability focuses on emission reductions, use of alternative fuel, electrification of trucks, use of the renewable source of energy. They have an important role in transforming the supply chain to be more sustainable. Organizations use the Code of Conduct and sustainability ambassadors to improve SC sustainability.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank and acknowledge every individual who has supported us
during the writing of this thesis.
First and foremost, a special thanks to our supervisor Dr. Elvira Ruiz Kaneberg
for her support, patience, and feedbacks. We are strongly appreciative of her
insight supervision on every single chapter throughout the process of the thesis.
Secondly, we are many thankful for the companies that participated in the study
to give us their valuable time and efforts. Lastly, we would like to present our
special regard to our seminar group members, Albin Larsson and Sven Bremer
who have provided us very helpful input on our thesis.
Jönköping, May 2021
Muhiyadin Ali Sharawe
Sandeep Kumar
Abbreviations List
3PL Third-Party Logistics SCM Supply-Chain Management
GSCM Global Supply Chain Management RBV Resource Based View
NRBV Natural Resource Based View SRBV Social Resource Based View TBL Triple Bottom Line
GHG Green House Gases
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals UN United Nations
SSPs Sustainable Sourcing Practices GRI Global Reporting Initiatives
ISO International Organization for Standardization
OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
Table of Contents
1.
Introduction ... 1
1.1 Background ... 1
1.2 Problem ... 4
1.3 Purpose and Research Questions ... 4
1.4 Delimitation ... 5
2.
Literature Review ... 8
2.1 A Resource based view to the supply chain sustainability ... 8
2.2 The Third-Party Logistics role in supply chain management sustainability ... 9
2.3 Sustainability and the Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL) of supply chain management .... 10
2.3.1 Environmental Sustainability ... 11
2.3.2 Social Sustainability ... 15
2.4 Summary of Literature Review ... 18
3.
Research Methodology ... 20
3.1 Research Philosophy ... 20
3.2 Research Design and Method ... 22
3.3 Research Approach ... 23
3.4 Data Collection and Sampling strategy ... 24
3.5 Primary and Secondary data ... 25
3.6 Data Analysis ... 28 3.7 Research Quality ... 29 3.7.1 Credibility ... 30 3.7.2 Dependability ... 30 3.7.3 Confirmability ... 30 3.7.4 Transferability ... 31 3.8 Ethics ... 31 3.9 Summary of Methodology ... 33
4.
Empirical Findings ... 34
4.1 Sustainability in third-party logistics ... 34
4.1.1 Risks for unsustainable business ... 34
4.1.2 Brand image and reputation ... 34
4.1.3 Business opportunity ... 35
4.1.4 Compliance to laws and regulations ... 35
4.1.5 Customer demand ... 35
4.2 Social Sustainability ... 36
4.2.1 Human resources... 36
4.2.2 Gender equality and diversity ... 36
4.2.3 Improving social sustainability in the supply chain. ... 37
4.2.4 Code of Conduct and whistle blower ... 37
4.3 Environmental Sustainability ... 38
4.3.1 Reduction of Green-house gases ... 38
4.3.2 Electrification of transport systems ... 38
4.3.3 Capacity utilization and route optimization ... 39
4.3.4 Innovations ... 39
4.3.5 Certifications ... 40
4.4 Collaboration for sustainability targets ... 40
4.6 Sustainability Report ... 42
5.
Analysis of the findings ... 43
5.1 Sustainability of 3PL service providers ... 43
5.2 Sustainability benefits for 3PL service providers ... 43
5.3 Communication tool of 3PL service providers... 44
5.4 Social sustainability of 3PL service providers ... 45
5.5 Environmental sustainability of 3PL service providers ... 46
5.6 Sustainability Development Goals targeted by 3PL service providers. ... 49
5.7 Third-party logistics providers internal and external factors of sustainability ... 50
6.
Conclusion ... 52
7.
Implication, Limitation and Further Research ... 54
7.1 Theoretical implications ... 54 7.2 Managerial implications ... 54 7.3 Ethical implications ... 54 7.4 Limitations ... 55 7.5 Future research ... 55
8.
References ... 57
9.
Appendix ... 68
Figures
Figure 1 Chapters Layout……….……….7
Figure 2 Sustainability Activity Matrix………...14
Figure 3 Frame of reference summary….………19
Figure 4 Steps of conducting literature review………27
Figure 5 Summary of methodology.………33
Figure 6 Sustainability matrix of third-party logistics……….…51
Tables
Table 1 Taxonomy of 3PL environmental sustainability ……….……15Table 2 Firms participated in the study ………26
Table 3 Code and themes developed in the analysis ……….………...29
1. Introduction
______________________________________________________________________ The purpose of this part is to introduce the background of third-party logistics and sustainability issues in the supply chain. In this section authors also present the research background, problem, purpose, research questions, and delimitation of the study.
______________________________________________________________________
1.1 Background
There are many opportunities created at the global supply chain where third-party logistics services are considered for their potential to reduce social and environmental impacts (Lieb & Randall, 1996). Over the decades, there has been an increased demand for logistics services for different supply chain operations globally. Additionally, the term global supply chain defines to extends beyond the boundaries of a single country and characterized to distribute goods and services at multiple nations, offer production facilities across countries, or source from suppliers around the world (Koberg & Longoni, 2019).
With the development of globalization, firms are increasingly required to secure competent employing and low-cost suppliers from offshore (Gereffi & Lee, 2016). Despite all these opportunities of globalization, firms are faced with challenges of goods shipments from supplier to customers. Therefore, the distance factor between suppliers and buyers poses serious challenges in the global supply chain. It is important in supply chain management that the product should be delivered at the right time and right place. Logistics service providers play a vital role in the physical flow of goods and services from the place of supply to the final consumer correctly and at a given time (He, M., Shen, J., Wu, X., & Luo, J., 2018).
At the global level, many organizations outsource services to logistics service providers, (Seuring, Sarkis, Müller, & Rao, 2008). In Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM) third-party logistics providers are “usually independent of carries and are involved in the setting and operation of supply chains on their customers’ behalf” (Rodrigue, 2012). 3 PL firms extend the supply chain operations to other firms that are less familiar with the
new market at the regional and global level. According to Rodrigue (2012), 3PL offers a range of supply-chain-specific services such as transportation, distribution, warehouse management, shipment consolidation, and other logistics activities which able to improve time and cost benefits to the firms. Therefore, third-party logistics providers play a significant role in providing a wide range of services needed in the supply chain. Moreover, increased globalization and outsourcing logistics services have created competition in the supply chain as well as the demand to take their social and environmental responsibility (Seuring et al., 2008). Customers, media, and regulators now ask for verification that sustainability aspects are seriously considered at all the levels of supply chains (Schaltegger & Burritt, 2014; Seuring et al., 2008). Pressures from these stakeholders are increasing the demand for sustainable products and services in many countries around the world.
Linked to GSCM, sustainability has been defined as development that allows the present generation to meet its needs without compromising future generation's ability to meet their own needs (Brundtland, 1987 p. 41). By this definition, sustainability does not only focus on the economic goals of the business but in combination with the sustainment of natural resources and the well-being of societies, their organizations serve (Winter & Knemeyer, 2013). SCM is connected to sustainability which extends to both the economy and their interaction with the society and the environment they operate. As 3PL providers are a part of the supply chain, they contribute towards environmental degradation in form of carbon emissions, noise, air pollution, global warming, and resource depletion (Gupta & Singh, 2020; Jazairy & Haartman, 2020). More than 8.5 million tons of toxic materials and more than 30,000 million tons of CO2 emissions are released annually in the global supply chain (Kannan, D., de Sousa Jabbour, B., & Jabbour, J., 2014). Around 5.5% of the greenhouse gases (GHG) are emitted from freight transport in the logistics industry globally (Evangelista, P., Colicchia, C., & Creazza, A., 2017).
Previous studies have focused on the adaption of green supply chain management for sustainable logistics services and their benefits such as waste reduction, and adequate allocation of resources (Majumdar & Sinha, 2018). However, most of the previous research has emphasized more on environmental sustainability (Lehtonen 2004). Adapting social sustainability is also a crucial factor in improving the overall performance
of supply chain sustainability (Kang, M., Yang, M., Park, Y., & Huo, B. 2018) and achieving economic performance for organizations (Yawar, & Seuring, 2017). Social sustainability focuses on the well-being of not only the current human beings, but future generations’ well-being (D’Eusanio, M., Zamagni, A., & Petti, L., 2019; Nath & Agrawal, 2020). Therefore, the socio-economic wellbeing of people within the 3PL and the surrounding societies cannot be ignored if organizations want to achieve a more sustainable supply chain. The three-dimensional approach of sustainability is known as the triple bottom line (TBL) focusing on economic, social, and environmental sustainability (Elkington, 2004). This comprehensive approach has transformed how the organization takes their responsibility not only to their shareholders but to the environment and the societies developing new thinking of managing organizations (Seuring & Müller, 2008). Furthermore, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals known as (SDGs) have 169 explicit targets in which all have a positive impact on three levels of sustainability of the environment social and economic (Galli, 2018). Furthermore, business plays a critical role in achieving the sustainable goal set by the United Nations (Rosati & Faria, 2019). Goals and the targeted area in the TBL perspective of sustainability are summarized in appendix1.
Apart from the economic interest of firms, they should consider social and environmental responsibility through their operations. The aim is to improve the social and environmental sustainability of organizations in the supply chain (Amann, M., Roehrich, J., Essig, M., & Harland, C., 2014; Seuring & Müller, 2008; Bai & Sarkis, 2010) and reduces long term business risks (Ivanov, 2017). 3PL plays a crucial role in supply chain development and management towards sustainability because it has the capabilities to innovate solutions for more sustainable supply chains (Anttonen, M., Halme, M., Houtbeckers, & Nurkka, 2013). Resourced Based View RBV theory being rare, valuable, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable supports improving the sustainability performance of organizations to gain competitive advantage (Sarkis, J.; Zhu, Q.; Lai., K. H., 2011). It is therefore important to understand what 3PL service providers do to improve their social and environmental sustainability using RBV. Furthermore, organizations that want to outsource their logistic services to third-party logistics are not only concerned with the environmental problems but are also interested in the safety of the employees. They are also interested in how well they are educated, how well they are
paid, and therefore expect the 3PL service providers to demonstrate their social sustainability efforts (Oršič, J., Rosi, B., & Jereb, B., 2019).
1.2 Problem
Deficiencies intertwined within the sustainability pillars have become a clear challenge to 3PL services of suppliers and their partners. However, most studies consider that the dimension of sustainability connection to the GSCM (e.g., Seuring & Müller, 2008; Seuring, S., 2013) is still in its beginning. According to Seuring & Müller (2008), only 31 articles (out of 191) studies about supply chain sustainability considered two dimensions of sustainability i.e. the economic and environmental sustainability. The authors found that studies about 3PL are mostly emphasizing the efficiency value rather than sustainability. Therefore, it seems crucial to study the challenges for 3PL firms to help to improve social and environmental sustainability impact.
While the current state of research is not providing a full picture of the 3PL firms' role to improve sustainability, more research accurately should emphasize the social and environmental aspects of sustainability (Seuring, 2013). This is because 3PL and the impact on social sustainability are underdeveloped (Kudla & Klaas-Wissing, 2012) at a time when the importance of social sustainability among customers is becoming more important (Oršič et al., 2019). Selecting suitable 3PL is important to improve business performance, lowering carbon tax, contributing to societies as well as improving the overall sustainability of the supply chain (Roy, J., Pamučar, D., & Kar, S., 2020). We also want to understand what role third-party logistics can play to develop and improve social and environmental sustainability in the supply chain. This is because there is no research exploring how supply chain collaboration can improve social sustainability (Chen, L., Zhao, X., Tang, O., Price, L., Zhang, S., & Zhu, W., 2017). Since all the sustainability pillars are equally important it is the right time to understand what can be done to improve social and environmental sustainability in the supply chain.
1.3 Purpose and Research Questions
The purpose of this study is to analyze the supply chain management sustainability in global markets, especially 3PL service providers' support to improve social and environmental sustainability in Sweden.
To fulfil the overall purpose of this thesis the following Research questions (RQ) will be answered.
RQ1. What third-party logistics do to improve SCM social and environmental sustainability as a competitive advantage?
RQ2. What can third-party logistics do to improve and develop SCM sustainability?
1.4 Delimitation
This thesis is based on interviews with third-party logistic firms in Sweden that work with sustainability. Other firms that are in the supply chain not considered. The element of economic sustainability as a part of the triple bottom line is not focused on research. As it is already developed in previous research and economic aspects have been the focus for the organizations for many years. Furthermore, the economic aspect received more interest in other disciplines.
Keywords
Supply Chain management, Supply Chain Sustainability, Third-party logistics, Environmental Sustainability, Social Sustainability, Third Party Logistics, Resourced Based View RBV.
Layout of Chapters
Chapter 1. Introduction
The introduction of the study begins with the description of the topic background. Further explain the research problem, purpose, research questions, and delimitation of the study.
Chapter 2. Literature Review
The literature review covered the theoretical background of the study while considering the previous research which is connected with the research purpose and questions.
Chapter 3. Research Methodology
The methodology section of the study will discuss the main concern behind the selection of research philosophy, approach, design, and method. This will also present the ethical consideration of the study.
Chapter 4. Empirical Findings
This chapter provides the findings from the data collected through various interviews with different organizations.
Chapter 5. Analysis of the Findings
This chapter is comprised of the theoretical framework and empirical findings of the study. The results are interpreted and analyzed using the theoretical framework developed in chapter 2.
Chapter 6. Conclusion
This chapter concludes the answers to the research questions and the main findings for the thesis to fulfill the research purpose.
Chapter 7. Implications, Limitation, and Future Research
This chapter discusses the implications of the study as well as highlights the limitations of the study and what could be the future research.
Figure 1; Chapters Layout. Source (authors, 2021) Introduction Literature Review Research Methodology Empirical Findings Analysis of the Findings Conclusion Implications , Limitation, and Future Research
2. Literature Review
______________________________________________________________________ The purpose of this chapter is to provide the theoretical background of the study. The literature review covered a resource-based view in supply chain sustainability, the role in 3PL in SCM, and the Triple-Bottom-Line approach to sustainability which includes environmental and social sustainability along with third-party logistics and supply chain management.
______________________________________________________________________
2.1 A Resource based view to the supply chain sustainability
In the resource-based view RBV, firms’ assets, capabilities, processes, information, and knowledge are considered as a resource for the firms and can be classified as human, physical, and organizational capital (Barney, 1991). For resources to be the source of competitive advantage to the firm, they must be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable (Barney, 1991). Firms can combine these resources to create value that is difficult for competitors to duplicate (Grant, 1991) and build on its capabilities to make resources more inimitable to achieve sustainable competitive advantage (Peteraf, 1993; Barney, 1991). Improving the sustainability performance of organizations supports the RBV of being rare, valuable, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable (Sarkis et al., 2011). RBV is one of the most used theories in supply chain sustainability research (Yang, Y., Jia, F., & Xu, Z., 2019; Chen, et al., 2017), and is useful to shed lights on the linkage between firm resources and sustainability performance in the supply chain (Gold, Seuring, & Beske, 2010). RBV is useful to study the desire of firms to increase environmental, social, and economic performance (Morali, & Searcy, 2013) and the competitive advantage gained through competencies in sustainability in their supply chains (Walker, H. 2015). Previous researchers have studied capability building as a way of improving social and environmental performance in supply chains using RBV (Golini, 2014). Knowledge and capabilities for achieving green supply chain is a valuable and imitable resource (Lai, & Tang., 2010). The capabilities of SC firms are key to the development and deployment of firms’ internal resources for a sustainable supply chain and are useful to shift the focus from external environmental pressures for the internal implementation of sustainability (Bowen, 2001). The RBV has been extended to Natural Resource-Based View (NRBV) to emphasized on competitive advantage gained through
environmental sustainability (Hart, 1995; Miemczyk, 2016), Social Resourced Based View (SRBV) for social sustainability (Tate, & Bals, 2018), and Triple Bottom Line RBV for the creation of shared value (Porter & Kramer, 2011).
2.2 The Third-Party Logistics role in supply chain management sustainability
In supply chain management, (SCM), the third-party logistics are concerned with the use of external firms either entire or part of logistic functions that have been carried out traditionally by the firm (Lieb, 1993; Murphy & Poist, 1998; Bagchi & Virum, 1998; Laarhoven, Berglund, & Peters, 2000; Knemeyer & Murphy, 2005). In this sense, any form of externalizing of logistic services initially carried out by the organization is included third-party logistics (Skjoett-Larsen, 2000). Many organizations outsource their logistic services to third party logistics to focus on their core competencies (Langley, 2013; Leahy, Murphy, & Poist, 1995; Maloni, & Carter, 2006), reduce operating cost (Langley, J. 2013; Christopher, M. 2016), and improved service level (Maloni & Carter, 2006; Langley, 2013; Christopher, 2016). Other researchers found that a significant number of firms have realized the economic and social benefits of outsourcing reverse logistics to 3PL firms as well (Govindan, K. Palaniappan, M., Zhu, Q., & Kannan, D., 2012). Transportation and warehousing are the two basic service portfolios of 3PL providers (Shi, Y., Zhang, A., Arthanari, T., Liu, Y., & Cheng, T. C., 2016; Langley, J. 2013; Laarhoven et al., 2000), but also distribution, inventory management and reverse logistics are other functions which are outsourced to 3PL (Aguezzoul, 2014). Many 3PL providers are transitioning from cost-based strategies to service-based differentiation strategies (Wang, Q., Chu, Z., Zhou, Q., & Lai, F. 2008; Skjoett-Larsen, 2000), and are emphasizing more responsiveness on customer requirements (Tian, 2010). Value-added services that have been developed to enhance competitiveness include freight consolidation, cross-docking, logistics IT solutions, supply chain financing (Carleton, 2010), third party purchasing (3PP) (Shi et al., 2016), packaging, quality control, information services (Skjoett-Larsen, 2000).
Organizations and the third-party logistic firm develop some form of partnership and alliance (Laarhoven et al., 2000) and the partnership is referred to as “arms’ length” if they outsource only transportation and warehousing (Laarhoven et al., 2000; Skjoett-Larsen, 2000; Halldórsson & Skjøtt-Skjoett-Larsen, 2004). Another level of partnership occurs
when organizations received a range of value-added services that are provided by the 3PL (Van Hoek, 2000). The type of partnership can be modified depending on the demand of the different firms (Halldórsson & Skjøtt-Larsen, 2004). The authors argue that the third level of partnership is developed when there is a long-term collaboration between the 3PL providers and the organization in which both the organizations benefit from each other’s competencies, share information, assets, and joint problem-solving. The fourth stage of collaboration is referred to as logistics solutions (LS) can be customized, joint, and in-house where a customized logistics service provider offers standard services according to the customer/client demand (Van Hoek, 2000). Furthermore, joint LS where 3PL and shippers jointly develop new competencies in a particular relationship, and in-house LS where core skill and asset specificity of 3PL provider is often high (Halldórsson & Skjøtt-Larsen, 2004).
In recent years, the alliance of 3PL providers for sustainability purposes is important for a broader perspective to create business value through a decreased carbon tax (Roy et al., 2020). Therefore, for many organizations greening their supply chains have become a concern and a major challenge for managing their logistics (Zhou, G., Min, H., Xu, C., & Cao, Z., 2008). The most used criteria for selecting 3PL include cost, services, quality, information system, flexibility, delivery, and sustainability targets (Aguezzoul, 2014). To effectively integrate sustainability into business operations, partnering with 3PL that are economically viable and are committed to social and environmental sustainability goals is essential (Winter & Knemeyer, 2013). Therefore, firms must consider the ecological and social sustainability of the 3PL operations and integrate the selection decisions along with other supply chain operational decisions (Govindan, K., Agarwal, V., Darbari, D., & Jha, C., 2019).
2.3 Sustainability and the Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL) of supply chain management
Sustainable development is defined by the ability of the present generation to meet their needs without compromising the future generation's ability to meet their desires (Brundtland, 1987 p. 41). In business terms, sustainability consists of three pillars which are economic, social, and environmental, together are known as the triple bottom line TBL (Elkington, 2004). From supply chain point of view, sustainability is defined by Seuring & Müller, (2008) as
the management of material, information, and capital flow as well as cooperation among companies along the supply chain while taking goals from all three dimensions of sustainable development, i.e., economic, environmental, and social into account which are derived from customer and stakeholder requirements.
Sustainability in the supply chain is seen from the triple bottom line approach in which economic development is in harmony with the environment and the social sphere (Wolf, 2010; Seuring & Müller, 2008; Carter & Rogers, 2008; Sarkis 2021). These dimensions of sustainability are inextricably linked (Sarkis, 2021) and the conceptualization of sustainability into these three dimensions is widely accepted (Seuring, 2013). Green supply chains are used to define organizations that work with social and environmental sustainability into their supply chain to create competitive advantage (Lee & Joo, 2020).
On the other hand, sustainability is concerned about resource constraints and resource price volatility, and therefore it is a natural focus for research using the RBV (Chen et al., 2017). To communicate to the stakeholders, organizations use sustainability reporting which is a communication channel and tool for reputation management (Axjonow, A., Ernstberger, J., & Pott, C., 2018). Global Reporting Initiative, GRI is used for reporting sustainability in firms (GRI., 2016). The GRI is the most accepted and standardized framework to indicate the triple bottom line which shows economic indicators, social indicators, and environmental indicators such as energy, emissions, effluents, and waste (Persdotter Isaksson, H., & Forslund, H., 2019). And has become a universal model for reporting environmental and social performance for firms (D’Eusanio et al. 2019).
2.3.1 Environmental Sustainability
Since individual firms have become members within the supply chain the need for integrating environmental management and business operations has increased (Srivastava, 2007). Since then, firms have recognized the significance of managing environmental sustainability in their supply (Bai & Sarkis, 2010). Previous studies show that there are increased pressures for firms to implement greener practices throughout the whole supply chain (Seuring et al. 2008) and organizations are held accountable for the environmental performance of their supply chain (Koplin, 2005). As a result of this, Green Supply Chain Management has been developed to improve their environmental
performance (Bai & Sarkis, 2010). Green Supply Chain Management is defined by (Srivastava, 2007) as “integration of environmental thinking into supply chain management, including product design, material sourcing, and selection, manufacturing processes, delivery of the final product to the consumers as well as end-of-life management of the product after its useful life”. The term “Green” and environmental are both used and in one literature review and the authors found that Green is the dominant term compared to an environment featuring in 40 papers (Ashby, A., Leat, M., & Hudson-Smith, M., 2012). However, some scholars refer to environmental sustainability as being the traditional form of sustainability (Pimenta & Ball, 2015). Environmental sustainability is initiated more because of the continued degradation of natural resources, global climate change, and consumer awareness of sustainability (Suhi, et al., 2019). As a result of these challenges, firms must develop a proactive attitude towards environmental sustainability (Evangelista, et al., 2017). Proactive approaches are needed to solve environmental sustainability challenges in the supply chain such as disposal of waste and toxic materials, noise and air pollution, carbon and sulfur emissions, and other activities that contribute to global warming and resource depletion (Gupta & Singh, 2020; Jazairy & Haartman, 2020).
Other researchers have studied the annual emission level and found that more than 8.5 million tons of toxic materials and more than 30,000 million tons of CO2 emissions are released annually in the supply chain (Kannan, D., de Sousa Jabbour, B., & Jabbour, J., 2014). According to Evangelista et al., (2017), around 5.5% of the greenhouse gases (GHG) are emitted from freight transport in the logistics industry globally. This causes the environmental correspondence, where 3PL faced a crucial issue in the adaptation of green initiative for achieving the environmental sustainability aspects (Centobelli, P., Cerchione, R., Esposito, E., 2020). On the other hand, other SC firms evaluate 3PL firms using several environmental criteria such as environmental protection policies and green initiatives (Awasthi, A., Chauhan, S. S., & Goyal, S. K., 2010), compliance with environmental standardization such as ISO 14,000, (Govindan, K., Rajendran, S., Sarkis, J., & Murugesan, P., 2015), green distribution strategies, green warehousing, and green building, and efficient transportation networks (Colicchia, C., Marchet, G., Melacini, M., & Perotti, S., 2013). However, 3PL firms have developed several solutions to mitigate the challenges of environmental sustainability which include, pollution control and
prevention, environmental management systems, and environmental certifications such as ISO14001 (van Donk, P., van der Vaart, T., Awaysheh, A., & Klassen, D., 2010). Furthermore, they are shifting to renewable energy such as solar and wind, low carbon fossil fuels, biomass which enable them to anticipate an effective environmental sustainability (Govindan, & Jabbour, 2013).
An effective environmental sustainability created by the sustainability activity comprises of internal and external approaches combined with optimizing and innovating factors of 3PL sustainability (Weijers, S., Glöckner, H., & Pieters, R., 2012). The internal approach refers to the method arranged by the 3PL to optimize their sustainability performance such as the adoption of less-fuel-consumption trucks together with energy saving programs (Tran, T., Wong, K., Moslehpour, M., & Xuan, L., 2019). The internal approach according to the authors is combined with internal innovations in which 3PL firms use advanced technology, such as updated hybrid and large-capacity vehicles which have a larger capacity to bring goods with less emission. Apart from the internal approach and internal innovations, 3PL firms use an external approach to influence other stakeholders such as shippers, governments, competitors (Weijers et al., 2012). Furthermore, according to Tran et al., (2019) external approach for optimizing factors refers to the improvement in planning, corporation with suppliers, and increase in efficiency while innovation factors refer to the adoption of green practices such as paperless consignment, delivery control system, packaging, cooperation with stakeholder and competitors that can easily contributor to an effective environmental sustainability. The matrix below shows the 4 concepts used by the 3PL firms to improve their sustainability performance according to (Weijers et al., 2012).
Sustainability activity matrix
Figure 2: Sustainability Activity Matrix (Weijers et al., 2012)
Overall, 3PL firms are committed to improving their sustainability to decrease hazardous/harmful/toxic materials which also gives them long-run competitiveness to build a strong connection with external stakeholders (Laguir, I., Stekelorum, R., & El Baz, J., 2020). Some other researchers found that pollution prevention gives third-party logistic providers capabilities to achieve a differentiation advantage (Schuster, T., Hartmann, E., & Maas, S., 2014). To increase the competitive advantage of sustainability, logistic firms are making great efforts to reduce their environmental footprint by reducing the additional freight movement (McKinnon, 2016). According to El Baz & Laguir, (2017) freight transportation perspective is a critical dimension to address environmental sustainability in logistics activities. The environment management system in 3PL observes the emission tracking data and freight efficiency which can then reported communicating to the stakeholders (Persdotter et al., 2019). According to Schuster et al., (2014), environmental communication among stakeholders facilitates the effect of pollution prevention on differentiation advantage and is therefore regarded as a valuable complementary asset. For instance, the adaptation of GRI helps logistic service providers to improve their environmental sustainability (D’Eusanio et al. 2019; Goswami et al.,
2020). In summary, 3PL sustainability work has created new terminology and concepts that are specific to the different services they provide such as transport, warehousing, and other logistic services (Weijers et al., 2012).
Taxonomy of 3PL Environmental sustainability
Phase of the service Environment practices
Transport Alternative fuels
Alternative transportation modes Alternative vehicles
Eco-driving Empty running Full vehicle loading
Roating techniques to minimize travel distances
Warehousing Alternative energy sources Energy efficient warehousing
Logistic services Material recycling packaging recycling
Management Certification (ISO 14001) Employee training
Environmental performance measurement and
monitoring
Table 1; Taxonomy of 3PL environmental sustainability. Modified figure adopted from (Centobelli et al., 2020)
2.3.2 Social Sustainability
From an organizational level, socially sustainable organizations add value to the communities by increasing the human resources and evaluate the social capital of communities (Dyllick T. & Hockerts, K. 2002; Lee, M., Che-Ha, N., & Alwi, F. 2021). It is also related to the management of social resources such as people's skills and abilities, social values, institutions, and relationships (Ahmed & McQuaid, 2005). Organizations
that work with sustainability also carry out training about sustainability known as environmental training (Jabbour, 2013). Social sustainability is about managing socially related issues to increase the long-term survival of organizations (Carter & Rogers, 2008). In a broader sense, social sustainability relates to areas of internal human resources, society, stakeholder participation (Labuschagne, C., Brent, C., & Claasen, J., 2005), governance, and environmental process improvement (Thorpe & Prakash-Mani, 2003). Moreover, in the supply chain it is concerned with, workers’ health, diversity, human rights, safety (Sarkis et al., 2010; Carter R. & Jennings, M. 2000; Bai & Sarkis, 2010; Martínez-Blanco et al., 2014) and stakeholder engagement (Labuschagne et al., 2005; Thorpe & Prakash-Mani, 2003). For organizations, adapting social sustainability is a crucial factor in improving the overall performance of supply chain sustainability (Kang et al., 2018) and organizations achieve economic performance (Yawar & Seuring, 2017). Social sustainability focuses on the well-being of not only the current human beings but future generations’ well-being (D’Eusanio et al., 2019; Nath & Agrawal, 2020).
Social sustainability in the supply chain is the concern with safety, health, hygiene, wages, labor rights, education, and housing of the people in the supply chain (Mani et al., 2016). Organizations use reporting systems such as the Global Reporting Initiatives in communicating and engaging with stakeholders in their responsibilities related to the sustainability performance of their organizations (GRI, 2016), and GRI have evolved incrementally since 2007 (Dienes, D., Sassen, R., & Fischer, J. 2016). GRI reporting is becoming a universal model for reporting the economic, environmental, and social performance of organizations, D’Eusanio et al., (2019). In the social dimension of the GRI report these four main indicators of social sustainability are given; Labour Practices, Decent Work, Human Rights, Local Society, and Product Responsibility (Zhu, L. & Hu, D. 2017; GRI, 2016). However, the inclusion of social aspects in both the sustainability debate and practice has been marginal compared with economic and environmental dimensions (Brent & Labuschagne, 2007).
After reviewing the literature on supply chain sustainability Seuring (2013) have concluded that the social dimension of sustainability is almost completely missing, or times simplified to great extent. Other researchers have found that very little of the prior literature focuses on social sustainability compared to the amount of research that focuses
on environmental and economic sustainability (Chen, et al., 2017). Social sustainability in supply chain management represents a broad set of topics grouped under it including human rights, decent work, health and safety, freedom of association, child labor, and relationships with local communities (Chiesa & Przychodzen, 2019). Besides, some organizations address them through the incorporation of private regulation and standards such as fair-trade, code of conduct, and third-party certification (Raynolds, 2009; Bager & Lambin, 2020). Another challenge is determining social sustainability measures globally in all its dimensions due to the lack of conceptual clarification in the supply chains especially in the developing countries (Ahmadi, B., Kusi-Sarpong, S., & Rezaei, J., 2017), and often supply chain managers do not comprehend enough the social issues involved in their supply chain, how to evaluate and managed them (Gopal & Thakkar, 2016). As a result, initiatives taken by organizations to deal with the social sustainability of their organization have short-term goals (Ahmadi, B. et al., 2017).
Furthermore, collaborations with other supply chain partners such as suppliers and customers help enrich the organizations’ resources and capabilities for sustainable development in the long term (Chen, et al., 2017). Previous research has been conducted to study firms’ sustainable-sourcing practices (SSPs), voluntary actions companies take to improve their social and/or environmental management of suppliers that are different from a firms’ approach to addressing social and environmental sustainability internally (Lambin, 2018). Large companies are significantly more likely to implement SSPs such as a code of conduct, publish a sustainability report and invest in their value chain (Bager & Lambin, 2020). Other commonly used SSPs include third-party certifications, training suppliers about social and environmental problems, and code of conduct (Lambin, 2018). The author also found that the Code of conduct is the most used SSPs to raise social and/or environmental sustainability in the supply chain. Furthermore, one of the drivers of sustainability in the supply chain is customers with great awareness of sustainability issues and demand the products are transported either by hybrid or electric vehicles (Tran et al. 2019). Overall, 3PL firms manage supply chain sustainability is one of the several methods such as coordinated logistics and transportation programs, coordinated certification programs, and green goals (Centobelli et al., 2020). Apart from customers' demand for suppliers to be green, it is also beneficial for firms to improve their sustainability competency level in protecting the environment (Tran et al. 2019). Other
ways of managing supply chain sustainability include spread collaboration with customers, other 3PLs and spreading information on carbon footprint and greenhouse goals (Centobelli, P., et al., 2020).
2.4 Summary of Literature Review
Figure 2 shows the theoretical framework of this study. This framework summarizes the main theoretical issues and links between the SCM and different sets of 3PL providers' capabilities to the environmental and social sustainability impact. The below matrix emphasis is on the 3PL capabilities which are combined within the RBV approach in this framework. Further, this matrix also explains that what are the internal and external factors which can be optimized and have a revolution for the environmental and social sustainability of 3PL providers.
3PL sustainability matrix
Figure 3; Frame of reference summarized from the literature review. Source;(authors,2021)
Revolution
Internal Factors
3. Research Methodology
______________________________________________________________________ The methodology section of the study will discuss the main concern behind the selection of research philosophy, approach, design, and method. Furthermore, for data collection and sampling strategy, data analysis, research quality, and research ethics are covered. ______________________________________________________________________
3.1 Research Philosophy
Research Philosophy helps to understand the philosophical foundations of the study, have a clear sense of the authors' role, the research design, and the limitation of the research, and therefore, the philosophical assumptions increase the quality of the research (Easterby-Smith, 2018). Therefore, philosophical assumptions do not only increase the quality of the research but also add to the creativity of the researchers. In the research philosophy, we want to highlight the ontology, epistemology, and methodologies of this thesis.
Ontology is the researchers' view and assumption made about the nature of the reality which in social science is observed through different positions; nominalism, realism, internal realism, and relativism (Easterby-Smith, 2018). Nominalism as by the source is an ontology view where reality is formed by human creation to offer an alternative perspective and no truth exists. Furthermore, realism is established through hard facts, which exist independent from perception, and therefore science through the lens of realism is based on real figures and observed facts (Easterby-Smith, 2018). On the other hand, internal realism according to the authors states that the world is real but there is causality in the human mind independently where they are unable to observe and understand its structure. Additionally, relativism is an ontological view in which truth is created by humans who are embedded in the context and does not accept one reality to a phenomenon, but there is numerous truth that can be discovered along the way. The nominalism point of view is applied to this study of social and environmental sustainability and what is done to improve supply chain sustainability. According to this position, there is no truth, and the interesting inquiry is how we attempt to establish
different versions of the truth (Easterby-Smith, 2018). This ontological viewpoint shapes how we approach the study, which type of question to ask when collecting the data. Since there is no truth, we attempt to establish our version of truth by inquiring about the different organizations' understanding of sustainability, when they started to work with it, the owners, and managerial support. Furthermore, it is important to understand their contribution to sustainability in other settings, countries that have different legislations and different understanding of sustainability than theirs. Social and environmental sustainability are constructions of many managerial and operational decisions. Decisions about what to target, what to improve, and resources committed to maximizing their competitive advantage. Therefore, this ontological choice gives us the possibility of forming the truth about what is considered under social and environmental sustainability. The truth then depends on our understanding of the language used and how we make sense of the data collected in the study. Language and terminology used for sustainability are central for our inquiry and therefore this is another reason that justifies our choice of the ontological approach since in this view objects are formed by the use of language and the names attached to them (Easterby-Smith, 2018).
Epistemology, on the other hand, is the assumptions regarding the best ways of examining the nature of the world or simply put, how do we know, what we know and how is knowledge acquired (Easterby-Smith, 2018). It is divided into two, positivism, and constructionist. Constructionist epistemology according to the author views reality as being socially constructed and its meaning is provided by people in their day-to-day interactions with their environment and they share these experiences with others through the medium of language. The study appreciates different constructions, meanings, and terminology used to describe sustainability in the supply chain instead of the exploration of external causes that exclude human explanations. The human explanation is central to our inquiry as it provides us with an understanding what is environmental and social sustainability according to the participants in the study. We are looking at what terminology is used when explaining environmental and social sustainability. Further, what activities are carried to reach the desired outcome within their firms and what type of interactions exist with other supply chain actors and stakeholders. To answer the research questions of the study, it is essential to understand how firms structure their organizations, how they communicate and influence their stakeholders when working
with sustainability. In our study, much attention is given to the language and discourse that is used both to generate meanings and to influence others (Easterby-Smith, 2018). All these activities and different interactions cannot be measured due to their complexity. Therefore, the constructionism view is chosen for this study as it allows the authors to study what third-party logistic firms do in terms of social and environmental sustainability and what they contribute to improving the sustainability of the supply chain. A nominalist ontology connects with a constructionist epistemology and clarifies people’s senses when expressing their reality (Easterby-Smith, 2018). On the other hand, the author acknowledges data collection needs a lot of time and resources and the analysis and interpretation of data might be difficult and rely on the intimate, implied knowledge of the researchers.
3.2 Research Design and Method
Research designs help to organize research activity, such as deciding what will be researched, how and the appropriate data collection to achieve the research aims (Easterby-Smith, 2018). The research design provides an initial overview of some of the main options there is, and choices we make throughout their study. To start with, two approaches can guide us on what data is to collect and how it will be collected. According to Easterby-Smith (2018) the positivist methods in which the researcher starts with a hypothesis or several hypotheses which are either confirmed or rejected using the data collected by one of several methods. Since we are not developing any hypothesis, thus the positivist method is not applicable in this study. Another approach is the constructionist research design which has the assumptions that verifiable observations are potentially subject to very diverse interpretations and it is the researcher can use either one of these options; case study, grounded theory, or mixed methods (Easterby-Smith, 2018). Therefore, the constructionist design is used in the study to help us collect the diverse truth that exists and help us focus on the ways that 3PL make sense of their sustainability work and their contribution to supply chain sustainability by asking the activities they carry, their experiences with others, through the medium of language.
Moreover, we choose qualitative research as our strategy and apply on single case study as a method. The reason is qualitative research will enable us to capture what 3PL firms do to improve supply chain sustainability what they do within their firms to target their
social and environmental sustainability. The case study method is useful in understanding complex social phenomena and allows us to study a phenomenon more in-depth (Yin, 2014). For this study, a single case study is chosen because it allows getting a holistic picture of what are different 3PL firms doing to improve the social and environmental sustainability of their firms. The 3PL is then our unit of analysis which is the main level at which data is aggregated (Yin, 2014). In this study, we are looking at what is considered social and environmental sustainability among the 3PL firms that are working with sustainability to help us develop a general principle about what 3PLs are doing in terms of social and environmental sustainability. This is aligned with our epistemological choice since a constructionist epistemology is less concerned about the validity and more concerned to give a vivid picture of life and behaviors in organizations (Easterby-Smith, 2018).
According to the author, the weaknesses of the case study are that it might not allow generalizations to be made and they produce a lot of data and researchers can make any interpretations they want. To overcome these weaknesses, we develop a theoretical framework on the topic of our research beforehand and base it to guide us to select the unit of analysis, develop the main questions for collecting data, and later use it to analyze the data collected. To be able to generalize the results, our case study consists of several firms in the same industry who offer similar services increasing the chances of the results being generalizable in other 3PL firms in different countries with a similar understanding of sustainability.
3.3 Research Approach
To reach out the research outcome there is three research approach that can be used deductive, inductive, and abductive approaches (Dong, A., Lovallo, D., & Mounarath, R.t, 2015). According to (Hyde, 2000) the deductive approach helps to reach a conclusion based on existing theories that are applied to specific instances. On the other hand, the inductive approach is based on observation and knowledge of certain phenomena which helps to some extent to conclude (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016). The abductive approach is “stems from the insight that most great advances in science neither followed the pattern of pure deduction nor of pure induction” (Spens & Kovács, 2006). In other words, the abductive approach is not only based on existing theories as it is deductive and not only
based on observation and knowledge, but it is a mixture of the two. The authors can use existing theories to support new observations and knowledge. Therefore, after considering all three research approaches, we come up with the conclusion that the abductive approach is more applicable in this study. Because it explains the real-life phenomenon and observation through previous theories and creates an iterative process of “theory matching” which enables us to use of existing theories and develop new frameworks using the observation and findings from the study (Spens & Kovács, 2006).
In this study, we use previous articles, journals, reports, and books to get the real-life phenomenon of 3PL logistics, environmental and social sustainability in the supply chain. We then make an iterative process to find the right theoretical framework from previous theory to match with this research study. According to Spens & Kovács, (2006) abduction approach suggests the opinion for further empirical studies using the collected information and test that information to develop the new theory. After developing the background understanding of previous research on 3PL environmental and social sustainability, we use that knowledge to develop the interview questions which are used to collect the primary data for this study. The new knowledge generated from the collected data of different 3PL providers for environmental and social sustainability is then used to contribute to the existing theory.
3.4 Data Collection and Sampling strategy
The sampling strategy establishes the criteria to be adopted by a researcher when selecting a sample from a wider population of individuals or organizations (Easterby-Smith, 2018). Since the objective is to study 3PL firms and their social and environmental sustainability, we use purposive sampling. Purposive sampling is a sampling strategy in which the authors refer to the purpose of the research and therefore the unit of analysis is selected with conditions that the research questions are to be answered (Bell, Bryman, & Harley, 2019). The conditions for selecting samples are based on two criteria. First, they must be third-party logistics services providers that operate all over Sweden, and secondly, they must work with both social and environmental sustainability. The geographical area is restricted to Sweden because external factors such as legislation and customer demand influence how organizations work with sustainability. Consequently, we want to study the firms that operate in one country with similar legislation and customer demand.
Thereafter, we made a list of ten 3PL companies in Sweden that are working with sustainability using the information provided on their websites. We collected their email addresses from their websites and sent each company a formal email while addressing the aim and the objective of the research, the name of the university, and the name of the program. In the email. The companies that have not replied after a week have been contacted by phone and via e-mail.
3.5 Primary and Secondary data
Primary data is data collected for specific research where all data is generated for the first time by the researcher and can be collected either by interviews, observations, and surveys (Easterby-Smith, 2018). To collect data for this research we chose semi-structured interviews as our source of primary data. In semi-structured interviews, the researcher prepares the content of the interview beforehand which consists of introduction questions and main questions that are prepared to extract specific information (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016). The semi-structured interview approach is preferred because it allows the interviewee to elaborate the answers and allows for the researcher to ask follow-up questions to obtain in-depth explanations (Collis & Hussey, 2014). To generate rich data for the study we sent the study questions beforehand to participants since it helps them understand the research objective (Easterby-Smith, 2018). The questions are divided into four parts. Part one is about the company, part two is general questions about sustainability, part three is about environmental sustainability while part four is about social sustainability. All the interview questions are provided in appendix 2. Even though we preferred to interview the participants in person, it was not possible. This is because of the current restrictions with the Covid-19 lockdown is in place by the time of collecting the data for this thesis. To fulfil the purpose of the study, we used other options that allows us to collect our primary data. Therefore, we used digital technology such as Zoom meetings and telephonic interviews with the participants of the study. The reason we used these alternatives is to help us overcome some of the recognized difficulties of collecting the primary data. Furthermore, the telephone interview option is useful for hard-to-reach participants (Bell, et al., 2019). It is also beneficial for the safety of the respondent, more standardization of interview questions and faster results compared to interviews conducted in person but non-verbal communications such as gestures and the opportunity to get a depth explanation of a phenomenon is missed in telephone interviews (Gubrium
& Holstein, 2002). Table 2 below contains the firms that participated in the study, the type of services they provide, the participants' role in the firm and the length of the data collected. A total of five firms participated in the study.
Participants of the study
Compan y
Types of services Participant role length (in min.)
Acronym
1 Warehousing, Transport & Distribution
Head of
Sustainability
70 Respondan
t 1
2 Warehousing & Transport Operational Manager
80 Respondan
t 2
3 Warehousing Sales Manager 80 Respondan
t 3
4 Warehousing & Transport Head of Sustainability
70 Respondan
t 4
5 Warehousing & Transport Transport developer
90 Respondan
t 5 Table 2: Firms participated in the study.
The initial firms contacted to participate in the study were ten. However, two of the firms decline our request citing the Covid-19 related problems. One firm had its head office in Denmark, and we could not get in touch once we tried to contact them by phone. The two firms did not reply to the emails sent to them and could not be reached by phone either. Therefore, only five firms participated in the study.
Secondary data is also collected for fulfilling the purpose of the study. Secondary data is research documents that have already been published such as reports or other electronic media, which are collected by the researcher (Easterby-Smith, 2018). Therefore, sustainability reports and other documents that the researchers see useful are added to the data collected. Sustainability reports are useful as they provide a holistic overview of the sustainability work of the firms and therefore, fits the purpose of the study. It also provides a piece of additional information that has not been shared during the interview and therefore complements the primary data. The secondary data contributes to the results
of the study due to its high quality and time-saving benefits for the researchers if it is critically evaluated to assure its credibility (Easterby-Smith, 2018).
Secondary data is again used in this study to provide background knowledge about what has been done in the research area. To ensure the credibility of the sources, step by step guide of how the secondary data has been sourced is provided. The literature review of this study is conducted using the framework developed by (Tranfield, Denyer, & Smart, 2003) to help us structure the process of conducting the literature review. The authors have used the steps provided in the framework shown in the figure below.
Figure 4; Steps for conducting literature review. Modified figure adopted from Tranfield et al., (2003)
During the planning stage for the review, the authors have developed an agreed topic that is important. Keywords have been created in each of the topics covered in the review. The school library’s data Primo and Web of Science have been used to search for articles restricting the domain to peer review articles published between 1987-2021 and English as a language. The year 1987 has been used as the starting point since the Brundtland definition of sustainability has been published that year. Other researchers have used a similar time frame see (Nawaz & Koç, 2018). Web of Science is useful when assessing articles as it provides the number of times that it has been cited. The following keywords are used for searching the articles; supply chain sustainability, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, and supply chain management when using Primo. When using the Web of Science database, keywords are written and combined with “AND”, third-party logistics AND sustainability, supply chain management AND theories. In the
planning the review
•prepration of a proposal for a review •developing a protocol
conducting the review
•selection of studies •study quality assessment •data extraction
initial stage, articles about third-party logistics are searched, screened, and finally selected 25 articles. In the next step, articles about sustainability and supply chain are searched, screened, and selected 86 articles. For the final stage, articles about Resource-Based View and supply chain sustainability are searched, screened, and selected 16 articles. In total 127 articles and publications have been used to develop the literature review of this study.
3.6 Data Analysis
According to Onwuegbuzie & Combs (2010), qualitative data analysis refers to the different types of interpretive data such as text and visual which includes sources arrays such as interviews, surveys, observations, and personal journals. Creswell, (2007) defines that qualitative data analysis as “preparing and organizing the data for analysis, then
reducing the data into themes through a process of coding and condensing the codes, and finally representing the data in figures, tables, or a discussion (p. 148)”.
The most common approaches of analyzing qualitative data are thematic analysis, content analysis, and grounded theory analysis (Bell et al., 2019). For this study, we use the content analysis approach. Content analysis a comparatively method of analysis where codes or constructs are practically predetermined and are systematically searched for within the data collected (Easterby-Smith, 2018). The authors search out main themes in the data being analyzed and cross-examine the data for meanings and relationships which are derived from a pre-existing theory and the research question. The authors apply predefined categories to the data being analyzed (Bell et al., 2019). In the predefined categories, we have use terminologies to define social and environmental sustainability. Since the purpose of the study is to understand what 3PL firms are doing in terms of social and environmental sustainability. Hence, the data collected is being analyzed and compared to existing concepts which are classified either under social or environmental sustainability referring to the literature review section of the thesis. Since content analysis can be used with primary and secondary data (Easterby-Smith, 2018), therefore both primary and secondary data are analyzed while using the content analysis method to follow these steps. The transcribed interviews are analyzed omitting texts that we find irrelevant in answering the research question. The remaining text is analyzing once more developing codes and terminology that is used to develop themes. A total we identified
46 codes which are grouped and used to develop themes. Examples of some of the codes developed and matched themes are shown in the table below.
Example of the codes and themes developed in the analysis.
Codes Themes
Attracting customers, retaining employees, attracting talent, a competitive advantage, compliance with regulations, SDG goals, business ideas, Paris Agreement
Sustainability goals
Emissions, Greenhouse gases, renewable energy, biofuel, innovation, electric trucks, hybrid trucks, alternative fuel
Environment
Education, training, code of conduct, giving back to the community, human resources, safety, gender equality, diversity, giving to society, refugees, CSR, CSR funds, caring for employees
Social
Sustainability report, CSR report, code of conduct, ambassadors, creating awareness.
Communication
Table 3: Codes and themes developed in the analysis. Source (authors,2021).
The literature review is used as guidelines for matching the keywords with the themes. For example, if the participants talk about respecting human rights or educating their employees, these are then identified as social sustainability while other themes such as emission reduction and renewable energy are matched with environmental sustainability. A similar coding procedure is used for coding the sustainability reports. The only difference is the reports were already published and we did not have to transcribe or reduce the data. They are, therefore, used as a complement to the interview data that is analyzed, and for the construct validity of collected data, the data triangulation implies.
3.7 Research Quality
To ensure the research quality it is very important to consider the “authenticity” in the quality and “trustworthiness” of quality analysis (Sargeant, 2012). According to the author, the authenticity reviews the quality of data collection procedure and trustworthiness refers to the quality of data analysis. Therefore, to fulfill the data
