دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی نقش پایداری محیطی در انتخاب حالت حمل و نقل: بررسی مطالعاتی با تمرکز بر اتحادیه اروپا - امرالد 2017

ABSTRACT

Purpose Transport is the EU sector that produces the second highest amount of greenhouse gas emissions. In its attempts to promote the environmentally sustainable development of transport, the EU has focused on intermodal transport in particular – but with limited success. It is important to understand how freight transport is selected, which criteria are used, and what role environmental sustainability and intermodal transport play in the selection. Therefore, this study focuses on the role of environmental sustainability and intermodal transport in transport mode decisions. We look at this issue from the perspective of logistics service providers and buyers, as they are important stakeholders in guiding this process. Design/methodology/approach To gain a holistic view of the current state of research, we have conducted a systematic literature review of the role of environmental sustainability and intermodal transport in transport mode decisions. We have further examined the findings concerning requests for quotations (RfQs), tenders and transport contracts, as these are also linked to decisions on transport choice. Findings Our findings from the literature review include the results of descriptive and structured content analysis of the selected articles. They show that the discussion on environmental sustainability and intermodal transport as a sustainable mode, together with the transport mode selection criteria, RfQs/tenders and transport contracts, is still a rather new and emerging topic in the literature. The main focus related to the selection of transport mode has been on utility and cost efficiency, and only recently have issues such as environmental sustainability and intermodal transport started to gain greater attention. Our findings also indicate that the theoretical lenses most typically used have been preference models and total cost theories, although the theoretical base has recently become more diversified. Research limitations/implications There is still a need to extend the theoretical and methodological base, which could then lead to innovative theory building and testing. Such diverse application of methodologies will help in understanding how environmental sustainability can be better linked to mode choice decisions. Practical implications The findings will be of interest to policy makers and companies opting for environmentally sustainable transport solutions. Social implications If the EU, shippers and LSPs take a more active stance in promoting environmentally sustainable transformation models, this will have long-lasting societal impacts. Original/value It seems that this systematic literature review of the topic is one of the first such attempts in the current body of literature.

Conclusions

In our research we studied the role of environmental sustainability and intermodal transport in transport mode decisions. Our research questions addressed the role of environmental sustainability and intermodal transports in mode choice decisions, and the role of these issues in RfQs/tenders and contracts. The latter theme has not been addressed in the mode choice context before. The main conclusion and contribution is that research on environmental sustainability and intermodal transport is an emerging topic, in the pre-paradigmatic phase. Our second contribution was a systematic review of mode choice, RfQ/tender and contract literature revieling the current role of environmental sustainability and intermodal transport in mode choice. Our research demonstrated that the earlier literature on mode choice decisions did not discuss intermodal transports or environmental sustainability, but that these topics are emerging, and that the previously separate research streams are getting closer together. The other finding was that discussion in the literature linking RfQs/tenders and contracts with environmental sustainability or intermodal transport is scarce. We also found that the theoretical and methodological approaches have been rather thin, but are slowly becoming more diversified, which can be viewed as a good development. We also contributed to the academic discussion by identifying gaps in the current research, and suggested several avenues for future research. The findings of this research might be interesting to policy makers and companies opting for environmentally sustainable transport solutions.