Transport infrastructure, Economic growth, Regional disparity, China,

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Given that an increasing number of companies outsource their logistics activities to third-party logistics providers (3PLs), managing logistics outsourcing relationships has become a critical capability. Although the fundamental importance of relationship quality in supply chain relationship management has begun to be understood, it has not been investigated in the context of logistics outsourcing, especially in China. This study addresses the gap in the literature by examining the drivers of relationship quality and investigating its effect on performance in logistics outsourcing in China. We use transaction cost economics and resource dependence theory as bases of this study. Dependence on 3PL (i.e., 3PL importance and unavailability of alternatives), logistics performance and relationship characteristics (i.e., the level of information sharing, relationship length and legal contract) are hypothesized as the relationship drivers based on transaction cost economics and resource dependence theory. Findings reveal that 3PL importance, logistics performance and information sharing are positively related to relationship quality, and that relationship length and the presence of a legal contract are marginally and positively related to relationship quality. The positive influence of relationship quality on financial performance is also observed. The managerial implications of the findings are considered, and the limitations along with future research directions are discussed.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customer pressure influences green innovation in the context of Chinese third-party logistics (3PL) providers, and especially the role of organizational culture in moderating this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Based on survey data collected from 165 3PL providers in China, hierarchical moderated regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. Findings Customer pressure is an important driver of green innovation amongst 3PL providers. Flexibility-oriented organizational culture strengthens the effect of this driving force, while control-oriented organizational culture weakens this force. Green innovation significantly contributes to financial performance and flexibility orientation strengthens this contribution, while control orientation weakens it. Research limitations/implications This research examines the contingency effect of organizational culture in helping to resolve inconsistencies in the relationship between customer pressure and green innovation. Although the inconsistencies cannot be resolved completely, the research opens an avenue to explore other contingency factors or the possibility of a non-linear relationship. Practical implications 3PL firms could undertake green innovation to satisfy customers’ environmental requirements. To develop their green innovation initiatives, managers should allow their employees greater autonomy and design (or re-design) operations procedures and regulations to be more flexible, thus enabling the diffusion of green innovation and avoiding or reducing the potential influence of control-oriented organization culture. Originality/value The study considers the conditional effect of organizational culture to reconcile the mixed results in the literature regarding the relationship between customer pressure and green innovation of logistics service providers.