4IR 시대의 식품 콜드체인 3PL 서비스품질과 공급체인 성과에 관한 실증연구

Abstract

Recently, the cold chain market in the food industry has been rapidly advancing with the application of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as Big Data, IoT, RFID, enhancing both information technology and logistics systems. Consequently, in the support of food cold chain systems, physical quality and logistics information quality have improved during the distribution and logistics processes. Therefore, there is a need for distribution and logistics companies to derive and examine service quality factors that impact relationship maintenance and performance in the supply chain management process with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food industry during the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. This study aims to identify the cold chain service quality factors of third-party logistics (3PL) companies based on expert in-depth interviews and a three-dimensional service quality model. Additionally, it seeks to understand the influence of relationship orientation in Korean food SMEs on supply chain performance. To achieve this, a systematic survey was conducted through preliminary investigations, distributing structured questionnaires, and collecting a total of 240 responses, excluding 9 unreliable responses, for empirical analysis. The collected survey data were analyzed using SPSS version 28.0 for frequency analysis to understand the general characteristics of respondents. Furthermore, Smart PLS version 4.0 was employed to test the internal consistency reliability, concentration, and discriminant validity of the measurement model. After evaluating the structural model, hypotheses were verified. The results of the analysis indicate that all three-dimensional service quality factors of cold chain services provided by 3PL companies (data processing expertise, digital-based customer responsiveness, and smart logistics information accuracy) positively influence relationship orientation. Additionally, the relationship orientation of food SMEs toward 3PL companies was confirmed to have a positive impact on supply chain performance. Therefore, the significance of this study lies in providing service quality factors for distribution and logistics companies to maintain relationships with food SMEs in South Korea and confirming the causal relationships affecting supply chain performance.