Factors affecting innovation in logistics technologies for logistics service providers in China

Abstract

PurposeWith the fast growth in China's economy and China's accession into WTO, the demand for logistics services has been growing significantly in China. China's logistics service providers need to pay more attention to adopt more efficient logistics technologies to provide better services for their customers. The purpose of this paper is to study the factors affecting the innovation in logistics technologies for logistics service providers in China.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaire survey on logistics service providers in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen is conducted to study the innovation in logistics technologies by China's logistics industry. Logistics technologies are classified into four types: data acquisition technologies, information technologies, warehousing technologies, and transportation technologies. The influencing factors include internal and external factors. Regression analysis is used to analyze the influences of these factors on technological innovation.FindingsThe innovation in logistics technologies is significantly positively influenced by organizational encouragement, quality of human resources, environmental uncertainty, and governmental support for logistics service providers in China.Originality/valueOwing to the lack of empirical research on the adoption of logistics technologies in China, this paper provides an empirical study on the factors influencing the innovation in logistics technologies by logistics service providers in China. Our research results can help China's logistics companies develop better strategies to adopt innovative logistics technologies, and can make them become innovation‐based logistics service providers.