Knowledge management in environmental sustainability practices of third-party logistics service providers

Abstract

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide a structured literature review on knowledge management (KM) and KM strategy in environmental sustainability practices of logistics service providers. The paper highlights the nature and scope of existing research and identifies areas for future research.Design/methodology/approach– The study consists of a systematic review of existing research regarding KM in sustainable logistics. In all, 38 refereed research papers formed the basis of analysis. This methodology allows for the minimization of researcher bias and the maximization of reliability and replicability.Findings– The literature review made possible the identification of three basic elements through which building-up appropriate KM approaches and KM strategies in the area of environmental sustainability by third-party logistics service companies will be enhanced: customer relationship management, quality of human resources and the adoption of information and communication technology tools and systems.Research limitations/implications– This study may not have enabled a complete coverage of all articles in the field of KM in the context of environmental sustainability practices of logistics service companies. Yet, it seems reasonable to assume that the review process covered a large share of studies available. The main research implications deriving from the study concern research methods, analysis of factors hampering/supporting the implementation of KM in practices related to environmental sustainability, development of measures to demonstrate the impact of KM on sustainability practices and role of different stakeholders in the implementation of KM in environmental sustainability practices.Originality/value– To the best of the authors ' knowledge, no systematic literature review on this topic has previously been published in academic journals.