Toward more ethically oriented humanitarian logistics operations: An exploratory research

Abstract

Ethical standards in humanitarian logistics have been frequently overlooked in the literature. This research aims to explore the interaction between logistics decisions and ethical standards implementation in the context of humanitarian relief operations. The paper adopts a data triangulation approach to collect and validate the primary and secondary data through a literature review, focus group, and interview. The results revealed that logistics decisions and processes affect the implementation of ethical standards. These decisions are physical distribution, facility location, procurement, outsourcing, deprivation cost analysis, visibility and information flow, supply chain collaboration, staff selection and training, types of relief items, staff security, and localization of logistics activities. This research can provide practitioners with insight into a complete set of ethical standards and inform their understanding of which factors affect their implementation. The novelty of this research comes from combining two disciplines, humanitarian logistics and social work, to compile a complementary list of ethical standards in humanitarian operations. It shows how logistics decisions can affect implementing ethical standards and hence achieving core values of social work.