The unpredictable nature of extreme weather-induced disruptions is posing tremendous pressure on nowadays supply chains. Longer transports, increased fuel consumption, hazardous wastes, unsatisfied clients, social unrest and risks, damage to the environment, infrastructure and assets are only few of the pressuring outcomes. This situation becomes even more critical when it comes to freight transportation which is much closer to societies and to the environment. In order to counteract this, the concept of supply chain resilience is being adopted towards identifying solutions for the supply chains to recover after such a disruption took place. However, institutions tend to leverage (more) cost minimization as the key indicator of resilience efficiency against environmental and social indicators – and this is highly visible especially in the lower income region of South East Europe (SEE). This leverage is slowly becoming obsolete, as the global literature, policy and practice are consistently demanding for the need of resilient and green supply chain management (RGSCM) and implicitly of resilient and green freight transportation (RGFT). This is why, institutions can no longer emphasize economic benefits against societal and environmental value when dealing with resilience and thus, the proper implementation of RGFT/RGSCM strategies becomes critical.
RGSCM and RGFT implementation have often been studied through various theoretical frameworks such as the ecological modernisation theory (EMT) for understanding how eco-innovations emerge, diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) for investigating how eco-innovations diffuse, complex and adaptive systems theory (CAST) for examining how resilience and self-adaptation is being achieved and finally, institutional and stakeholders theory (INT and ST) for reasoning how institutions adopt eco-innovations triggered by stakeholder groups (co-evolution).
However, the key literature gap that this research aims to fill resides in the lack of existence of a converged framework for all the five theories with focus on understanding how institutional level RGFT/RGSCM practices can be implemented and leveraged at the stakeholder (mesosystem) level in order to ensure a wider scale impact. Such theoretical convergence gap becomes tangent with the recently developed quintuple helix model where eco-innovations, institutions, society and the environment are being seen as the key connected pillars of eco-modernisation in nowadays society.
In this context, the aim of this thesis is to propose a quintuple helix framework for the implementation of RGFT/RGSCM during weather induced disruptions in SEE by underpinning how institutional interactions and RGFT/RGSCM eco-innovation implementation can scale-up to stakeholder level. In order to support this convergence and the theoretical framework assumptions, a three-stage mixed-method approach has been adopted at the South East European level (Stage one – qualitative interviews, N=6; Stage two – qualitative and quantitative semi-structured exploratory & confirmatory survey, N=311; Stage three – focus groups only on Greece in order to enable higher specialization of the findings, N=3 and modelling and simulation, N=3).
Overall, the key outcome that has been revealed is that quintuple helix co-creation, goal and key performance indicators (KPI) alignment of all stakeholders and capacity to transform (eco-modernize) of institutions are the key enablers of fast eco-innovation (RGFT/RGSCM) diffusion and implementation. The additional (key) research outcomes are: firstly, disruptive eco-innovators are limited and most of the other institutions are primarily adapting/transforming; secondly, there is high willingness to leverage eco-innovations at the stakeholder level; thirdly, the RGFT/RGSCM eco-innovations will be based on the smart specialization areas of the country/region; fourthly, by having the inner desire to excel, institutions will continue to eco-innovate (mostly through steady transformation) – ensuring thus the sustainable change at the stakeholder level (by putting pressure on the late adopters). Lastly, a concerning element in this area resides in the existence of very isolated stakeholder groups which may not co-evolve.
This research brings academic contribution by exploring each of the five theories and by proposing their convergence built upon the quintuple helix model.
Additionally, this research provides advancements in the utilisation of mixed-methods research in RGFT/RGSCM. Similarly, this research provides practical benefits to institutions in terms of offering guidance and solutions for RGFT/RGSCM implementation. Policy-wise, this research enables better policy formulation especially in terms of triggering quintuple helix co-creation towards enhanced societal and environmental outcomes (impacting thus on society as well). Finally, the core limitations of this thesis which should be addressed in future studies consist of the high level approach in terms of converging the five theories as well as in the manner in which the triangulation is being performed (the three stages are not performed integrally and then triangulated – being rather integrated as means of one stage informing another).
