Journal of Business Logistics最新文献

Little is known about the careers of supply chain executives. This study revisits and extends the logistics and supply chain executive career pattern research by Flöthmann and Hoberg to take a fresh look at supply chain talents and to guide future research on this important topic. We collect new data to understand how supply chain executive careers evolve and how the next generation of logistics and supply chain executives differs from its predecessors. In this editorial study, we find support for the notion that logistics and supply chain management is a genuinely cross-functional profession, as more than half of the 293 executives identified in the original study are now working in other functions. This proliferation of talent can help firms increase supply chain awareness and spread expertise. Further, we find that 44.0% of the logistics and supply chain executives have advanced their hierarchical level, with 10.6% making it to the board level. We show with a panel of new supply chain executives that the six career patterns previously identified still hold. However, the average career spent inside the supply chain area has increased significantly from 12.0% to 20.2%. Similarly, the cluster composition has evolved toward “Homegrowns,” making it the most frequent cluster.

Digitalization is a key driver of supply chain innovation. Existing literature has predominantly focused on the potential positive impacts of supply chain digitalization (SCD) on supply chain performance. However, the paradoxical effects of SCD on overall corporate performance have received limited attention. This study addresses this gap by employing paradox theory to analyze the paradoxical relationship between old specific resources and new specific resources brought by SCD. Econometric methods, panel data from 1440 Chinese listed companies, as well as a text mining approach are used to evaluate the impacts of SCD. This study finds that SCD generates dual effects on enterprises due to resource specificity. Aligning with the majority of existing research, this study confirms the positive impacts of SCD on supply chain capabilities. However, SCD also leads to resource redundancy within firms. The dynamic analysis further reveals that the overall impact of SCD on firm performance is initially nonsignificant but becomes positive over time. The distinctiveness of this study lies in its all-encompassing approach to the effects of SCD by offering a paradoxical perspective. This study adds insights to supply chain literature and provides new explanations to the “digitalization paradox”. This study also has important practical implications for enterprises.

This study examines the transformative impact of digital supply chain finance (SCF) platforms on buyer–supplier relationships, specifically focusing on their role in enhancing supply chain certainty and resilience. Adopting a multiple-case study design, the research investigates eight prominent digital SCF platforms through 34 in-depth interviews with practitioners and managers. The findings reveal how digital platforms facilitate supplier and buyer empowerment by fostering transparency, mitigating risk, and recalibrating traditional principal-agent dynamics. A systematic comparison between digital and conventional SCF platforms further underscores the distinctive capabilities of digital solutions in addressing contemporary supply chain vulnerabilities. The study advances the theoretical understanding of digital SCF by elucidating how technological affordances and innovative financing models contribute to the stability and adaptability of global supply chains. In doing so, it also provides practical implications for firms and policymakers seeking to leverage digital technologies to enhance supply chain robustness in an increasingly complex and uncertain trade environment.

Scholars seeking to sell the importance of their research, showcase its rigor and maximize its impact often adopt a “more is better” approach. This approach ignores the reality that readers judge work based on the average quality of its attributes, not its best features. The more is better approach often backfires when the “more”—such as excess supplementary analysis, controls, and citations—is of lower value, which reduces the overall perceived quality of the research—a phenomenon known as the presenter's paradox. The purpose of this essay is threefold. First, we discuss the presenter's paradox in light of supply chain research in general. Second, we describe the importance of the paradox in the development of literature review papers and introduce the 2025 Special Topic Forum articles, each of which avoided falling prey to the paradox. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion of a growing concern whereby excessive demands from another key party in the paper development process—reviewers—actually encourage the presenter's paradox to arise by forcing authors to add material that undermines the overall quality of the end product. We refer to this companion of the presenter's paradox as the reviewer's regress.

Jarring events inspiring reflection, known as “shocks” in the literature, are the driving force in explaining changes in employee embeddedness and retention within the unfolding model of labor turnover. Substantial research effort has examined strategies for insulating valued employees from adverse shocks. However, this article provides empirical evidence that unambiguously negative shocks can increase employee retention when underlying firm and employee incentives with respect to these shocks are aligned. Using survival analysis on a unique data set of 466,236 communication records and 45,873 employment spells from 21 trucking companies, we show how equipment-related shocks tend to increase the duration of employment. Equipment shocks also generate paradoxically positive sentiments that demonstrate an increase in employees' affective commitment to the firm. Our results highlight the important moderating role that aligned incentives play in how shocks ultimately translate into retention. Shared hardships strengthen bonds in employment, as in other areas.

Blockchain (BC) systems are increasingly used by consortia to monitor ex-post opportunism in food supply chains. BC systems differ for BC technical characteristics, complementary technologies, and organizational tools. Yet, little is empirically known about the link between different BC system designs and the context where they are implemented and how contextual factors influence the adoption of each BC system. This study analyzed different BC systems in 11 principal–agent dyads within one food supply network. Each dyad is composed of a consortium of fruit producers and packers (the principal) and a supply network actor (the agent). Inspired by agency theory, this research associates BC system design choices with levels of system trust (trust in the technology) that are consistent with the risk level of ex-post opportunism. Compared to previous studies, a new studying perspective regarding the concept of ‘BC trust’ arises. Starting from technology–organization–environment (TOE) theory, this paper also offers an interpretation of how TOE factors intervene in the adoption of different BC systems by agents. By distinguishing between different BC systems, it offers a diverse perspective in grounding TOE in BC research. Together with relevant future research directions, these findings provide adopters and policymakers with important practical insights.