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An assessment of green logistics and environmental sustainability: Evidence

from Bauchi

Article in Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain · February 2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.clscn.2023.100097

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 Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain 6 (2023) 100097

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain

journal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/cleaner-logistics-and-supply-chain

An assessment of green logistics and environmental sustainability: Evidence

from Bauchi
Ibrahim Kabiru Maji a, *, Nur Surayya Mohd Saudi b, Muhammad Yusuf c
a
Department of Economics, Nigerian Army University Biu, Nigeria
b
National Defence University of Malaysia, Malaysia
c
Air Force Institute of Technology Kaduna, Nigeria

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study examines the impact of green logistics initiatives on environmental sustainability in Bauchi Metropolis
Green logistics - a state in the North East region of Nigeria. A survey method employing a questionnaire was used to collect data
Environment for the period of May to July 2022. A stratified snowball sampling technique was used to administer the
Sustainability
questionnaire. Out of the 217 questionnaires administered, 197 were retrieved coded and analyzed using
Metropolis
Bauchi
descriptive statistics, chi-square and regression. The result revealed that 2/3 of logistics managers are aware of
how logistics activities negatively affect the environment, but only about 1/5 of them have taken steps toward
green logistics initiatives. The result further showed that the categories of logistical operations and years of
industry experience had a direct impact on most indicators of green logistics initiatives and sustainability.
Moreover, the result showed that the adoption of green logistics initiatives depends on the amount of experience
and categories of logistics. Since 1/3 of logistics managers are not aware of the environmental effect of logistics
activities, the implication is that to implement green logistic policies, government needs to work with the most
experienced logistics enterprises, particularly those in transport and storage.

1. Introduction
Logistics enterprises are under pressure to reduce the negative
impact of their operations on the environment as a result of governments
and society’s growing concern about ensuring a sustainable environ­
ment. Likewise, the climate change agreement organizations’ increas­
ingly stringent environmental regulations have called for the adoption
of a sustainable environmental strategy in the supply chains of the
manufacturing, transportation, and logistics sectors (Centobelli et al.,
2017). This is to reduce the environmental impact of supply chains from
raw materials to the distribution of finished goods.
Green logistic practices by a business assist in improving the repu­
tation of a business as an environmentally responsible brand. This sub­
sequently increases customers’ loyalty, brand trust and business profit.
Sustainable practice in supply chain provides customers with shopping
options that is ethical and protect natural and commercial resources. As
such, most customer regard business that employs a sustainable
approach (QTSTB, 2022). For instance, the use of green fuel for trans­
portation can mitigate global warming by minimizing emissions into the
atmosphere.
Equally, the effect of logistic operations in terms of the level of its
externalities and coverage of its adverse effect on the environment is
multifaceted. The distribution of goods and services often led to noise
and vibration, contamination of surrounding air quality, increase traffic
problems and consequently led to global warming. Thus, the effect of
logistic operations on environmental pollution and climate change has
drawn the attention of policymakers and practitioners to the need for
green logistics in recent years. This has become more important as
recent research has shown that global warming resulting partly from
logistic operations is presenting a greater threat than ever (McKinnon
et al., 2012).
The necessity to provide a sustainable environment in the city of
Bauchi to prevent environmental degradation due to current logistical
operations from transportation, warehousing, freight forwarding, and
logistic value-adding is also an inspiration for this study. The logistics
sector of Bauchi, although still at the infant stage is among the fast-
growing logistics in Nigeria. According to logistic and supply chain in­
dustry report by Vanguard in 2018, the Bauchi logistics businesses have
contributed to the Nigerian logistics sector whose value was estimated to
stand at 250 billion Naira. The state has experienced growth in its

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: keibimaji@gmail.com (I.K. Maji).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clscn.2023.100097
Received 28 September 2022; Received in revised form 9 February 2023; Accepted 22 February 2023
Available online 26 February 2023
2772-3909/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
I.K. Maji et al.
logistics sector in recent times due to improved infrastructural devel­
opment, improved integration with other states and a rise in e-
commerce.
However, the logistics sector of the state is bedevilled with the
following challenges: use of unclean sources of energy for logistics ac­
tivities; inadequate access to road networks especially flyovers in the
market areas which has led to traffic congestions; absence of interstate
highway, absence of railway network and importantly the unwillingness
of the logistic managers to embrace green logistics practices due to
associated initial high cost. This has led to the increasing contribution of
Bauchi logistics activity to environmental pollution and thus, the need
for sustainable logistic practices. Hence, there is a need for a greater
understanding of green supply chains and logistics that reduce emission
of carbons used in the process of delivery of goods and services to cus­
tomers by logistic service providers in Bauchi. Also, the paucity of
research in the literature on the link between environmental sustain­
ability and green logistics initiatives has also inspired the study.
Logistic administrators are increasingly placing a high focus on
innovative environmental practices. According to estimations, the en­
ergy used in the transportation sector for moving freight makes up
around 43% of all energy used globally (IPCC, 2014). According to es­
timates from the World Economic Forum, logistics-related activities are
responsible for around 6% of all greenhouse gas emissions. This covers
all emissions from supply chains, freight movement and other logistic
activities.
Furthermore, the objective of most logistic activities is to ensure the
flow of goods through supply chain to satisfy consumers’ needs at the
lowest possible cost without much consideration to its environmental
costs (McKinnon et al., 2012). The environmental cost of logistic ac­
tivities, like air pollution, noise and vibrations, and other traffic-related
issues, must be taken into account to ensure green logistics. Green
supply logistic management requires including environmental costs in a
supply chain from the design of a product, sourcing of materials, and
manufacturing and delivery of the product to final consumers.
Also, there is a research vacuum on the relationship between green
logistics and sustainable environment in the study area. Even though
current research has looked at related areas of study, the literature has
not examined the case of Bauchi metropolis. For instance, (Hussein Ali
et al., 2022) evaluated the impact of sustainable logistic service quality
in Egypt; (Froio and Bezerra, 2021) investigated the sustainable envi­
ronment strategy used by logistic services in Brazil; (Agyabeng-Mensah
et al., 2020) investigated green logistics practices and financial perfor­
mance; (Karaman et al., 2020) examined the practice of sustainable
reporting and green logistics; and (D’Amico et al., 2021) investigates
sustainable logistics of port cities. There seems to be no research on the
relationship between sustainable environment and green logistics for
the case of Bauchi in the literature.
The study further contributes by using a survey method to collect
direct data from logistics managers using a 5-point Likert scale ques­
tionnaire. A stratified snowball sampling method was used to administer
the questionnaires while descriptive statistics, regression and chi-square
were used to analyse the data. The finding of this work is novel as it
revealed that majority of those in the logistics business are aware of its
environmental impact but only a few of them have taken measures to­
ward green logistics initiatives. The implication of the finding is that
one-third of logistic businesses that are not aware of the impact of their
activities on the environment will hinder government efforts toward
ensuring a green logistic practice. Thus, government policies on green
logistics should pay attention to ensuring awareness of the consequence
of logistic activities on the immediate environment.
2. Literature review
Logistics management involves a chain of tasks including freight
transportation, handling of materials, storage of inventory, processing
and sharing of information with logistic companies that participate in
2
Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain 6 (2023) 100097
moving products (Agyabeng-Mensah et al., 2020; Martel and Klibi,
2016). Thus, logistics management is an important aspect of supply
chain management which guarantees that company’s resources are
effectively allocated to ensure customer satisfaction, improve efficiency
in production and competitive advantage (Baah et al., 2019). It involves
management of warehouse, transport, inventory and the processing and
communication of information from producer to customers. Following
the increasing demand and complex nature of logistics activities in
recent times, logistics experts have become more concerned about the
negative environmental effects of logistics activities through environ­
mental pollution, the surge in the use of unclean energy and other ma­
terial resources and how these resources can be managed to ensure
social and environmental sustainability (Bom et al., 2019).
Furthermore, logistics services are relevant in facilitating business
activities and thus contribute importantly to the process of economic
prosperity. However, some of the activities of the logistics companies are
not sustainably oriented as they caused environmental damage (Agya­
beng-Mensah et al., 2020). Consequently, the stakeholders of logistics
companies in recent times have begun to give attention to externalities
to the environment from logistic service providers. These forms of lo­
gistics activities include trans-loading, storage and transportation of
freights (Karaman et al., 2020). Hence, green logistics is now among the
driving forces used to induce logistic companies toward environmental
sustainability.
According to (Karaman et al., 2020), logistic companies are often
neglected in the study of supply chain that involves externality to the
environment. Studies in the area of public policies have equally shown
that there are fewer studies connecting public policy to green and
effective logistics. Thus, governments have gradually recognized the
paramount of green logistics and commence introducing green policies
to control and encourage the conduct of logistic companies. Sustain­
ability of logistics entails achieving economic and social benefits with
minimal environmental effects.
Another study has shown that some logistics service companies have
dedicated themselves to enhancing sustainable environment (Lieb and
Lieb, 2010). The finding also revealed that some of the logistics com­
panies have been involved in research as a pledge to environmental
sustainability. Most of the committed companies to green logistics have
put in place some programs with timelines. Thus, logistics companies
were found to have put in place sustainable projects that have yielded
both business benefits and sustainable environment (Abbasi and Nilsson,
2016).
Again, more recent studies have examined the relationship between
green logistics and environmental sustainability (Centobelli et al., 2017;
Hussein Ali et al., 2022; Gholizadeh et al., 2022; Evangelista et al., 2017;
de Souza et al., 2022; Ezaki et al., 2022). For instance, (Centobelli et al.,
2017) used a web-based document approach to investigate the degree of
dispersion of green logistic initiatives among 464 logistics service pro­
viders. The findings suggest that the environmental sustainability
strategy of logistics service providers is carried out without defining the
green aims linked to varying service logistics and management.
Sustainable environment creativities used by logistics service pro­
viders have been explored in Brazil by (Froio and Bezerra, 2021). The
robustness of logistics systems in understanding network topology has
been examined by (Ezaki et al., 2022). Using a simplified simulation
model for logistics network, it was evidenced that square lattice and
random network are robust to changes in demand and bypass structure
is a relevant medium of designing network logistics. Content analysis
and questionnaire were used to find out that surveyed logistics managers
have incorporated energy efficiency, carbon emission reduction and
customer recognition. Most surveyed logistics service companies plan to
improve sustainability activities that involve intra-firm participation.
Equally, (Wang et al., 2022) investigate if efficiency in logistics is
important from a green economic perspective. A special indicative
approach was employed to evaluate spillover impact of logistics effi­
ciency spatial measurement model to explore spillover effects of logistics
I.K. Maji et al. Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain 6 (2023) 100097

efficiency on the benefits of economies. The outcome shows that the Table 1
efficiency of logistics is useful for overall carbon productivity in a low- Demographic information of logistics managers.
carbon system of economy. Similarly, (Magazzino et al., 2021) Demographic Variables Categories Frequencies Percentage (%)
assessed whether logistics performance mitigates the demand for oil in
Gender
the transportation industry in Europe; (Magazzino et al., 2021) exam­ 1 Male 161 81.7
ines logistics performance, innovation and environmental quality in 25 2 Female 36 18.3
highest logistics nations; (Tang and Abosedra, 2019) evaluate export,
logistic performance and growth in Asian economies. However, inves­ Age
tigating green logistics and environmental sustainability for the case of 1 18–25 29 14.7
Bauchi metropolis employing a survey method that collects first-hand 2 26–35 56 28.4
3 36–45 83 42.1
information from logistics managers seems to have eluded literature.
4 >45 29 14.7
Thus, this study contributes to filling this research gap by examining
green logistics initiatives of businesses in the study area and the effects
Marital status
of their activities on the environment.
1 Single 109 55.9
2 Married 69 35.4
3. Materials and methods 3 Divorce 17 8.7
Educational level
1 Primary 30 15.2
3.1. Instrument, data collection technique and variables
2 Secondary 79 40.1
3 Tertiary 67 34.0
This study assessed green logistics and environmental sustainability 4 Postgraduate 21 10.7
in Bauchi. Logistics activities in the metropolis use different energy
sources, disposes a lot of waste and contribute to environmental pollu­ Logistics categories
tion and other health hazards. This has made stakeholders to put pres­ 1 Transport 96 48.7
sure on logistics firms to reduce externalities by practising green 2 Warehouse 64 32.5
3 Freight forwarders 24 12.2
logistics (Martel and Klibi, 2016). The study used a cross-section
4 Packaging 13 6.6
research design which collect data from logistics managers at a point
of time. First-hand data was collected from logistics managers using
No. of years in the industry
survey research. Thus, information from logistics managers was gath­
1 1–5 79 40.1
ered using a structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaire (Hussein Ali 2 6–10 76 38.6
et al., 2022; Martel and Klibi, 2016). The inclusion criteria of selecting 3 11–15 23 11.7
the logistics managers are restricted to those that can speak English 4 >15 19 9.6
language and the native language. This enable collection of data and Note: unit of parameters is in frequency and percentage (%).
responses that are less bias and to obtain a sample that truly approxi­
mate the population of the study. A stratified snowball sampling tech­ majority of logistic service providers in the research area are mostly sole
nique was employed to get the data from logistics managers in a proprietors.
scientific manner. A snowball sampling approach is a non-probability The variables that were taken into consideration in this study include
sampling technique in which an initially identified and selected unit environment, logistics, green logistics, and sustainability. In the ques­
or element of a population is used as a reference point and basis for tionnaire, the variables of logistics and environment contain basic
selecting other elements or units of the population. As such, snowball questions on the logistics manager’s awareness of the environment and
sampling has proven to be an important technique of conducting logistics. The variable of green logistics on the other hand assesses their
research on population with specific qualities. initiatives toward greener logistics while the sustainability variable in­
The logistics businesses are first divided into four groups: trans­ corporates economic, environmental and social dimensions (Karaman
portation, inventory management, storage, material handling, pack­ et al., 2020). A 5-point Likert scale from strongly agree to strongly
aging, and value addition (Agyabeng-Mensah et al., 2020; Martel and disagree was used for the items of the variables. Additionally, descrip­
Klibi, 2016). Then each group in the metropolis was subjected to the tive statistics, chi-square method and regression (Wang et al., 2022)
snowball method of data gathering, which uses the initial point of were employed to analyze the data. For the descriptive statistics, tables,
sampling as a reference point for the next sample. In each category of charts, frequency distribution, and percentage distribution were all used
logistics, the sampling usually started with a well-known logistics (Gholizadeh et al., 2022). To test the hypothesis of whether the logistic
manager who gives referral to other logistics partners in the same managers integrate green logistics initiatives in their activities a chi-
category of business. The data collection process continued using this square and regression were employed. Thereafter, the significant level
snowball approach. The data collection stopped when the number of of estimated coefficients was used to determine the relationship between
samples reached 217. The reason for stopping the sampling is that we the hypothesized and outcome variables.
have virtually exhausted the logistics businesses in the study area. The
study location Bauchi is located between latitudes of 10◦ 12′ and 10◦ 27′ 4. Empirical results
north of the equator and longitudes of 9◦ 40′ and 9◦ 57′ east of Green­
wich Mean Time (GMT). To reach a sufficient number of logistics managers that will roughly
An additional reason for employing this sampling strategy is that represent the population, 217 questionnaires were distributed to the
getting the exact population of the logistics businesses is difficult due logistics managers utilizing the stratified grouping of the logistics
largely to the fact that most of them operate in the informal sector. Since managers and snowball technique. 205 questionnaires were retrieved,
most logistics enterprises are highly connected to one another snowball coded and cleaned. 8 out of the retrieved questionnaires were not
sampling method was chosen to help exhaust the population. Thus, the properly filled and thus not included in the analysis. Therefore, the study
sampling technique has made it easier for the researchers to find as considered 197 questionnaires from the logistics managers and used
many samples as they can that roughly represent the population of lo­ SPSS for data coding and analysis.
gistics businesses in the study area. In contrast to huge logistics corpo­ The presentation of the results begins with a breakdown of the lo­
rations, the focus of this study is on individuals and small and medium- gistics managers’ demographics in terms of percentages and frequencies.
scale logistics enterprises. This is taken into account in part because the

3
I.K. Maji et al. Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain 6 (2023) 100097

Fig. 1. Awareness of environment.

These include their gender, age, marital status, level of education, kind
of logistics, and number of years in the logistics business. Table 1 pre­
sents the demographic results. According to the results, men made up
81.7% of the 197 logistics managers, while women made up 18.3%.
Additionally, 70% of responses are between the ages of 26 and 45 while
the other 30% fall into various other age groups. Similarly, 35% of the
logistics managers are married, 35% are single, and the remaining 30%
are divorced.
Green logistics initiatives measured in %
Moreover, the logistics managers’ educational distribution is fasci­
nating, with 15.2%, 40.1%, 34%, and 10.7% for primary, secondary,
tertiary, and postgraduate education, respectively. In the logistic cate­
gories shown in Table 1, the logistics managers’ shares for trans­
portation, warehouses, freight forwarders, and packaging/value
addition are 48.7%, 32.5%, 12.2%, and 6.6%, respectively.
Table 1 also shows the number of years of experience in the logistics
sector. About 78% of the logistics managers are between the ages of one

Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Indeference
Agree
Strongly Agree

GLI1 - GLI5 are items of green logistics

Fig. 2. Initiative of green logistics. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

4
I.K. Maji et al. Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain 6 (2023) 100097

and ten, while the remaining 22% range in age from eleven to greater Table 2
than fifteen. Presenting demographic information in logistics studies is Green logistics and logistics categories test.
consistent with the work of (Hussein Ali et al., 2022). The descriptive Indicators Crosstabulation of green logistics and their categories Test
statistics which include the mean, standard deviation, minimum, statistics
Category of SA A I D SD Total
maximum and observation is presented in Appendix A. The least mean logistic
value is 1.80 while the highest mean value is 3.45. The lowest value of
GLI1 Transport 21 47 19 5 3 95 χ=
deviation is 0.91 while the highest deviation from the mean is 1.39. The Warehouse 16 29 13 3 3 64 23.020a
minimum value is 1 while the maximum value is 6. Freight 2 7 7 7 1 24
Fig. 1 shows the outcomes of logistics managers’ environmental forwarding
evaluations. The results of the question of whether the transportation of Packaging 1 6 3 3 0 13
GLI2 Transport 17 48 18 9 4 96
some commodities can cause environmental pollution (ENV1) show that χ=
Warehouse 9 18 25 8 4 64 15.368a
37% of logistics managers strongly agree, 38% agree, 11% are neutral, Freight 6 9 4 4 1 24
6.6% disagree, and 5.6% strongly disagree. In general, 76% of logistics forwarding
managers concur with the statement. The evaluation of logistics man­ Packaging 1 6 4 1 1 13
agers’ opinions regarding the provision of various services that GLI3 Transport 14 35 31 12 4 96 χ=
Warehouse 9 26 17 7 5 64 12.460a
frequently contaminate the environment (ENV2) indicates that 49% of Freight 0 9 12 2 1 24
logistics managers strongly agree, 33.7% agree, 9.7% are neutral, and forwarding
4% and 3.6%, respectively, disagree. Packaging 2 8 1 1 1 13
The majority of responders, 82%, concur with the statement. The GLI4 Transport 11 21 22 31 11 96 χ=
Warehouse 3 17 27 7 9 63 25.016a
logistics managers’ opinions on whether warehousing and storage of
Freight 0 5 11 6 2 24
goods can lead to environmental damage (ENV3) were also evaluated. forwarding
The results showed that 46.7% of logistics managers strongly agree, 27% Packaging 1 2 7 0 3 13
agree, 11% are neutral, 9% disagree, and 5% strongly disagree. The GLI5 Transport 3 17 29 29 18 96 χ=
majority of logistics managers—roughly 73%—agree with the assertion. Warehouse 0 5 31 16 11 63 20.854a
Freight 2 1 11 8 2 24
Also, 17% of logistics managers highly agree, 36.7% agree, 29.6% forwarding
agree but aren’t sure, 11.7% disagree, and 4.6% strongly disagree with Packaging 0 2 5 6 0 13
the proposition that freight forwarding can cause environmental
Note: unit of parameters is in frequency. GLI1- GLI5 are the construct items for
contamination (ENV4). Overall, the statement is supported by 54% of
green logistics while χ is chi-square test statistics.
logistics managers. Equally, according to the evaluation results of lo­
gistics managers about whether or not most logistics activities involve
environmental externalities (ENV5), 23.5% of logistics managers highly Table 3
agree, 38.8% agree, 20.9% are neutral, 10.7% disagree, and 6% strongly Sustainability and years of experience in the industry test.
disagree. We can infer that the majority of logistics managers are aware
Indicators Crosstabulation of sustainability and years of experience Test
of what environmental contamination comprises because 62% of logis­ statistics
Years of SA A I D SD Total
tics managers as a whole agrees with this. The use of bar chat of this
experience
nature to present results is consistent with the work of (Froio and
Bezerra, 2021). STB1 1–5 17 37 15 7 2 78 χ=
6–10 8 38 17 7 5 75 20.728a
Fig. 2 presents logistics managers’ responses to inquiries on their 11–15 3 15 3 0 2 23
green logistic initiatives and the findings. Responses to the question of >15 0 17 2 0 0 19
whether green logistics initiatives are taken into consideration in their STB2 1–5 14 37 15 9 4 79 χ=
logistics activities (GLI1) showed that 20% of logistics managers highly 6–10 7 36 24 3 6 76 21.766a
11–15 1 12 3 4 3 23
agree, 45% agree, 21% are neutral, 9% disagree, and 3.6% strongly
>15 7 6 3 2 1 19
disagree. 65% of logistics managers agree as a whole that they consider STB3 1–5 7 40 16 10 4 77 χ=
green logistics. 6–10 8 21 33 8 6 76 23.602a
Additionally, the logistics managers’ energy use has been assessed to 11–15 4 11 5 3 0 23
see if efficiency is taken into consideration (GLI2). According to the >15 1 9 4 1 4 19
STB4 1–5 0 11 38 19 11 79 χ=
results, 16.8% of logistics managers highly agree, 41% agree, 30% are 6–10 1 23 28 18 6 76 14.903a
neutral, 11% disagree, and 5% strongly disagree. As a result, around 11–15 0 3 11 7 2 23
56% of logistics managers concur that they use energy effectively. Ac­ >15 0 1 8 8 2 19
cording to the results of the GLI3 survey, 12.7% of logistics managers STB5 1–5 7 24 23 20 5 79 χ = 8.900a
6–10 4 16 34 16 6 76
highly agree, 39.6% agree, 31% are neutral, 11% disagree, and 5.6%
11–15 1 6 8 5 3 23
strongly disagree that emissions are minimized in their logistics activ­ >15 1 6 7 2 3 19
ities. Overall, 52% of logistics managers concur that their logistical ac­
Note: unit of parameters is in frequency. STB1-STB5 are the construct items for
tions reduce emissions.
sustainability while χ is chi-square test statistics.
Additionally, we evaluate the utilization of alternative energy sour­
ces like solar in their operations (GLI4). The results indicate that 12.8%
of logistics managers strongly disagree, 22% disagree, 34.2% are indif­ in their operations or are indifferent in their response. The use of bar
ferent 23% agree, and 7.7% strongly agree. In general, 71% of logistics chat for presentation in this work is consistent with (Froio and Bezerra,
managers are either indifferent or disagree that they use alternative 2021).
energy sources in their daily activities. In addition, logistics managers The study then tests a hypothesis between some of the key de­
were asked regarding the use of green logistics technologies in their mographic variables and the indicators of green logistics and sustain­
logistical activities (GLI5). According to the results, 2.5% of logistics ability to determine the demographic variable that affects these two
managers highly agree, 12.7% of logistics managers agree, 38.6% of main variables. Chi-square and regression analysis were utilized to
logistics managers are indifferent, 29% of logistics managers disagree, determine the relationship between green logistics and the logistics
and 15.7% of logistics managers strongly disagree. Overall, 84% of lo­ category and the relationship between sustainability and years of
gistics managers either disagree that they use green logistics technology experience presented in Tables 2 and 3 respectively. Chi-square method

5
I.K. Maji et al. Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain 6 (2023) 100097

Table 4 survey method was used as a basis for collecting direct data from lo­
Regression of green logistics on sustainability (robust check). gistics managers. The study’s population was divided into four groups,
Dependent Variable: STB3 and the logistics managers were interviewed using the snowball method
of data collection. Out of the retrieved questionnaire, 197 were properly
Model Unstandardized Standardized Test p-
Coefficients Coefficients stat. values filled, as such, they were cleaned, coded, and subjected to descriptive
statistics, chi-square test and regression. About 69% of logistics man­
Beta Std. Beta
Error
agers are aware of the negative effect of logistics activities on the
environment. 53% of the logistics managers confirm that they practice
Constant 2.266 0.443 5.115 0.000
green logistics initiatives while 47% of the logistics managers either
GLI1 − 0.100 0.075 − 0.097 − 1.335 0.183
GLI2 0.182 0.072 0.181** 2.514 0.013 disagree on are indifferent that they practice green logistics initiatives.
GLI3 0.065 0.075 0.063 0.864 0.389 A Chi-square test was utilized to identify the demographic factors
GLI4 − 0.017 0.067 − 0.018 − 0.253 0.801 that influence the adoption of sustainability and green logistics initia­
GLI5 0.014 0.078 0.013 0.183 0.855 tives. The result shows that, except for a few, all the indicators of green
logistics initiatives are highly associated with the categories of logistics.
Distribution of errors tests Hence, green logistics practices are influenced by the categories of lo­
Tests F- p- Durbin-Watson
gistics. Furthermore, results show that most sustainability indicators are
statistics values
Serial correlation 1.466 0.155 statistics 2.199 significantly correlated with years of experience in the logistics sector.
LM test As such, we concluded that logistics managers’ years of experience in the
Heteroscedasticity 0.704 0.620 industry importantly determines sustainability compliance. A robust
test check was estimated using a linear regression between the indicator of
Note: ** indicates significance at 5% level. sustainability as a dependent variable and all indicators of green logis­
tics as the independent variables. The result shows that green logistics
measures the actual departure between observed and expected fre­ practices improve environmental sustainability. This is demonstrated by
quencies. This measure is important in a sampling study to identify the the positive signs of the standardized elasticities of green logistics with
difference between theory and fact. The regression method, on the other evidence of 5% level of significance.
hand, is used as a robust check. The use of these estimation methods is The implications of these results for policy purposes are as follows:
justified in light of its use in related studies (Hussein Ali et al., 2022; approximately one-third of logistics managers are unaware of the
Karaman et al., 2020). The distribution of errors is presented in the negative environmental effects of logistical activities in the research
lower part of Table 4. The serial correction test for error term shows that area. The implication of this finding is that logistic managers that are not
the error term of one period is not correlated with that of another period aware of the impact of their activities on the environment will hinder
while the heteroscedasticity test revealed that the variance of the error government efforts toward ensuring a green logistic practice. Moreover,
term is constant. This is justified by their p-values which is >0.10 for the over half of the logistics managers do not use green logistics in their
two tests. logistical operations. Thus, government policies on green logistics
The findings of the hypothesis test for the relationship between the should pay attention to creating awareness and incentivizing the use of
categories of logistics (transport, warehouse, freight forwarding, and cleaner energy and materials for logistics activities. Additionally, one-
packaging/value addition) and green logistics are shown in Table 2. The third of logistics managers are less aware of the environmental impact
results demonstrate that, except GLI1 and GLI2, all the indicators of of logistics activities. The implication of this is that they are not aware
green logistics initiatives are highly connected to the categories of lo­ that green logistic practices contribute to enhancing the reputation of
gistics. Therefore, we concluded that the logistics categories of the lo­ business as a brand that is environmentally responsible.
gistics managers influence their green logistics initiatives. This suggests Since logistic categories and years of experience in the logistics in­
that the category of logistics plays an important role in the green logistic dustry are significant demographic factors influencing green logistics
practices of logistic enterprises. and sustainability, the study further suggests that the most experienced
Furthermore, the findings of the hypothesis test examining the logistic managers, particularly in the transportation and warehouse,
relationship between logistics managers’ years of experience in the lo­ should provide on-the-job awareness training to others on the benefit of
gistics industry and environmental sustainability are shown in Table 3. green logistics practices. This can be achieved by emphasizing the
The finding indicates that, except for STB4 and STB5, all other sus­ existing forward and backward linkages between the experience and less
tainability indicators are significantly correlated with logistics man­ experience logistic managers in the sector. Finally, the study recom­
agers’ years of experience. As a result, we concluded that the logistics mends that future studies should include interview in addition to using
managers’ years of experience in the logistics industry determine their questionnaire in the survey method to capture more oral interaction
level of sustainability compliance. with logistics managers and improve data collection about green logis­
To improve the quality of result, a robustness check was estimated tics activities. The inability to include the interview aspect, constitute a
using a linear regression between the indicator of sustainability (STB4) limitation of the study. Equally, another limitation is that the study has
as a dependent variable and all the indicators of green logistics serving focused more on small-scale logistics enterprises that are mostly in the
as the independent variables. The regression result presented in Table 4 informal sector.
revealed evidence that green logistics practices improve environmental
sustainability. This is evidenced by the positive signs of the standardized Declaration of Competing Interest
coefficients of green logistics with GLI2 revealing significance at 5%
level. The use of regression is consistent with related studies such as The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
(Wang et al., 2022; Hussein Ali et al., 2022). interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
5. Conclusion and policy repercussions
Data availability
In recent times, there has been a greater need to reduce the envi­
ronmental externalities of logistical operations. This study examines Data will be made available on request.
green logistics and environmental sustainability in Bauchi Metropolis. A

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I.K. Maji et al. Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain 6 (2023) 100097

Table A1 Baah, C., Jin, Z., Tang, L., 2019. Organizational and regulatory stakeholder pressures
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LGT3 197 1 5 1.85 1.042 D’Amico, G., Szopik-Depczynska, K., Dembinska, I., Ioppolo, G., 2021. Smart and
LGT4 196 1 5 1.83 1.043 sustainable logistics of Port cities: a framework for comprehending enabling factors,
LGT5 196 1 5 1.81 0.906 domains and goals. Sustain. Cities Soc. 69, 1–19.
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ENV5 196 1 5 2.37 1.136
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GLI1 196 1 5 2.30 1.011
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GLI2 197 1 5 2.47 1.057
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GLI3 197 1 5 2.57 1.031 logistics service providers in a developing country: an overview in the Brazilian
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RGR1 194 1 5 2.18 1.003 IPCC. Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth
RGR2 197 1 5 2.55 1.094 Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2014.
RGR3 197 1 5 2.75 1.110 Karaman, A.S., Kilic, M., Uyar, A., 2020. Green logistics performance and sustainability
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RGR4 196 1 5 2.64 1.036
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RGR5 196 1 5 3.20 1.007
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