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Drawing on the social exchange theory, the objective of this study is to examine employees' perceptions of cultural differences of container shipping companies and its impact on job performance. We also examined the role of the leadership in the relationship between cultural differences and job performance. Survey data collected from 740 employees of container shipping companies in six different countries including UK, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Mainland China, and Taiwan. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. Results indicated that transformational leadership and national cultural differences with respect to uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, and long-term orientation positively influenced job performance, whereas national cultural differences with respect to power distance and masculinity negatively influence job performance. Specifically, this research finds that transformational leadership plays a moderating role on the relationships between national culture differences and job performance. Implications for theory and practices were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the organizational factors, leader-member exchange (LMX), and team-member exchange (TMX) affecting seafarers' safety citizenship behavior (SCB) in respect of seafaring lives. Accordingly, we investigate the moderating effect of the safety climate on these relationships. Questionnaire surveys were collected from 283 seafarers in Taiwan's shipping industry. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized causal relationships and moderating effect. The results showed that each of the safety climate, LMX and TMX were significantly related to the seafarer's SCB; specifically, the safety climate strengthened the relationship between LMX and the seafarer's SCB, but its effect on the relationship between TMX and seafarer's SCB was insignificant. This study contributes to the academic literature on safety since it demonstrates the moderating role of the safety climate in linking LMX, TMX, and safety citizenship behavior that has been underestimated in previous research. We suggest that marine masters and shipping companies should specifically consider the influence of LMX and TMX within a ship, and reinforce a safety climate to improve safety performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the theory of institution, this research investigated the effects of institutional responses, employees' sustainability behavior, and sustainability transformational leadership on sustainability performance at seaports. Data were collected from 296 employees of port corporations in Taiwan, and a moderated mediation model was developed. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, this study identified four port institutional response dimensions: coercive policy, normative training, communication, and motivation. The results showed that sustainability transformational leadership, employees' sustainability behavior, and port institutional responses positively affect sustainability performance. Employees' sustainability behavior plays a mediating role between sustainability transformational leadership and sustainability performance. Specifically, this study found that port institutional responses play a moderated mediation effect on the relationship between sustainability transformational leadership and sustainability performance through employees' sustainability behavior. Lastly, implications for port sustainability practices and institution theory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing the competitive advantage of the international logistics industry is vital for a country. While most literature addresses the competitive advantage of individual organisations from the resource-based view, relatively few studies assess various governmental influences on providing a competitive advantage to the logistics industry. Drawing on the institutional theory and resource-based view, this study empirically identifies the critical drivers that affect competitive advantage in the international logistics industry. From the initial findings and a review of the relevant literature, this study identifies infrastructure, technology, integration, and regulation as the main drivers. Empirical data were collected from 149 international logistics firms or service providers in Taiwan. The study results show that the logistics industry in Taiwan is satisfied with technology and infrastructure. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), this study finds that regulation and integration have a positive impact on the competitive advantage of the international logistics industry, whereas technology has a positive impact on integration. In addition, based on the results of bootstrapping analysis, integration has a mediating effect on the relationship between technology and competitive advantage of the international logistics industry. Theoretical, managerial, and policy implications are discussed to reinforce the competitive advantage of the international logistics industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.01.016 Byline: Kuo-Chung Shang (a), Chin-Shan Lu (b), Shaorui Li (c) Abstract: This study investigated crucial green supply chain management (GSCM) capability dimensions and firm performance based on electronics-related manufacturing firms in Taiwan. On the basis of a factor analysis, six green supply chain management dimensions were identified: green manufacturing and packaging, environmental participation, green marketing, green suppliers, green stock, and green eco-design. According to their factor scores in the GSCM dimensions, a cluster analysis subsequently assigned responding firms into four groups, namely, the weak GSCM oriented group, the green marketing oriented group, the green supplier oriented group, and the green stock oriented group. Differences in firm performance and GSCM dimensions among groups were examined. Results indicated that the green marketing oriented group performed best. Based on the resource-based view (RBV), the capability of the green marketing oriented group was considered to be the deployment of a collection of resources that enables it to successfully compete against rivals. The importance of green marketing as a GSCM capability and strategic asset/critical resources for electronics-related manufacturing firms to obtain a competitive edge is therefore highlighted in this study. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Transportation and Navigation Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, No. 2, Beining Rd., Jhongjheng District, Keelung City 202, Taiwan, ROC (b) Department of Transportation and Communication Management Science, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Road, Tainan City 701, Taiwan, ROC (c) Department of Logistics Management, School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Guanghuacun St. No. 55, Chengdu City 610074, China Article History: Received 16 July 2009; Revised 5 January 2010; Accepted 28 January 2010

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2006.05.001 Byline: Chin-Shan Lu (a), Kee-hung Lai (b), T.C.E. Cheng (b) Keywords: Internet services; Liner shipping; Structural equation model Abstract: Operations research (OR) is the application of modeling techniques to formulate and analyze systems and problems for management decision-making. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a modeling technique applied to social or behavioral systems to understand and explain relationships that may exist among elements of systems. Recently, the measurement of unobservable variables has gained increasing attention in operations management (OM) research, and the OR discipline has begun to recognize the value of applying SEM to analyze behavioral-related OR problems. To provide OR researchers with a better understanding of the application of this useful statistical modeling technique, this paper presents a tutorial on the application of SEM. Specifically, we investigate the key factors that affect the adoption of Internet services in the context of liner shipping services. Although [Fishbein, M.A., Ajzen, I., 1975. Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA; Davis, F.D., 1989. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly 13 (3), 319-339; Ajzen, I., 1985. From intention to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In: Kuhl, J., Bechmann, J. (Eds.), Action Control: From Cognition to Behavior. Springer Verlag, New York, pp. 11-39; Ajzen, I., 1991. The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50, 179-211] have made important contributions to understanding users' behavior of technology acceptance, shippers' resistance to end-user systems is still a common problem in the liner shipping industry. To better predict, explain, and increase shippers' acceptance of technology, we need to understand why shippers accept or reject Internet services provided by their liner shipping carriers. Another objective of this paper is to propose and empirically test a theoretical framework that relates the intention of shippers to use Internet services in liner shipping with its antecedents such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and the perceptions of security protection. Tests of the structural model confirm Davis's (1989) notion that perceived ease of use explains the intention of shippers to use Internet services, and that perceived ease of use has a strong positive effect on perceived usefulness. The results also indicate that security protection influences perceived ease of use. The SEM analyses in this study offer OR researchers a methodological guide on how to assess the efficacy of both a measurement model that relates observed indicators to latent factors and a structural model that poses relationships between constructs. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Transportation and Communication Management Science, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Road, Tainan City 701, Taiwan, ROC (b) Department of Logistics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Article History: Received 5 March 2005; Accepted 2 May 2006