This study explores how different pillars of sustainable competitiveness affect a country’s logistics performance while considering their interdependencies. The research addresses a significant gap in the logistics and sustainability literature by revealing key interdependencies among the sustainable competitiveness pillars and assessing their positive and negative impacts on logistics performance.
This study utilizes a data-driven Bayesian Belief Network modeling approach to analyze the influence of sustainable competitiveness pillars on logistics performance. Country-level data on the six sustainable competitiveness pillars—“economic sustainability”, “governance”, “intellectual capital”, “resource intensity”, “social capital”, and “natural capital”—were sourced from SolAbility’s Sustainable Competitiveness Index. Logistics performance data were obtained from the World Economic Forum’s Logistics Performance Index.
The analysis reveals that among the sustainable competitiveness pillars, “intellectual capital” is the most critical factor, with a strong positive influence on logistics performance. Conversely, “governance” demonstrates a significant negative impact, indicating that weaker governance structures may act as barriers to logistics efficiency. Additionally, the sub-pillar “financial markets dependency” contributes positively, whereas “education system quality” shows a negative effect, implying that deficiencies in education systems may hinder logistics outcomes. “Natural capital” and “resource intensity” emerge as the least impactful pillars in the context of logistics.
This study contributes to the logistics and sustainability fields by quantifying the influence of specific sustainable competitiveness pillars on logistics performance, providing new insights into how sustainability efforts can strategically enhance or obstruct national logistics capabilities. The findings emphasize the importance of intellectual capital and governance, offering actionable insights for policymakers.
