With globalization and the expansion of cities, the movement of goods and people has significantly increased, both economically and socially. This sector serves as a vital component of any economy, fostering economic and social development. However, its detrimental effects pose significant challenges for countries seeking to pursue sustainable development policies. Being one of the most energy-intensive sectors, it emits greenhouse gases and pollutants, contributing to environmental degradation and noise pollution. While increased traffic and mobility offer benefits, they also strain resources and lead to higher energy consumption. The primary objective of this article is to assess the sustainability of freight transport in the Moroccan city of Fez and propose supportive solutions for various stakeholders in urban logistics. This involves examining the complex relationship between different factors and the sustainability of Urban Freight Transport (UFT), including accessibility, congestion, road occupancy, environmental impacts, health impacts, and road safety. The research data were collected from 100 managers and employees of logistics and transportation companies in Morocco. Structural equation modeling was utilized to test and confirm the hypotheses and the research model. The results of these analyses demonstrated a positive impact relationship between the various factors and the sustainability variable. Subsequently, we suggest the establishment of delivery areas and an urban distribution center as two sustainable logistics solutions. The analysis and its findings can be applied to any other city.

This study investigates the impact of cloud-based supply chain management on organizational agility, using a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The research is motivated by the growing importance of cloud computing in supply chain management and the need for empirical studies that assess its benefits and challenges. Drawing on a survey of 200 supply chain managers from various industries, we develop and test a theoretical model that explores the relationships between cloud adoption and organizational agility. Hypotheses for the study are tested using the structural equation model. According to the study, Cloud-based SCM has a statistically significant effect on agility and flexibility. The findings have important practical and theoretical implications and provide insights that can help managers and practitioners make informed decisions regarding the implementation of cloud-based SCM solutions and the development of strategies that enhance supply chain agility and competitiveness.

This article investigates the causal connection between social capital (SC), knowledge transfer, innovation and firm performance. Based on existing literature on social capital, we develop a research model showing that three dimensions of social capital, including network ties, trust and shared visions, have positive relationships with company performance via two mediators, namely knowledge transfer and innovation. Using a sample of 153 Vietnamese firms, including one to two respondents from each firm, our study applied structural equation modeling to confirm the hypotheses. The results show that all three dimensions of social capital were positively related to firm performance with knowledge transfer and innovation acting as mediators. Knowledge transfer and the company's innovation were found to have a strong as-sociation with each other. Academically, this paper offers an opportunity to investigate social capital in terms of other factors in one specific industry. Practically, our findings motivate firms to focus on improving knowledge transfer on both quantity and quality prospects to boost firm performance.

In recent years, the issue of food packaging waste has become a vital environmental concern in the society which revolves around waste management practices particularly among food hawkers. The problem has been highlighted by many researchers and numerous suggestions have been made in order to improve sustainability with regard to green environment. Food packaging waste ranks the highest contributor to waste. Thus, environmentally friendly food packaging (EFFP) has been introduced in the market to ensure good management practices could be promoted among food hawkers so that environmental pollution can be reduced. However, even though many environmental programs have been implemented, the usage of EFFP among food hawkers has not improved. Hence, this paper aims to propose a specific actual behavior model to determine the usage of EFFP among food hawkers with personal value as a mediator. The development of the model used data that were collected from local food hawkers. Structural equation modeling was used to test related hypotheses. The findings indicated that personal values were a suitable mediator construct. Furthermore, attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral were all found to have had significant effects on the in-tention to use and the actual behavior. Finally, this paper also discusses the limitations of the present study and the contribution it has made.

Students’ loyalty enhances sustainability and survival rate of higher education institutions. Successful university managers and higher education thrive to improve service quality and to build loyalty among local and international students to sustain under the globalization. The aim of this research was to investigate the mediation effect of some key long-term relationship antecedent variables such as trust, satisfaction, and commitment between the perceived service quality and student loyalty latent variables. The relationship between the constructs in the instrument was tested through Partial Least squares (PLS) structural equations methodology using SmartPLS 3 program. The results of this research show that perceived service quality impacts loyalty specifically through commitment. Students’ loyalty is significantly influenced by commitment. However, student satisfaction has no significant direct effects on loyalty. Student trust has a negative effect on student loyalty so the results indicate that commitment fully mediates the effects of perceived service quality on student loyalty. Hence, university managers revitalize and sustain students’ loyalty if along with high quality services they also stimulate bonds and students identification with the university by reinforcing emotional force such as commitment.

The organizational performance at public hospitals differs from the corporate sector and faces maladministration. Further, performance at public hospitals is crucial as it directly affects human lives and endeavors for accessibility to medicines and equipment. This research is designed to determine the mediating role of inventory control practices in proficiency and organizational performance at public hospitals. This paper uses a quantitative research with a survey method using multistage cluster sampling which was performed on a sample size of 200. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis validated the model for Structural Equation Modeling. The findings of this research indicate a significant positive effect and full mediation of inventory control practices between the study variables. Further, the significance indicated that competent and well-trained staff manages inventory efficiently for improved organizational performance through better service quality and reduced cost. An integrated second-order model of this research will benefit the public hospitals, healthcare industry at large, organizations managing mega structured inventory, and to the body of knowledge.

The aim of this research is to understand the effect of product quality, medical price and staff skill on patient’s loyalty through cultural impact in medical tourism. In this study, three exogenous con-structs; namely product quality, medical price, and staff skill constructs were adopted to find their effects on patient’s loyalty. Meanwhile, the cultural impact is also adopted as a mediator construct. This study uses confirmatory approach as Covariance based Structural Equation Modeling (CBSEM) for testing the research hypotheses. The study explores inbound medical tourists loyalty from 324 respondents sampled comprised from different countries using stratified sampling. In terms of the direct effect, the method reveals that medical price and staff skill had positive significant effects on cultural impact and patient loyalty. In terms of indirect effect, the cultural impact mediates the relationships between product quality, medical price, and staff skills on patient’s loyalty.

Teamwork, for competitive advantage, involving techno-socio-cultural aspects of organizations for engineering developments, is gaining importance rather rapidly due to advent of globalization. The purpose of this study is to identify the importance of teamwork culture for new product develop-ment (NPD) success through enriching the NPD team’s capability in Indian manufacturing industries. It accumulates the teamwork culture dynamics and practices, their interrelationships and their combined impact on NPD team’s capability in terms of technological developments for NPD success. This practical analysis collects primary data from 263 design and development experts from Indian engineering manufacturing companies. Structural equation modeling (SEM) approach is applied to investigate the interrelationship among associated variables of teamwork culture and NPD team’s capability for NPD success. Concurrent engineering team (CET), communication infrastruc-ture (CI), system integration (SI) and result orientation (RO) have been recognized as allied factors of teamwork culture. Successful adoption of associated variables ensures NPD success through influencing NPD team’s capability which in turn articulated by technological developments. The realization of combined impact of teamwork and its allied variables escalates technological developments which in turn enriches NPD team’s capability assuring organizational success. The result indicates that both CI and SI support CET for accelerating NPD team’s capability through technological developments. Besides, CET motivates innovation orientation most precisely referred as RO for escalating NPD team’s capability through technological developments for innovation.

The aim of this article is to study the impact of marketing innovation and the visual and verbal ele-ments of packaging on customers purchase intentions. After a brief literature review, an empirical study is conducted among 140 customers of Coca-Cola brand in Tlemcen city. To this end, a model of intention has been developed to be tested by structural equations modeling. The results of this study showed that marketing innovation and the visual and verbal elements of packaging directly affect the purchase intentions of the customers of this brand.

In the domain of international construction projects, managing supply chains presents distinct challenges due to the intricate task of coordinating multiple stakeholders within diverse cultural, economic, and regulatory contexts. Prior research highlights the significance of incentive mechanisms and collaborative procurement practices, yet the effectiveness of these strategies in augmenting performance for international projects has not been extensively examined. This investigation explores the effects of financial and non-financial incentives on the performance of global construction projects, with a focus on the mediating role of cooperation. Data were gathered from Chinese international contractors and local suppliers and subsequently analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The results reveal two separate pathways of influence. Firstly, financial incentives exhibited substantial direct and indirect impacts on project performance; secondly, while non-financial incentives did not directly affect project performance, they significantly impacted cooperation levels, which in turn mediated the relationship between non-financial incentives and project performance. This study provides essential perspectives for managing international construction projects, emphasizing the critical need for the combined application of financial and non-financial incentives to foster cooperation and ultimately achieve superior project outcomes.