Modelling decision-making on implementing sustainable service innovations

Globalization and outsourcing are raising the competition and cost pressure in logistics. Sustainable service innovations (SSI) might be a way for logistics service providers (LSPs) to address these challenges. However, their implementation is challenging, since little is known about customer attitudes and the deciding factors for SSIs. We aim to explore decision-making regarding the implementation of SSIs. A specific SSI is night-time delivery with battery electric trucks (NDBT). We integrate discrete-choice modelling into a System Dynamics model to analyse decision-making over time and conduct interviews to derive the deciding factors. Costs are the only deciding factor for vendors, while customers include risk and quality as well. NDBT is implemented very quickly on the vendor and customer side, showing that this is a promising SSI for logistics, assuming that enough battery-electric trucks are available on the market.