Analysing Enablers of Green Logistics Adoption in Indian Logistics Service Providers: A Multimethod Approach

Environmental sustainability in logistics has become increasingly critical as firms experience growing pressure to reduce their emissions and improve their overall supply chain's ESP. The emissions associated with the transportation, warehousing, and distribution activities of their logistics service providers (LSPs) can significantly affect their ESP. In India, freight transportation is heavily dependent on road transportation, and road freights account for a substantial share in freight‐related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While Green Logistics Practices (GLPs), such as route optimisation, energy‐efficient warehousing, and cleaner transportation, can improve environmental outcomes, their adoption remains uneven, particularly in emerging economies. Existing research has largely examined individual drivers of GLP adoption or focused on manufacturing and broader supply chain contexts, with limited understanding of how these drivers are interrelated and their relative importance in influencing GLP adoption. The study addresses this gap by modelling the inter‐relationships among GLP drivers and weighting their relative importance for LSPs in an emerging economy context. This study analyses the drivers of adoption of GLPs and their relationship with the environmental sustainability performance (ESP) of LSPs using Institutional Theory and Stakeholder Theory. A multi‐method approach is used. Modified Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (m‐TISM) is used to examine the hierarchical relationships among key drivers, while the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to determine their relative importance based on expert evaluations. The m‐TISM findings show that legislative and regulatory compliance and customer pressure are the two primary external drivers. “Willingness to gain competitive advantage,” “collaboration with and commitment from suppliers” and “management commitment and support” emerge as organisational enablers, with management commitment and support identified as the most important internal driver. The results show a clear hierarchy from external pressures to organizational enablers and then to GLP adoption. GLP adoption is linked to environmental sustainability performance of LSPs. The AHP results further show that legislative and regulatory compliance and customer pressure are the two most important external drivers. The study contributes by providing a theoretically informed and context‐specific understanding of the interrelationships and relative importance of GLP drivers for LSPs in India. The findings offer practical insights for managers and policymakers to strengthen the adoption of GLPs and environmental sustainability in the logistics sector.