The human side of humanitarian supply chains: a research agenda and systematization framework

Standardising job descriptions in the humanitarian supply chain: A text mining approach for recruitment process

PURPOSE

Uncertainty and complexity have increased in recent decades, posing new challenges to humanitarian organisations. This study investigates whether using standard terminology in Human Resource Management processes can support the Humanitarian supply chain in attracting and maintaining highly skilled operators.

METHODOLOGY

We exploit text mining to compare job vacancies on ReliefWeb, the reference platform for humanitarian job seekers, and ESCO, the European Classification of Skills, Competencies, and Occupations. We measure the level of alignment in these two resources, providing quantitative evidence about terminology standardisation in job descriptions for supporting HR operators in the Humanitarian field.

FINDINGS

The most in-demand skills, besides languages, relate to resource management and economics and finance for capital management. Our results show that job vacancies for managerial and financial profiles are relatively more in line with the European database than those for technical profiles. However, the peculiarities of the humanitarian sector and the lack of standardisation are still a barrier to achieving the desired level of coherence with humanitarian policies.

Humanitarian management strategy for interstate movement of migrant workers in India during COVID-19 pandemic: an optimization based approach

India faced a unique situation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic when millions of migrant workers, in different states had to be transported to their home states as workplaces shut down. The governments in respective states faced challenges of minimizing economic impact while ensuring that the risk of infection was also kept under control. This paper develops models based on various secondary data from governmental and relevant non-governmental sources, trying to minimize the economic impact while keeping the rate of infection low and determining whether the migrant workforce should be allowed to stay in their workplace state or allowed to return to their home state. We found that the number of days of lockdown had a significant impact on the results. Fewer days of lockdown resulted in workers remaining in their work state as the preferred outcome, while a higher number of days of lockdown implied that people traveled to their home state and remain there. The proportion of workers who were willing to return to their work state played an important role on the results too. Beyond the threshold percentages of migrant workers returning to their work state, it became optimal for the government to encourage the workers to travel to their home state. However, this was mostly visible for moderate number of lockdown days as the effects on results were dominated by the impact from the number of lockdown days for too high or too low number of lockdown days. There is also an important trade-off between the budget and infection rate 'R' for the governments to consider. Minimizing the risk of infection requires an additional budget.

Barriers to information and digital technology adoption in humanitarian supply chain management: a fuzzy AHP approach

Purpose

The humanitarian supply chain (HSC) area is rich with conceptual frameworks with a focus on the importance of information and digital technology (IDT) applications. These frameworks have a limited scope in investigating and prioritizing barriers to IDT adoption in HSCs. The present study thus identifies and prioritizes the barriers to IDT adoption in organizations involved in HSCs.

Design/methodology/approach

By using a literature review allied with expert discussions and a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP), the study identifies and prioritizes a comprehensive set of barriers that organizations involved in HSCs may consider to improve IDT adoption.

Findings

The study investigates five main barriers (strategic, organizational, technological, financial and human) interlocked with 25 sub-barriers impacting the level of IDT adoption in organizations involved in HSCs. The findings indicate that strategic barriers (SBs) are of greatest importance, followed by organizational, technological, financial and human barriers. The findings indicate the difference in ranking barriers influencing the adoption of IDTs in HSCs compared to the commercial supply chain.

Research limitations/implications

Although a three-step method adopted for this study is rigorous in terms of the way this research is conducted, it is essential to report that prioritization is based on the subjective opinions of the experts.

Practical implications

The findings aim to assist policymakers and practitioners in developing effective strategies to improve IDT adoption in organizations engaged in HSCs. Moreover, the prioritization of barriers provides a systematic way to overcome any barriers to improve HSC performance.

Originality/value

This study is first of its kind that investigates and prioritizes the barriers to IDT adoption in HSCs.

Examining the role of soft dimensions on the implementation of ISO 14000 environmental management systems: a graph-theoretic approach

Organizations worldwide are now embracing different standards while approaching environmental management systems (EMS) to be environmentally and economically sustainable. The ISO 14001 EMS has captured much attention by offering efficient environmental practices organization-wide and throughout the supply chain. Human factors (HFs) are crucial behind implementing ISO 14001 EMS since research articles about ISO 14001 strongly emphasize different HFs. This study proposes a framework that solely focuses on those HFs. Influential HFs are extracted through content analysis of related literature and categorized into 5 main HFs. Opinions from experts in the relevant field about interrelationships and inheritances of the HFs are collected and converted into quantitative data. Incorporating the graph theoretic and matrix approach (GTMA), the data delivered permanent values corresponding to the main HFs and their best and worst possible values. Among the main HFs, EMS Training has been found to have the most scopes for improvement, followed by Employee Empowerment and EMS Teamwork. This study demonstrates a framework about how to assess the role of HFs behind internalizing ISO 14001 EMS and enables organizations to go for competitive benchmarking and to define and adjust goals for environmental management.

Learnings from COVID-19 for managing humanitarian supply chains: systematic literature review and future research directions

The COVID-19 pandemic has been experienced as the most significant global disaster after the Spanish flue in 1918. Millions of people lost their life due to a lack of preparedness and ineffective strategies for managing humanitarian supply chains (HSC). Based on the learnings from this pandemic outbreak, different strategies for managing the effective HSC have been explored in the present context of pandemics through a systematic literature review. The findings highlight some of the major challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as lack of planning and preparedness, extended shortages of essential lifesaving items, inadequate lab capacity, lack of transparency and visibility, inefficient distribution network, high response time, dependencies on single sourcing for the medical equipment and medicines, lack of the right information on time, and lack of awareness about the protocol for the treatment of the viral disease. Some of the significant learnings observed from this analysis are the use of multiple sourcing of essential items, joint procurement, improving collaboration among all stakeholders, applications of IoT and blockchain technologies for improving tracking and traceability of essential commodities, application of data analytics tools for accurate prediction of next possible COVID wave/disruptions and optimization of distribution network. Limited studies are focused on finding solutions to these problems in managing HSC. Therefore, as a future scope, researchers could find solutions to optimizing the distribution network in context to pandemics, improving tracing and tracking of items during sudden demand, improving trust and collaborations among different agencies involved in HSC.

Examining the barriers to operationalization of humanitarian supply chains: lessons learned from COVID-19 crisis

Humanitarian supply chains (HSC) have vital significance in mitigating different disruptive supply chain risks caused due to natural or man-made activities such as tsunami, earthquakes, flooding, warfare, or the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Each kind of disaster poses a unique set of challenges to the operationalization of HSC. This study attempts to determine the critical barriers to the operationalization of HSC in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, we determined and validated 10 critical barriers to HSC operationalization through a Delphi method. Further, we analyzed the barriers by computing the driving and dependence power of each barrier to determine the most critical ones. To do so, we coined a distinct form of interpretive structural modeling (ISM) by amalgamating it with the neutrosophic approach, i.e. Neutrosophic ISM. The findings indicate, "lack of Government subsidies and support, lack of skilled and experienced rescuers, and lack of technology usage" are the most critical barriers that influence the streamline operations of HSC during the COVID-19 outbreak, unlike other disruptions. This is the first-of-its-kind research work that has identified and analyzed the critical barriers to HSC operationalization during COVID-19 in the Indian context. The results and recommendations of the study can aid policymakers and HSC professionals in formulating suitable strategies for successful HSC operations.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10479-022-04752-x.

Can intercluster coordination mediate the relationship between supply chain flexibility and humanitarian supply chain performance?

Purpose

The occurrence of disaster and crisis is increasing. They are complex as well as challenging for humanitarian organizations (HOs) and societies involved in disaster relief operations. This study examined the nexus between supply chain flexibility (SCF) and humanitarian supply chain performance (HSCP) among HOs with empirical evidence from HOs in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed the quantitative method to explore the interdependencies among the variables. In congruence with this, the study employed the purposive and convenience sampling technique to obtain information from 168 respondents. The analysis was done using SPSS version 23 and Smart PLS version 3.

Findings

The outcome indicates that intercluster coordination (ICC) plays a significant mediating role between SCF and HSCP.

Practical implications

The outcome of the study indicates that a closer and stronger relationship ensures proper channel use among the HOs. This will improve the performance of the supply chain of HOs and their ability to deal with supply chain uncertainties.

Originality/value

The discovery of this study provides empirical support to the resource-based view theory. Thus, practitioners in the humanitarian setting give priority to factors that could enhance flexibility in their supply chain as well as implement coordination strategies to achieve a responsive humanitarian supply chain (HSC) system in the quest to minimize the outcome of disasters.

Measuring the impact of donations at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) amid the COVID-19 pandemic

The governments' isolation measures to contain the transmission of COVID-19 imposed a dilemma for the people at the bottom of the pyramid. Since these people have very unreliable sources of income, a dilemma arises: they must either work under risky conditions or refrain from work and suffer from income cuts. Emergency donations of food and cleaning supplies in a pandemic context might be overlooked by government and civil society actors. This paper aims to model the effects of donations on mitigating the negative effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable communities. Applying the system dynamics method, we simulated the behaviour of the pandemic in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) communities and the impacts that donations of food and cleaning supplies have in these settings. We administered surveys to the beneficiaries and local organisations responsible for the final distribution of donations to gather information from the field operations. The results show that increasing access to cleaning supplies in communities through donations can significantly reduce coronavirus transmission, particularly in high-density and low-resource areas, such as slums in urban settings. In addition, we also show that food donations can increase the vulnerable population's ability to afford necessities, alleviating the stress caused by the pandemic on this portion of the population. Therefore, this work helps decision-makers (such as government and non-governmental organisations) understand the impacts of donations on controlling outbreaks, especially under COVID-19 conditions, in a low-resource environment and, thus, aid these hard-to-reach populations in a pandemic setting.

The emergent role of digital technologies in the context of humanitarian supply chains: a systematic literature review

The role of digital technologies (DTs) in humanitarian supply chains (HSC) has become an increasingly researched topic in the operations literature. While numerous publications have dealt with this convergence, most studies have focused on examining the implementation of individual DTs within the HSC context, leaving relevant literature, to date, dispersed and fragmented. This study, through a systematic literature review of 110 articles on HSC published between 2015 and 2020, provides a unified overview of the current state-of-the-art DTs adopted in HSC operations. The literature review findings substantiate the growing significance of DTs within HSC, identifying their main objectives and application domains, as well as their deployment with respect to the different HSC phases (i.e., Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery). Furthermore, the findings also offer insight into how participant organizations might configure a technological portfolio aimed at overcoming operational difficulties in HSC endeavours. This work is novel as it differs from the existing traditional perspective on the role of individual technologies on HSC research by reviewing multiple DTs within the HSC domain.

Assessing the role of industry 4.0 for enhancing swift trust and coordination in humanitarian supply chain

Unpredictable natural and man-made disasters highlight importance of humanitarian supply chain (HSC) to serve people and affected areas. The main challenges of applying effective relief operations are creating "swift trust" and "coordination" between aid organizations. Implementation of Industry 4.0 facilitates coordination and swift trust within HSC performance. The study intends to assess the readiness status of swift trust and coordination between stakeholders as well as to recommend the most suitable Industry 4.0 tools for improving relief operations. Firstly, a comprehensive set of critical success factors for implementing Industry 4.0 tools are introduced. The factors are categorized into limited groups using Exploratory Factor Analysis. In the next step, hierarchy fuzzy expert system is designed for assessing the readiness status of swift trust and coordination as well as to suggest the most suitable Industry 4.0 tool for enhancing HSC performance within given case study. The framework was applied for three aid organizations to address the pandemic disease in Iran. The outcome denotes that the organization has the highest readiness in logistic and transparency while information quality received the lowest readiness value. In addition to that, the organization should invest on the development of Industry 4.0 enablers including "Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics". The study extends organizational information process theory within HSC for reaching competitive advantage by information processing. The study suggests theoretical and practical implications by introducing a comprehensive set of critical success factors for implementation of Industry 4.0 and providing practical advice for enhancing HSC performance.

Assessing the role of industry 4.0 for enhancing swift trust and coordination in humanitarian supply chain

Unpredictable natural and man-made disasters highlight importance of humanitarian supply chain (HSC) to serve people and affected areas. The main challenges of applying effective relief operations are creating "swift trust" and "coordination" between aid organizations. Implementation of Industry 4.0 facilitates coordination and swift trust within HSC performance. The study intends to assess the readiness status of swift trust and coordination between stakeholders as well as to recommend the most suitable Industry 4.0 tools for improving relief operations. Firstly, a comprehensive set of critical success factors for implementing Industry 4.0 tools are introduced. The factors are categorized into limited groups using Exploratory Factor Analysis. In the next step, hierarchy fuzzy expert system is designed for assessing the readiness status of swift trust and coordination as well as to suggest the most suitable Industry 4.0 tool for enhancing HSC performance within given case study. The framework was applied for three aid organizations to address the pandemic disease in Iran. The outcome denotes that the organization has the highest readiness in logistic and transparency while information quality received the lowest readiness value. In addition to that, the organization should invest on the development of Industry 4.0 enablers including "Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics". The study extends organizational information process theory within HSC for reaching competitive advantage by information processing. The study suggests theoretical and practical implications by introducing a comprehensive set of critical success factors for implementation of Industry 4.0 and providing practical advice for enhancing HSC performance.

Assessing the role of industry 4.0 for enhancing swift trust and coordination in humanitarian supply chain

Unpredictable natural and man-made disasters highlight importance of humanitarian supply chain (HSC) to serve people and affected areas. The main challenges of applying effective relief operations are creating "swift trust" and "coordination" between aid organizations. Implementation of Industry 4.0 facilitates coordination and swift trust within HSC performance. The study intends to assess the readiness status of swift trust and coordination between stakeholders as well as to recommend the most suitable Industry 4.0 tools for improving relief operations. Firstly, a comprehensive set of critical success factors for implementing Industry 4.0 tools are introduced. The factors are categorized into limited groups using Exploratory Factor Analysis. In the next step, hierarchy fuzzy expert system is designed for assessing the readiness status of swift trust and coordination as well as to suggest the most suitable Industry 4.0 tool for enhancing HSC performance within given case study. The framework was applied for three aid organizations to address the pandemic disease in Iran. The outcome denotes that the organization has the highest readiness in logistic and transparency while information quality received the lowest readiness value. In addition to that, the organization should invest on the development of Industry 4.0 enablers including "Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics". The study extends organizational information process theory within HSC for reaching competitive advantage by information processing. The study suggests theoretical and practical implications by introducing a comprehensive set of critical success factors for implementation of Industry 4.0 and providing practical advice for enhancing HSC performance.

Can you grow your supply chain without skills? The role of human resource management for better supply chain management in Latin America

Purpose

In line with the knowledge-based view of organizations, this paper aims to analyze how supply chain (SC) employees contribute to the creation of competitive advantage through knowledge acquisition and utilization activities. The authors consider SC employees' skills and competencies, their external network of relationships, their job satisfaction and company investments in training and test how they relate to SC-level outcomes (i.e. SC growth).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors design a research model including the aforementioned variables, and the authors apply structural equation modeling (SEM) to survey data collected from 246 SC professionals in Latin America. The authors also use multi-group analysis to evaluate how the relationships between these variables change with different levels of company investment in training.

Findings

The results show that a broad professional network of relationships contributes to increasing the skills and competencies of SC professionals, which, in turn, impact job satisfaction and SC performance. This reinforces the value of investing in skilled human talent, who can contribute to knowledge acquisition, utilization, and, ultimately, to SC competitiveness. Companies that invest more in training to develop their SC employees benefit from stronger SC outcomes.

Originality/value

This study contributes to broadening the understanding of the impact of human resource management (HRM) on supply chain management (SCM). One of the added original foci of this research is the emphasis on developing countries where these HRM-to-SCM performance relationships have not been studied before.