Examination of environmentally friendly “green” logistics behavior of managers in the pharmaceutical sector using the Theory of Planned Behavior

Logistics activities play a prominent role in enabling manufacturers, distribution channels, and pharmacies to work in harmony. Nowadays these activities have become increasingly striking in the pharmaceutical industry and seen as a development area for this sector. Additionally, green practices are beginning to be more attracting particularly in decreasing costs and increasing image of pharmaceutical companies. The main objective of this study was modeling green logistics (GL) behavior of the managers in the pharmaceutical sector in the theory of planned behavior (TPB) frame via structural equation modeling (SEM). A measurement tool was developed according to TPB. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine subfactors of GL behavior. In the second step, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted for confirming whether there is a relationship between the observed variables and their underlying latent constructs. Finally, structural equation model was conducted to specify the relationships between latent variables. In the proposed green logistics behavior (GLB) model, the positive effect of environmental attitude towards GL, perceived behavioral control related GL, and subjective norm about GL on intention towards GL were found statistically significant. Nevertheless, the effect of attitude towards costs of GL on intention towards GL was not found statistically significant. Intention towards GL has been found to have a positive statistically significant effect on the GL behavior. Based on the results of this study, it is possible to say that TPB is an appropriate theory for modeling green logistics behavior of managers. This model can be seen as a guide to the companies in the pharmaceutical sector to participate in green logistics. •To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigate the green logistics behavior of managers in pharmaceutical sector.•A structural equation model based on the “Theory of Planed Behavior” was developed for the green logistics behavior of managers in pharmaceutical sector.•The proposed model can be seen as a guide to the companies in the pharmaceutical sector to participate in green logistics.