Cognitive-Biased Decision on Courier Express Parcel Market and the Effect of Narratives

Csilla Bartucz (), Edit Süle and Adrián Horváth
Additional contact information
Csilla Bartucz: Doctoral School of Regional and Business Administration Sciences, University of Széchenyi István, 9026 Győr, Hungary
Edit Süle: Department of Corporate Leadership and Marketing, University of Széchenyi István, 9026 Győr, Hungary
Adrián Horváth: Department of Logistics and Forwarding, University of Széchenyi István, 9026 Győr, Hungary

Logistics, 2025, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Background: Extensive research highlights the economic benefits of collaboration among parcel delivery service providers, yet mutually advantageous cooperative arrangements remain limited in Hungary’s online shopping sector. Service providers typically prefer to operate independently rather than cooperate with competitors. However, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered industry dynamics, leading to increased collaboration. Methods: Against this backdrop, this study explores two key research questions. First, it examines the role of economic narratives in shaping market dynamics. Second, it investigates the cognitive biases influencing decision-makers during the pandemic, based on an analysis of Hungary’s parcel delivery sector. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key actors in the logistics industry, and the data were analyzed using abductive thematic analysis. Results: The findings reveal that specific economic narratives, such as those emphasizing efficiency and safety, indirectly influenced market mechanisms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, the shift in consumer demand towards contactless parcel lockers created new incentives for collaboration. Additionally, this study demonstrates that decision-makers exhibited cognitive biases such as risk aversion, which affected their willingness to cooperate. Conclusions: The research concludes that strong economic incentives can override these biases, fostering collaboration among service providers.

Keywords: cognitive bias; courier express parcel market (CEP); collaboration; parcel delivery; narrative economy; Hungary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L8 L80 L81 L86 L87 L9 L90 L91 L92 L93 L98 L99 M1 M10 M11 M16 M19 R4 R40 R41 R49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/9/1/29/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/9/1/29/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlogis:v:9:y:2025:i:1:p:29-:d:1590549

Access Statistics for this article

Logistics is currently edited by Ms. Mavis Li

More articles in Logistics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().