Social Organizational Life Cycle Assessment of Transport Services: Case Studies in Colombia, Spain, and Malaysia

Jose Luis Osorio-Tejada, Eva Llera-Sastresa (), Sabina Scarpellini and Tito Morales
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Jose Luis Osorio-Tejada: School of Engineering, The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Eva Llera-Sastresa: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
Sabina Scarpellini: Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-17

Abstract: Freight operations are relevant for economies but can negatively impact society due to the performance of activities related to fuel production, vehicle manufacturing, and infrastructure construction. This study applies the social organizational life cycle assessment (SO-LCA) methodology to analyze the social performance of companies involved in the supply chain of road transport companies located in different contexts such as Latin American, European, and Asian. The results of the three case studies are compared to analyze the methodology’s robustness and the influence of development and culture on how social performance is perceived. An approach for the SO-LCA, based on the UNEP/SETAC guidelines, was applied to freight companies in Colombia, Spain, and Malaysia. This integrated approach considers the key components of the transport system: fuels, vehicles, and infrastructure. A multi-tier inventory analysis was performed for 26 social impact subcategories, and reference scale assessments were applied to obtain single and aggregated social performance indexes. Interviews with stakeholders were used to aggregate indexes and identify priorities for decision-making in different contexts. First, the stakeholders concurred that freight companies must focus on labor rights to improve their social performance. The second social category in order of importance was human rights, except in the Spanish case study, where it was socioeconomic repercussions. These results indicate that social impact subcategories are influenced by socioeconomic development and the culture or beliefs of its inhabitants. These specificities help identify hotspots and stakeholder concerns toward which transport companies should direct their efforts. This study expands the range of indicators for social impact measurement and the known literature by investigating social matters for different categories of stakeholders spanning three continents. When these indicators are fully developed, their consideration in management practices could benefit business practitioners.

Keywords: S-LCA; social organizational LCA; freight services; road transport; industrial ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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