How Trust Affects Hazardous Chemicals Logistics Enterprises’ Sustainable Safety Behavior: The Moderating Role of Government Governance

Li Hou, Bin Yao, Yibo Hu, Keyi Yu and Kebiao Yuan ()
Additional contact information
Li Hou: School of Economics and Management, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China
Bin Yao: School of Economics and Management, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China
Yibo Hu: School of Economics and Management, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China
Keyi Yu: School of Economics and Management, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China
Kebiao Yuan: School of Economics and Management, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: Hazardous chemicals logistics (HCL) management improves safety and operational efficiency; however, the management process faces challenges, including safety hazards. Trust in the government is critical for shaping the sustainable and safe behavior of hazardous chemicals logistics enterprises (HCLEs). However, its interaction with governance mechanisms remains unclear, and a systematic categorization of governmental regulatory methods is lacking. To improve the relationship between HCLEs and the government, this study employs structural equation modeling to examine the effects of trust and governance mechanisms on HCLEs’ sustainable safety behavior. Trust is categorized into cognitive trust and affective trust based on trust and reinforcement theories, whereas government governance is divided into motivational and punitive governance. A conceptual trust–government governance–HCLEs’ behavior model that introduces government governance as a moderating variable is formulated. The results show that trust significantly improved HCLEs’ behavior; motivational governance positively moderated the impact on the relationship between trust and HCLEs’ behavior; and punitive governance failed. These results emphasize the importance of trust-based partnerships between governments and HCLEs, as well as motivational governance, in building compliance and improving safety. Moreover, this study expands our understanding of the interrelationships among trust, government governance, and HCLEs’ sustainable safety behavior in the HCL industry.

Keywords: hazardous chemicals logistics; trust; reinforcement theory; sustainable safety management; government governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3577/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3577/ (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:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3577-:d:1635775

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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