IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transe/v210y2026ics1366554526001304.html

Reverse logistics and sustainable supply chains in the automotive industry: the roles of AI adoption and top management support

Author

Listed:
  • Yanginlar, Gözde
  • Ansari, Sina
  • Altay, Nezih

Abstract

Although AI is widely adopted to improve efficiency and responsiveness in automotive supply chains, its specific contributions to sustainability across environmental, economic, and social dimensions remain underexplored. This study adopts a multi-method approach and highlights the crucial mediating role of AI adoption in the relationship between reverse logistics implementation and sustainable supply chain performance measures, moderated by top management support, among automotive suppliers and manufacturers. Drawing on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, we collected 450 survey data from 120 automotive suppliers and manufacturers in Türkiye and analyzed them to test our hypotheses. A moderated mediation analysis reveals that AI adoption partially mediates the relationship between reverse logistics implementation and sustainable supply chain performance in the automotive sector. By uncovering the role of top management support as a critical enabler, the findings highlight its role in the relationship between reverse logistics implementation and AI adoption. Complementary interviews with eleven automotive top managers provided deeper insight into how AI tools influence reverse logistics practices and sustainability performance. Together, these findings offer a comprehensive understanding of both the mechanisms and impacts of AI adoption in reverse logistics, providing valuable insights for automotive suppliers, manufacturers, and policymakers aiming to enhance sustainability through AI-driven innovations.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanginlar, Gözde & Ansari, Sina & Altay, Nezih, 2026. "Reverse logistics and sustainable supply chains in the automotive industry: the roles of AI adoption and top management support," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:210:y:2026:i:c:s1366554526001304
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2026.104791
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554526001304
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tre.2026.104791?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:210:y:2026:i:c:s1366554526001304. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600244/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.