Guest editorial: Towards decent work in the era of Logistics 4.0

Abstract

Social sustainability holds an important position in logistics management, emphasizing the fulfillment of responsibilities pertaining to human rights, employment, equality, poverty, education, health and safety (Alghababsheh and Gallear, 2022). In the logistics industry, which encompasses the management of goods, services and information flow, the pursuit of social sustainability goals involves the effective management of logistics activities to generate positive impacts on employees, customers and society at large (Fernandes et al., 2023). Among the various social sustainability concerns, decent work is a critical aspect that requires meticulous attention. Decent work, as articulated by the International Labor Organization, encompasses “opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.” It aligns with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 8, titled “Decent Work and Economic Growth,” which underscores the significance of ensuring fair employment practices and fostering economic development. This strategic alignment emphasizes the integral role of decent work in achieving broader sustainable development objectives.In the logistics sector, ensuring decent work for logistics workers remains an ongoing challenge. Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, warehouse logistics in 2023 experienced frequent work disruptions, with 4.1 injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers involving days away from work, job restriction or job transfer [1]. In maritime logistics, seafarers report a higher fatal accident rate than the general workforce (Neis et al., 2025). Beyond physical safety and objective indicators such as injury rates and income, emerging workplace well-being assessments increasingly incorporate subjective indicators, including job satisfaction and happiness. For instance, although the Seafarer Happiness Index in 2025 showed modest improvements, the results continued to reveal concerns related to limited two-way evaluation mechanisms, unfair perceived disrespectful treatment and inadequate organizational support systems [2].While diversity and inclusion can act as powerful drivers of workforce transformation, gender inequality remains a persistent issue in the logistics sector (Preet, 2025). Scott and Davis-Sramek (2023) noted that women drivers remain significantly underrepresented in private carrier, local and less-than-truckload segments. Similarly, a joint survey published by the International Maritime Organization and the Women's International Shipping and Trading Association reported that women constitute only a small proportion of the global seafaring workforce, underscoring the continued need for policies addressing sexual harassment and other forms of workplace discrimination (WTO and WISTA, 2024).Despite persistent social issues yet to be fully addressed, the logistics industry is currently undergoing transformative shifts driven by the fourth industrial revolution, transitioning into the era of Logistics 4.0. Logistics 4.0 can be defined as “the logistical system that enables the sustainable satisfaction of individualized customer demands without an increase in costs and supports this development in industry and trade using digital technologies”; it underscores the pivotal role of humans, particularly employees whose work will be both influenced and supported by advanced technologies (Winkelhaus and Grosse, 2020). Characterized by automation, artificial intelligence, robotics and digitalization, Logistics 4.0 has introduced various innovations in the logistics sector, including autonomous shipping, autonomous ports, delivery drones, delivery robots, autonomous trucks, augmented reality and the Internet of Things. In this era, logistics companies are compelled to adapt to ongoing transformations propelled by automation technologies to enhance social sustainability performance.The objective of this special issue is to enhance understanding of decent work and propose strategies that prioritize the humanization of work and address decent work challenges within the evolving technological landscape of logistics. The contributions selected for this special issue advance theory, measurement and practice related to decent work by offering an evidence-based perspective on how Logistics 4.0 technologies can be aligned with worker well-being and sustainable employment outcomes.This editorial is structured to situate decent work as a central pillar of social sustainability in the era of Logistics 4.0. It begins by introducing the concept of decent work and reviewing what technologies are being introduced into logistics sectors. The editorial then synthesizes existing research linking Logistics 4.0 technologies to decent work from economic, psychological and managerial perspectives, highlighting key conceptual and empirical gaps that motivated the call for papers. Building on this foundation, the editorial reviews and integrates the five papers included in the special issue, illustrating how each study advances understanding of decent work through novel theoretical lenses, methodological approaches and sector-specific insights. The editorial concludes by identifying remaining research challenges and outlining future research directions.The concept of decent work can be understood from multiple perspectives. As summarized by Saragih et al. (2024), decent work may be conceptualized at three levels. At the macroeconomic level, it refers to objective working conditions, such as employment opportunities, social security, social dialog and workplace equality. From a self-value or psychological perspective, decent work reflects individuals' subjective evaluations of their work, drawing on psychological theories and emphasizing factors such as safety, work–life balance, leisure and organizational values. Finally, from a management perspective, decent work focuses on human resource management and organizational behavior, highlighting the role of managers in shaping working conditions and improving individual, team and organizational performance (see Table 1).Among the technologies associated with Logistics 4.0, some are primarily designed to enhance customer convenience, service quality and delivery responsiveness (Hrouga and Sbihi, 2023; Xie et al., 2025). However, even when these technologies are consumer-facing in their original intent, their implementation often requires logistics workers to adapt to new systems, workflows and performance expectations. As a result, many Logistics 4.0 technologies simultaneously shape both service outcomes and work processes, influencing workers' tasks, skill requirements and working environments (Winkelhaus and Grosse, 2020; Perotti et al., 2025). Table 2 summarizes key Logistics 4.0 technologies that may influence logistics workers' work across major logistics sectors.The rapid diffusion of Logistics 4.0 technologies has been reshaping work organization, employment relations and worker experiences across logistics sectors. Table 3 synthesizes the current state of research linking decent work to Logistics 4.0.From an economic and macro-level perspective, the emergence of Logistics 4.0 technologies may pose challenges related to job displacement and employment security (Bratanova et al., 2026). Existing literature suggests that the deployment of automation technologies could potentially displace a substantial number of logistics jobs. At the same time, these technologies may also generate new employment opportunities, particularly in areas such as remote-control operations, digital monitoring centers and supporting infrastructure development (Li and Yuen, 2024; Wang et al., 2023; Sitkin, 2025). Nevertheless, workers' adaptation to increasingly digitalized and automated working environments remains an ongoing and significant challenge for the logistics workforce.The pursuit of equality is another central objective of sustainable development. Existing frameworks have primarily examined barriers to gender equality, including social, psychological and regulatory factors (Zhao et al., 2017; Sarker and Akgün, 2025). While these perspectives provide valuable insights, the implementation of Logistics 4.0 technologies raises additional questions regarding potential changes in working conditions, organizational practices and labor policies. Automation, as discussed by Roberts et al. (2019), may induce structural shifts in the labor market, potentially contributing to higher wages for women and more flexible working arrangements. Narayanan et al. (2023) further emphasize the importance of ensuring a level playing field and equal access to technology-related education and training for marginalized groups, such as female seafarers.From a personal value perspective, Winkelhaus et al. (2022) found that digital technologies tend to support, enlarge or enrich work, leading to neutral or positive changes in task variety, task identity and skill use. In digitally supported but weakly automated environments, workers reported higher job satisfaction, as technologies reduced physical strain while preserving meaningful work and opportunities for learning. In contrast, high levels of automation were frequently associated with task simplification, standardization and deskilling. Workers in highly automated settings often perceived themselves as “part of a machine,” experiencing reduced autonomy, task variety, task identity and feedback. Consequently, technological changes and ergonomic conditions and their associations with value perceptions, such as job satisfaction, perceived respect and professional identity, are critical considerations in evaluating the impacts of Logistics 4.0 on workers (Ashraf et al., 2025; Pang et al., 2026).From a managerial perspective, occupational health management, encompassing both physical and psychological dimensions, is crucial for ensuring work quality. Automation in the logistics industry has the potential to replace repetitive operational tasks, such as the handling and movement of heavy goods, thereby alleviating physical strain and reducing operational risks for logistics workers (Gutelius and Theodore, 2019; Ellithy et al., 2024). Despite these potential benefits, the evolving technological landscape in logistics also raises concerns regarding new health and safety risks associated with changing work conditions. For example, the introduction of autonomous shipping may shift primary workplaces from vessels to shore-based remote control centers, which operate as socio-technical systems involving interactions with both co-workers and automated systems. While such arrangements offer protection from harsh maritime environments, technology-supported work settings may still pose health challenges for maritime logistics workers, including chronic illness, stress and fatigue (Bayrak and Muslu, 2025; Li et al., 2025b). In freight logistics, truck drivers' health has long been recognized as a critical concern due to demanding working conditions and extended driving hours (Xia et al., 2025). The introduction of autonomous trucking technologies has further raised concerns about drivers' anxiety and uncertainty related to job security and role transformation (Van Fossen et al., 2023). As autonomous technologies are increasingly adopted across the logistics industry, it is therefore essential to examine technology-related burnout, anxiety and stress among logistics workers, as well as their antecedents and consequences (Christian et al., 2024; Umair et al., 2023).Logistics workers' representation and negotiation with management constitute another pivotal concern for decent work. The integration of Logistics 4.0 technologies may change the landscape of worker representation. For instance, increasing levels of automation in maritime logistics can weaken the authority traditionally held by onboard officers, redistributing decision-making power and potentially influencing seafarers' sense of agency and contractual relationships (Li and Yuen, 2024). Moreover, the expansion of gig platforms and crowd-sourced logistics work adds further complexity to worker representation and the protection of workers' rights. Gig workers typically lack long-term employment relationships with employers, and gig platforms are often weakly institutionalized with low pay, restricted employment rights, heightened job insecurity and limited access to formal mechanisms of representation, such as labor unions, collective bargaining arrangements or works councils (Li et al., 2023; Ajonbadi et al., 2025; Dasgupta et al., 2025). As a result, numerous concerns have been raised regarding unfair wages, limited legal recognition and insufficient protective measures (Hossain and Mozahem, 2022; Purcell and Brook, 2022).Despite the growing body of research on decent work for logistics workers, several critical gaps remain. From a macro-level perspective, greater attention is needed to the formulation of worker-beneficial codes of conduct that can effectively guide organizational and policy practices (Reinecke and Donaghey, 2021).In interaction with technologies at work, there is a lack of in-depth understanding of the mechanisms shaping logistics workers' dynamic decision-making processes in increasingly complex work environments. In this regard, it is necessary to conduct more high-quality intervention research that explicitly addresses occupational health and safety issues among logistics workers. The digitalized and automated nature of contemporary logistics work calls for closer examination of several under-researched issues, including algorithmic or automated bias, mental fatigue and workers' cognitive and psychological well-being. These concerns are likely to intensify as Logistics 4.0 technologies become more deeply embedded in daily work practices.Furthermore, it is imperative to acknowledge and better understand demographic differences among logistics workers. Gligor et al. (2022) suggest that male and female workers may approach logistics innovations in distinct ways; however, nuanced and systematic research on demographic-specific to logistics technologies remains managerial and organizational strategies to for the and of worker groups, may enhance both and worker well-being. As in future research can be summarized across three key dimensions, each offering for the decent work in the of Logistics et al. the in sustainable management has in limited attention to workers as central Existing research remains on value and with a on identifying that or social sustainability has increasing within this it is often conceptualized through a limited of indicators such as wages and working Logistics 4.0 technologies increasingly work processes, employment relations and performance monitoring in logistics operations, of decent work theoretical and empirical The emerging digitalized work conditions by algorithmic management, and interaction be in the decent work et al., 2020; Winkelhaus and Grosse, a measurement perspective, there remain insufficient that how digital technologies shape workers' autonomy, perceived control and psychological well-being. and Logistics decent work that both objective conditions employment and social and subjective evaluation and perceived key future opportunity in Logistics 4.0 as a technological transformation but as a of sustainable digital systems and human workers. While research have primarily been in of and service performance and Yuen, 2023; et al., the technologies also task decision-making authority and social interactions at work. For instance, in the deployment of autonomous and algorithmic task systems workers' autonomy, of work and et al., 2022). In and autonomous or interactions and employment et al., 2025; et al., 2025). In managerial performance evaluation systems and power relations workers and by and standardization et al., 2023). and these sector-specific technologies work worker and of decent introduction of autonomous technologies is also reshaping how logistics workers with multiple social including co-workers and From a consumer-facing perspective, technologies such as autonomous delivery and autonomous delivery systems could human interaction while introducing new forms of and et al., 2024; Li et al., In to evaluation systems, digital performance monitoring through and increasingly workers' performance assessments and often with levels of or opportunities for negotiation (Li et al., 2023). At the level, automation may logistics workers to with human and more systems, potentially influencing social support, and collective at work 2019; et al., 2025). At the level, these technological transformations may influence workers' and occupational identity, as questions of autonomy, skill and personal value in digitally work environments et al., 2024). research therefore examine how Logistics 4.0 technologies can be designed and to than human fostering meaningful work, skill development and and explicitly address and occupational in how Logistics 4.0 decent work. to differences in task employment regulatory environments and to algorithmic the of digital technologies significantly across logistics such as maritime logistics, delivery and logistics. approach risks these important research across logistics and settings Logistics 4.0 technologies enhance decent work and decent work future research can provide more nuanced theoretical and more policy for decent work in the Logistics 4.0 special issue in decent work, interaction and workforce sustainability in the era of Logistics 4.0. a five papers were selected for of the selected papers can be found in Table five papers address yet distinct of decent work and logistics The study the concept of decent work in automated warehouse environments, work automation and job satisfaction to propose a to Logistics 4.0. 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Moreover, perceived respect is associated with The results further that a social sustainability the positive of on perceived a and perspective, the study advances understanding of employment relationships in digital logistics environments and the role of sustainable organizational in decent work the five papers that in Logistics 4.0 sustainability by influencing how logistics workers decent work through job satisfaction, autonomy, and with digital and autonomous While the in this special issue advance understanding of decent work in the era of Logistics 4.0, also reveal several important for future the current remains and on and and and examine gig work and research this by such as and emerging logistics in the environments, labor and may how decent work. 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While often emphasize economic security or job satisfaction, the papers in this issue to a broader of that systematic research how and how may and work a key research questions that may guide future decent work research in the digital logistics these call for more and research decent work in Logistics 4.0 requires evaluations of or performance outcomes a understanding of how digital systems, organizational practices and shape the experiences of logistics rapid diffusion of Logistics 4.0 technologies is reshaping how logistics systems are and experienced by workers. This special issue to this transformation by a more nuanced and understanding of decent work in digitally logistics environments. The contributions in this issue that the of Logistics 4.0 for decent work are on how technologies are and embedded within organizational and five papers included in this special issue existing in several important the literature economic or evaluations by the nature of decent work, encompassing autonomy, psychological and meaningful with The further that digital automation and algorithmic management or enhance work their across worker and perspectives from human resource management, and social this special issue underscores that decent work in Logistics 4.0 is a technological challenge but a socio-technical and digital transformation risks power work and employment particularly for gig workers and workers in highly automated the in this special issue call for a shift in both research and For there is a need to more theories and measurement that the evolving of decent work while for and For and the the importance of decent work into the of Logistics 4.0 ensuring that supports only operational but also sustainable and this collective that the in this special issue will further dialog and provide a for shaping more and logistics systems in the digital