Exploring the role of green innovation and logistics in linking Logistics 4.0 to sustainable performance: why digitalisation alone is not enough?

The logistics sector operates as a complex sociotechnical system in which digital transformation and environmental sustainability interact as interdependent subsystems. Logistics 4.0 technologies are credited with improving operational efficiency, yet how they translate into performance remains underexplored within an integrated systems framework. Drawing on a systems science perspective, this study examines how Logistics 4.0 affects logistics performance directly and indirectly through green logistics and green innovation. Survey data from 338 manufacturing firms were analysed using structural equation modelling and mediation analysis. All seven hypothesised relationships were supported: Logistics 4.0 predicted green logistics (β = 0.735), green innovation (β = 0.631) and performance (β = 0.532), and both mediators predicted performance (β = 0.647 and 0.419). The mediating channels differ in magnitude: green logistics carries a strong indirect effect (k2 = 0.331) and green innovation a moderate one (k2 = 0.203), indicating that the operational and strategic routes to sustainable performance mature on different horizons. The study contributes by modelling these constructs as complementary subsystems rather than isolated variables, and by differentiating empirically the strength of the two mediating channels. For managers and policymakers, the implication is direct: digitalisation delivers its full return only when planned jointly with sustainability capability.