Greening propensity and performance implications for logistics service providers

•Develop the theory of “greening propensity”.•Use empirical data to validate “greening propensity” in the logistics industry.•Examine performance implications.

Stakeholders in the logistics industry have growing concern about the damage caused by logistics operations to the environment. Logistics service providers (LSPs) have taken steps to pursue environmental objectives by involving customers in their operations. This study defines greening propensity (GP) as “involvement of customers to perform logistics activities to achieve environmental performance”. We analyze survey data collected from the logistics industry in Hong Kong to address the following questions: What are the categories of greening capability in LSPs? What are the performance outcomes of LSPs’ greening capability? Theoretical contributions and implications of the study results are discussed.