Autonomous vehicle adoption and supply chain social sustainability: Delphi study and expert interviews

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Abstract
Purpose: Autonomous vehicle (AV) adoption has both positive and negative impacts on supply chain social sustainability (SCSS). This paper explores and evaluates the actions that organisations take to address the social impacts of adopting AVs and develops a model for SCSS in this context.Design/methodology/approach: This study implemented a Delphi study conducted over three iterative rounds to gather and evaluate the actions that organisations take to address social impacts when adopting AVs in supply chains. The panel consisted of 39 experts from industry and academia. The Delphi findings are validated and extended through 14 follow-up expert interviews.Findings: Our findings identify eight categories of actions used to address the social impacts of adopting AVs in the supply chain. These are discussed in relation to established SCSS indicator categories and an additional category, “reputation” is introduced. The categories are also aligned to the technology adoption process to understand how social sustainability implications can be mitigated as AV adoption matures.Practical implications: Practitioners benefit from prescriptive frameworks which provide actions addressing the social sustainability implications of AV adoption. These can be applied either from a social sustainability indicator or innovation adoption process perspective.Originality/value: This study builds on the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory to propose a refined innovation process model for socially sustainable adoption of AVs. This customised model aligns the new action categories with the established stages of the innovation adoption process, uniquely illustrating how to manage the social sustainability impacts of AV adoption as part of the technology adoption process. Identified social supply chain indicator categories are also aligned with the actions for an alternative perspective.

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