Entrepreneurial innovation and sustainability as drivers of supply chain excellence: evidence from Saudi logistics parks

Abstract

Logistics parks (LPs) have emerged as pivotal coordination platforms in contemporary supply chains, yet the empirical literature offers relatively scant insight into the joint contributions of entrepreneurial innovation (EI) and sustainability practices (SP) to supply chain excellence (SCE) in these environments. Grounded in Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT) and the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework, this study examines the direct effect of EI on SCE and interrogates the mediating role of SP among logistics entrepreneurs operating within Saudi LPs. The Saudi context is particularly instructive: Vision 2030's National Transport and Logistics Strategy has positioned the Kingdom as a global logistics hub, creating urgent institutional pressure for innovation-driven, environmentally responsible LP operations. A structured questionnaire was administered to 374 logistics entrepreneurs via simple random sampling. EI was operationalized across four dimensions—service, product, process, and marketing innovation—and SP was measured along the three TBL pillars: economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Mediation was assessed using Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 4) with 5,000 bootstrap samples and 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals. The results confirm that EI exerts a statistically significant positive effect on SCE ( R 2 = 0.774) and SP ( R 2 = 0.907). SP partially mediates the EI–SCE relationship, with the indirect effect accounting for approximately 73.6% of the total effect ( B = 0.626, 95% CI [0.516, 0.728]). Process innovation is the dominant EI driver (β = 0.374 for SCE; β = 0.413 for SP), while environmental and economic sustainability dimensions exert virtually co-equal effects on SCE (β = 0.361 and 0.362, respectively). These findings extend DCT and TBL scholarship to the meso-level context of LPs and provide actionable, empirically grounded guidance for logistics entrepreneurs, LP managers, and Saudi policymakers.