The Influence of Responsibility Shift on Warehousing Performance: The Case of Australia

Abstract

Although there have been extensive efforts to eliminate the use of warehousing due to its large requirement of resources, the need to connect manufacturing with end consumers will be difficult to coordinate without it. In Australia, the rapid advance of warehousing has facilitated the challenging demands of customers. In the literature, the challenges of increasing reliability, space utilisation, and reducing waste have been managed through improved warehousing processes and technology; however, the important role of employees through responsibility shift in enhancing warehousing performance has not yet been fully explored. This study therefore examines the relationship between the employment of Responsibility Shift (RS) and Warehousing Performance (WP) in Australia within the processes of Inbounding and Storage through the usage of a survey conducted with department supervisors and managers of warehousing companies which were members of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in Australia (CILTA) and Supply Chain and Logistics Association of Australia (SCLAA). It was found that RS positively causes a statistically significant influence on warehousing performance. This research contributes to enrich the literature on RS as it is perhaps the first study which examines the effects of RS on warehousing performance in Australia while also enables warehousing managers to explore ways to improve warehousing performance from the human resource management perspective. Although being significant both in terms of managerial and academic implications, the generalizability of this research is limited from a small sample size. Future research, therefore, needs to look into a wider population as well as further investigation into the effects of Responsibility Shift in the rapidly developing warehousing business environment elsewhere in the world. Keywords: Responsibility Shift, Warehousing Performance, Inbounding, Storage