Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878

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Ocean and Coastal Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman

Active response from managers: Green marine supply chain empathic

response mechanism
Siyang She a, Jianfei Zhu a, Kui Yi b, *, Xue Wang c, **
a
College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518061, China
b
School of Economics and Management, East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang, 330013, China
c
Logistics Department, Shenzhen Polytechnic, Shenzhen, 518055, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The frequency increased in international marine trade has caused serious damage to the marine environment and
Green marine supply chain put forward new requirements for the sustainable development of the marine supply chain. Previous studies have
Company managers examined the effectiveness of marine supply chain management from the single perspective of government,
Empathic response
shipping companies or stakeholders, but few studies have focused on the systematic impact of managers’
Marine environmental protection
Organizational performance
empathy on management. In order to further explore the mechanism of marine supply chain managers’ empathic
response to marine environmental protection, this study analyses the three major steps involved in the man­
agement. This study confirms that policy formulation, “technology-behavior” practices, and stakeholder conflict
balance have a positive impact on the improvement of organizational performance in shipping companies, and
that empathic responses of managers plays a significant moderating role. This study reflects managers’ pro-
environment behavior of ocean and practical thinking of “based on policy system, supported by technical
behavior, and guaranteed by mitigating conflicts”, presents the managers’ empathic response under the external
influence of policy, internal influence of shipping company itself and process influence of stakeholders, outlining
the mechanism of managers’ multiple empathic effect in the face of the green marine supply chain. The above
three elements co-exist in the cognition and emotion of unified management, systematically revealing managers’
psychological performance of managers’ empathy in each stage of the supply chain. This study also creatively
proposes a mechanism of empathic response, initiates new ideas about marine environmental management, and
highlights the important value of empathic response in promoting the synergistic development of economic and
marine ecological benefits.

1. Introduction
With the inevitable trend of global economic integration and the
continuously increased scale of international marine trade, the devel­
opment of marine supply chain has become a heated topic. However, the
overexpansion of international transportation has caused a series of
environmental damages (Mueller et al., 2022). The issues about marine
environment have poised severe challenges to marine supply chain
managers and other stakeholders. The pursuit to construct a green ma­
rine supply chain and to promote the sustainable development of the
shipping industry has haunted on managers (Zhang et al., 2021). Green
supply chain has emerged with the trend of environmental protection
and resource integration. The green supply chain originated from the
United States, and was guided by the concept of green purchase that
proposed by Webb (1994). Subsequently, researchers in the
Manufacturing Research Center of the Michigan State University (MRC)
put forward the concept of green supply chain for the first time, in their
study of Environmentally Responsible Manufacturing (ERM), what also
be known as Environmentally Conscious Supply Chain (ECSC). The
green supply chain management is based on the concept of green
development, taking into account the triple effects of economy, envi­
ronment and society, which differs from the traditional supply chain
management. It is a modern model of supply chain management that
comprehensively considers the impact on environment and resource
efficiency (Abdel- Baset et al., 2019). As a concept of resource applica­
tion for environmentally sustainable development, green supply chain

* Corresponding author. School of Economics and Management, East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang, China.
** Corresponding author. Logistics Department, Shenzhen Polytechnic, Shenzhen, China.
E-mail addresses: ssy1155164037@163.com (S. She), zhu928412@163.com (J. Zhu), 3005@ecjtu.edu.cn (K. Yi), wangxue@szpt.edu.cn (X. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2023.106878
Received 18 April 2023; Received in revised form 28 September 2023; Accepted 4 October 2023
Available online 7 October 2023
0964-5691/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. She et al.
management is an important measure for human beings to create a
better homeland and has been widely used around the world (Badi and
Murtagh, 2019). Nowadays, the shipping industry keeps a grip on the
lifeline of the global economy. And the shipping companies have
implemented green supply chain development strategies and employed
green technology, in order to meet carbon emission standards and
reduce marine pollution and impact of climate change (Yin et al., 2021;
Kandasamy et al., 2022; Xu et al., 2023). Compared with other in­
dustries, the shipping industry is a complicated global supply chain
system. The application of ideas with green management to the marine
supply chain is crucial to maintain economic development and global
prosperity and stability (Pinto, 2020; Chen et al., 2022a).
The current studies on green marine supply chain management
include three major perspectives of policy, “technology-behavior”
practice, and stakeholder conflicts (Yuen et al., 2020). From the
perspective of policy, a remarkable increase of government interest in
sustainable marine practices have been noticed, highlighting the
importance of Sustainable Maritime Supply Chain Management
(SMSCM). Studies show that there are various global regulations on
marine shipping environment have been issued. For example, the In­
ternational Maritime Department (IMO) has introduced new laws and
regulations to strengthen the marine business management, through the
implementation of the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and the
Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) (Chen et al., 2019).
The governments of many countries have enacted a number of measures
to reduce the marine emission, such as levy carbon taxes and provide
green subsidies (Saether et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2021; Ye et al., 2022).
These elements represent the external drives to conduct green marine
supply chain management. From the perspective of “tech­
nology-behavior” practices, shipping companies take actions to realize
the sustainable development of the supply chain and address their
economic, social, legal and other issues throughout the supply chain
(Karagiannis et al., 2022). There are measures with practical response
have been taken, such as comprehensively regulating the quality of
transportation, enhancing technological innovation to promote green
production, and making green purchase (Green et al., 2018; Nielsen
et al., 2019). From the perspective of stakeholders, the academia often
employ the stakeholder theory to explore the pressure created by the
government, investors, suppliers and consumers, as well as to analyze
the impact of multi-party conflicts on practices of corporate governance
(Yuen et al., 2020). To reach the goals of shipping companies to promote
green supply chain management and to maximize their organizational
performance, shipping managers often need to balance the stakeholder
conflicts (Shiel et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2022b). Frankly speaking, the
practices among the green marine supply chain management are
important manifestations of managers’ empathic response to marine
environmental protection. Many studies have shown that empathy exists
in shipping companies’ environmental management, so empathic
response should be taken as a vital perspective to explore managers’
pro-environmental behavior (Clark and Giacomantonio, 2015; Tian and
Robertson, 2019). The interdisciplinary penetration of empathy into the
fields of psychology, communication, sociology and others has widely
increased scholars’ attention to empathic response. The integration of
empathic response into the process of green marine supply chain man­
agement is an emerging topic for researchers.
Generally, existing studies on green marine supply chain manage­
ment explored the relations between policy, practices, and stakeholder
conflicts with organizational performance (Cousins et al., 2019; Liu
et al., 2021) to promote sustainable improvements in the financial,
environmental, operational, and social performance of shipping com­
panies (Subramony et al., 2018; Hua et al., 2021). It is worth noting that
green marine supply chain management is a closed-loop model
composed of three main subjects: government, enterprises and stake­
holders, which is a systematic management covering the elements of
external influence, internal influence and process influence. In green
marine supply chain management, managers pay more attention to
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Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878
government policies, and then carry out technological and behavioral
innovation for shipping companies under the guidance of government
policies. And in the process of innovation, the conflicts with the stake­
holders or other companies in the supply chain are unavoidable. This
whole process of green supply chain management embodies the prac­
tical thinking of “based on policies and systems, supported by techno­
logical behaviors, and safeguarded by mitigating conflicts” with
managers’ pro-marine environmental behaviors and empathic response.
The three major steps in the management are tightly intertwined and
indispensable. However, existing research on marine supply chain
management is mostly addressed from a single subject perspective, with
few studies integrating the three main subjects to explore the impact of
process influence elements on the organizational performance of ship­
ping companies, which to a certain extent drag down the researches and
practices related to green marine supply chain management. This study
addresses the following three questions:
Q1: What is the pattern of managers’ empathic response to the
pressures brought about by green marine policies, and its impact on
organizational performance?
Q2: What is the pattern of managers’ empathic response to the de­
mands of technological and behavioral innovations, and its impact
on organizational performance?
Q3: What is the pattern of managers’ empathic response to stake­
holder conflicts, and its impact on organizational performance?
In the preliminary investigation, the researchers conducted in-depth
interviews with six senior marine supply chain managers and unearthed
three major influencing elements of the green marine supply chain
management from their experience: policies, “technology-behavior”
practice, and stakeholder conflict, thus determined the specific direction
of the study. This study holds the idea that the manager’s response to the
policy, the “technology-behavior” practice and the stakeholder conflict
among green marine supply chain management can provide a more
comprehensive and systematic interpretation of the mechanism of
empathic response, then propose countermeasures to strengthen marine
environmental protection.
Based on the above discussion, this study starts from the perspective
of empathic response, to explore the mechanism of managers’ perfor­
mance in green marine supply chain management in three major steps
one by one, and excavate the pattern of managers’ empathic response
from the perspective of policy to technology-behavior practice to
stakeholder conflict. In order to explore the mechanism for managers’
empathic response of green marine supply chain, this study selected the
managers of shipping companies in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River
Delta and Bohai Rim regions of China as the target participants, and
collected the questionnaires through offline research and online
collection methods. Through model analysis, this study presents the
underlying pattern of the three major steps of management, and verify
managers’ empathic response of green marine supply chain to policies,
“technology-behavior " practices, and stakeholder conflicts balancing
one by one, as well as their role in improving organizational perfor­
mance. The research reveals the mechanism for the impact of managers’
empathic response on organizational performance during the green
marine supply chain management practices. It deeply analyzes the
occurrence, process, and effectiveness of shipping company managers’
empathy, and verifies the proposed hypotheses and theory models in the
research. For its contribution of theoretical implication, this research
innovatively introduces the concept of empathic response into the
studies on green marine supply chain management, proves the existence
of the empathic response mechanism, and expands the theoretical
research in the field of marine management. For it contribution of
practical value, this research demonstrates the key role of managers’
empathic response in shipping companies to promote the coordinated
development of economy and marine ecological benefits, and provides
applicable guidelines for relevant management departments to be in line
S. She et al.
with the construction of green marine supply chains.
The structure of this study in accordance with the idea of “raising
problems, analyzing problems and solving problems”. Firstly, this study
introduced the background, pointed out the necessity and significance of
the study, then put forward the problems that need to be solved. Sec­
ondly, the study proposed the hypotheses and constructs the model
framework, by reviewing the previous studies on empathic response and
green marine supply chain. Then, according to the three steps of the
management, this study explored the role of policy, “technology-
behavior” practices and stakeholder conflict balancing in managers’
empathic response to organizational performance, and analyzed the
pattern of managers’ empathic response to marine environmental pro­
tection with internal, external and process influence. Finally, the study
concluded its theoretical and practical significance, and demonstrate its
limitations and future research.
2. Literature review
2.1. Empathic response
2.1.1. Empathic response in management
The word “empathy” was first translated from German by British
psychologist Edward Titchener in 1909, meaning “feeling into”. Subse­
quently, Rogers, founder of humanism, proposed the empathy concept,
referring to the ability of individuals to perceive the inner world of
others (Rogers and Carl, 1959). Empathy is specifically expressed as the
feeling for the unique experience of others. It is an emotional response
based on an individual’s understanding of others’ emotional state or
situation. It has become a core concept in psychology from then on
(Cameron et al., 2019). With the expansion of the empathy theory, ac­
ademics have integrated the concept into management, communication,
sociology, history, and other related fields to explore the application
value of empathy theory in management. For example, in the field of
communication, researchers have proposed that the rational utilization
of cognitive empathy theory can correct the bias in news content, form a
scientific emotional resonance mechanism, and effectively manage and
coordinate the negative impacts of public opinion conflict (Yi et al.,
2021). In international tourism management, tourists’ correct identifi­
cation and perception can effectively reduce their panic at risk occur­
rences, thus reducing the difficulty of port management (Jin et al.,
2019). Relevant research on museum cultural communication shows
that museums gain public empathy for history by building a bridge
between people and the museum, thereby improving the management
mechanism of museums (Axon, 2020). In addition, a large number of
studies have shown that pro-environmental empathic behavior is a
phenomenon in corporate management, showing the practice from
managers’ empathic responses to protect the environment (Tam, 2013;
Tian and Robertson, 2019). As managers develop cognitive empathy and
emotional empathy for the concept of green development, they are able
to integrate environmental protection awareness into corporate strat­
egy, and to advance the concept of corporate eco-design across the
board, from product R&D and design to large-scale production (Asif
et al., 2020). The measures implement such as pollution control,
resource conservation, and regulation compliance also represented
managers’ empathic responses to environmental protection and sus­
tainable development (Wu and Kung, 2020).
To sum up, empathic response has penetrated into all levels of
management, and the academics has shown great enthusiasm in
exploring the green supply chain management (Sahoo and Vijayvargy,
2020). However, there are few systematic studies on empathic response
in green marine supply chain management. This study aims to enrich the
researches related to empathic response.
2.1.2. Structure of empathic response
Research from a variety of psychological fields, including social,
developmental, evolutionary, and cognitive neurology, pointed out the
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fact that empathic response has a more complex process structure
(Blagrove et al., 2019; Kupetz, 2020). Empathic response has different
levels. It could range from purely emotional contagion to full under­
standing of another’s situation, and from ego-centric responses to
pro-social behavior (Norman, 2014). In this series of exploratory studies,
the academics has made a comprehensive interpretation of empathic
response. The empathic response is actually a reaction that an individual
develops to deal with one or more phenomena and events. Firstly, they
assess the overall situation with their emotional and cognitive empathy.
Secondly, they generate an empathic response accompanied by corre­
sponding behaviors, and then target behaviors to the certain object and
induce behavioral changes (Batson et al., 1995). It can be concluded that
the structure of empathic response includes the following three aspects:
the stimulus source, the physical response, and the effect of the empathic
response.
From the perspective of the stimulus source of empathic response. In
the early research on empathy, some researchers employed near-
infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to guide the children aged
4–6 reading different picture stories to arouse their empathy. Such re­
searches explored the activation of the human brain by purposeful
stimulation (Kupetz, 2020). As empathy is no longer confined to the
neural activation research field, it gradually be treated as a common
phenomenon. For example, with the empathic stimuli from all directions
always affect people’s psychology and thoughts, such as the suddenness,
destructiveness, and complexity of crisis events (Yi et al., 2022). Another
example is that the historical museums always use various strategies to
stimulate emotional responses in visitors (Savenije and De Bruijn, 2017).
The increase in noise, air quality degradation, biodiversity loss, and
water pollution caused by excessive shipping, can trigger people’s
concern on marine environmental protection (Wan et al., 2021; Chen
et al., 2022). Studies mentioned above have discussed the stimulus
sources of the empathic response mechanism. From the perspective of
individuals’ empathic response. Crisis events often create psychological
panic, result in losing control and psychological pressure, with various
bad emotions follow (Abraham et al., 2020). For example, the effective
presentation of the historical museum for culture can bring tourists a
rich tourism experience, arouse their resonance with the historical facts,
and enhance their psychological satisfaction. And the serious marine
environmental damage can also help people learn about the importance
of marine environmental protection, enhancing their understanding of
environmental protection (Choquet and Sam-Lefebvre, 2021; Zhang
et al., 2021). It can be seen that individuals can make corresponding
emotional responses based on their cognition and evaluation. From the
perspective of the presentation of empathic responses, existing studies
have shown that the panic caused by crisis event breaks out on a large
scale, is in need of the effective measures to reduce the adverse conse­
quences of the crisis made by relevant departments (Felkai et al., 2021).
Higher the empathy of tourists holding with historical museum, the
more likely they inherit the history and culture, and create an atmo­
sphere of cultural confidence in the whole society. Just like enterprises
adhere to the green development concept and implement sustainable
development strategies to improve organizational performance (Badi
and Murtagh, 2019). Based on the above discussion, it is clear that the
structure of empathic response follows the theoretical logic of “stim­
ulus-response-result”, which has brought great enlightenment to man­
agers for different applicable scenarios. Therefore, this study believes
that introducing empathic response into the green marine supply chain
management has a great theoretical significance for future research on
managers’ decision-making and behavior.
2.2. Green marine supply chain management and its empathy
characteristics
The concept of green marine supply chain management is actually an
extension of the green supply chain management in marine trans­
portation. Nowadays, many related studies have put an emphasis on the
S. She et al.
sustainable development of marine transportation. Scholars Psaraftis
(2016) pointed out that green marine logistics is an attempt to improve
the ecological and financial performance of the marine supply chain.
Based on the Evolutionary Game Theory, the existing studies in green
marine transportation have explored the long-term green strategies for
shipping companies to improve marine business performance (Lin et al.,
2021; Xu et al., 2021). According to the structural characteristics of
green marine supply chain management, technological innovation,
green product design, and cleaner production have also listed in its
inherent feature, as well as logistics, capital flow, and information flow
(Chen et al., 2021). In the field of green marine supply chain, techno­
logical innovation has been employed to develop a green smart port
system (Min, 2022), to propose an environmental-friendly and effective
comprehensive scheduling model for the port supply chain (Wang et al.,
2020). The strengthen of green production and management of shipping
containers together with other efforts (Ying-en & Xin, 2021) have
become important measures for marine supply chain managers to
improve shipping performance.
From the perspective of structural characteristics of empathic re­
sponses, the overall process reflects managers’ practical response to
green marine supply chain management, from marine environmental
protection to green management measures implementation, and further
to the performance improvement. The academics has made preliminary
research on the impact of manager’ behavior on organizational perfor­
mance in green supply chain. Those researches mainly focused on
managers’ understanding of policies, managers’ practical responses, and
the coordination of stakeholder conflicts (Chen et al., 2021; Yuen et al.,
2020). But the previous researches do not directly prove the existence of
managers’ empathic response mechanism, for most of them are con­
ducted by implicit study method of empathic response. For example, the
government-encouraged low-carbon economy and tax relief policies
motivate managers’ behaviors related to green development (Xia et al.,
2022). Managers’ increased awareness of environmental protection
makes them pay more attention to reduce pollution and emissions in the
marine supply chain (Chen et al., 2019). Stakeholders conflicts drive
managers to perform more comprehensive and effective green man­
agement behaviors (Tran et al., 2020). Although the above studies
highlighted the importance of relevant subjects with green shipping,
they didn’t go deep into the empathic response.
It can be seen that the academics has extensively noticed the series of
practical measures posed by the managers of shipping companies for
marine environmental protection (Fernando et al., 2019), but fail to
focus on their empathic state and the pattern of empathic response for
marine environmental protection. Green marine supply chain manage­
ment is a closed-loop model composed of three main subjects: govern­
ment, enterprises and stakeholders. It is a systematic management that
covers external influence, internal influence and process influence
(Jasmi and Fernando, 2018). Thus, the pattern of managers’ empathic
response for marine environmental protection should be analyzed from
these three perspectives. Because the exploration from a single dimen­
sion may compromise the overall understanding of public for marine
supply chain management. This research argues that the green marine
supply chain policy enacted by the government brings certain pressure
to the development of shipping companies, which represents external
stimulus for managers to respond empathically to marine environmental
protection. The constraint of external pressure requires managers’ active
decisions for the shipping company, to achieve corresponding changes
and innovations of technology. And for the regulation and coordination
of managers, the balance of stakeholder conflicts is an important part to
ensure the operation of the whole supply chain system, which makes
managers constantly think in line with stakeholders, and forces stake­
holders to maintain the same attitude and behavioral tendency toward
marine environmental protection with managers. The analysis from the
above three perspectives revealed a more comprehensive patterns of the
managers’ empathic response to marine environmental protection in the
green marine supply chain, and provided guidelines for relevant
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administrative department.
3. Research hypothesis
3.1. The impact of empathic response brought by green marine supply
chain policies on performance
Green marine supply chain policies refer to a series of strategies that
government issued to incentivize enterprises by means of taxation or
subsidy to achieve the sustainable development of the marine supply
chain. The existing researches on policies of green marine supply chain
focuses on the relationship between policy formulation and corporate
performance (Hossain et al., 2021; Tan et al., 2021). Strandhagen et al.
(2022) and other researchers pointed out that the government’s
increasingly stringent environmental regulation can promote the effec­
tive marine environmental management, so as the manipulative policies
can improve the competitiveness of the shipbuilding industry. Garg et al.
(2022) and other researchers employed the fuzzy analytic hierarchy
process (FAHP) to promote the construction of green ports, which is
important for the government to formulate policies and to better the
shipping environment. From the perspective of practice, Atasu (2019)
appealed that the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requires
companies to extend environmental responsibilities to the whole life
circle of product, including product design, manufacturing and pro­
duction, shipping and circulation, and waste treatment. It can improve
the environmental performance, financial performance, and operational
performance in an all-round manner. It is evident that the existing re­
searches has clearly demonstrated the relationship between the gov­
ernment’s green supply chain policy formulation and organizational
performance of shipping companies. Therefore, the following hypothesis
is proposed.
H1. Green marine supply chain policy has a significant positive impact
on organizational performance improvement.
Meanwhile, the empathic response of shipping companies to gov­
ernment policies has become a heated topic. Managers with better
empathic response to government policies can rationally manage their
emotions and improve the accuracy of execution and decision-making.
Managers’ timely response to government policies, can promote stra­
tegies about marine environmental protection within the company, and
encourage employees to practice pro-environmental behaviors, so as to
improve the operational performance (Cherrafi et al., 2018). Driven by
both the trust in the resources provided by government and their sense
of social responsibility to protect the marine environment, managers
gradually consider the mutual benefits of economy and environment (Xu
et al., 2021a). There are studies show that managers’ active imple­
mentation of marine environmental regulations and related policies can
strengthen the marine environmental awareness within the company
and generate a corresponding culture, and guide the companies to
promote the green supply chain management (Homayouuni et al.,
2021). With the extended producer responsibility (EPR), managers of
shipping companies are more willing to uphold the marine environment
system to reduce their operational risks and economic loss (Chen et al.,
2020; Maitre-Ekern, 2021). It can be seen that managers’ empathic
response to the green marine supply chain policy can promote the
improvement of organizational performance. Therefore, the following
hypothesis is proposed.
H2. Empathic response plays a moderating role between green marine
supply chain policy and organizational performance improvement.
3.2. The impact of empathic response brought by green marine supply
chain “technology-behavior” practices on performance
Green supply chain management is a management model adopted by
shipping companies to achieve comprehensive sustainability. Compared
S. She et al.
with traditional marine supply chain management, green marine supply
chain management practices have unique application value. The re­
searches on green marine supply chain management practices focused
on the impact of behaviors and technologies in green marine supply
chain management on organizational performance (Fernando et al.,
2019). Management behaviors such as planning and strategy formula­
tion carried out by managers based on their cognition can directly affect
the companies’ organizational performance (Khan et al., 2018). Previ­
ous studies have shown that the behaviors of green marine supply chain
management have a significant impact on the performance of port
companies (Kumar et al., 2012). The top managers of shipping com­
panies attach great importance to green marine supply chain manage­
ment, which promotes their environmental protection behavior in
shipping, reduces the environmental governance costs and operational
risks, hence improves the financial performance of shipping companies
(Pinto, 2020; Chen et al., 2021b). There are researchers pointed out that
the companies’ green management, such as improving resource utili­
zation, reducing waste generation, and strengthening the waste recy­
cling, can improve the their environmental performance (El-Kassar and
Singh, 2019). Moreover, previous studies have found that companies’
green marine supply chain management behavior can address their
dilemma of development, create sustainable competitive advantages for
development, and improve the operational performance (Cousins et al.,
2019). It can be seen that the green marine supply chain behavior has a
potential impact on companies’ financial performance, environmental
performance, and operational performance. Therefore, the following
hypothesis is proposed.
H3. Managers’ green marine supply chain behavior has a significant
positive impact on organizational performance improvement.
From the perspective of behavior, managers’ empathy presents the
internal representation of their response to the green marine supply
chain management. In green marine supply chain management prac­
tices, managers with strong empathic response have higher executive
capacity as they put ideals into reality. When managers perceive that
pollution is generated in the marine transportation process they will
immediately implement strategic plans to reduce operational risks and
costs for treating environmental pollution (Cherrafi et al., 2018). The
consensus of the top managers on the concept of green environmental
protection can help the shipping companies to recognize the environ­
mental problems that occur in the shipping process and make timely
adjustments to the operational strategies to improve the financial and
operational performance (Martin-Rojas et al., 2019). When economic
and environmental goals are in conflict, viewing environmental goals as
the primary interest reflects managers’ deep understanding of and
practical response to marine environmental protection (Jones et al.,
2018). The higher the managers’ recognition and response to green
marine supply chain management, the greater their willingness to
engage in environmental protection behaviors, thus highlighting the
competitive advantage of the companies and promoting their sustain­
able development. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed.
H4. Empathic response plays a moderating role between managers’
behavior and the organizational performance improvement.
Technology is the driving force behind economic development and is
also seen as key to mitigating the environmental damage caused by
businesses. At present, the development of green supply chain technol­
ogy in the new era has been characterized by the eco-design, with green
innovation as the driving force and sustainability as the fundamental
purpose. A research trend oriented to green technology and green
innovation has also been formed in the researches related to green
supply chain technologies for transportation. On the one hand, con­
sumers’ green preference encourages companies to implement green
carbon reduction technologies in turbulence and to achieve a win-win
situation between ports and companies by information sharing and
technological innovation (Liu et al., 2022). On the other hand, in the
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Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878
face of the severe challenge of “global trade barriers”, the carrying of
ecological design is an important means to improve the international
competitiveness (Mao et al., 2019). Some attempts have been made to
suggest that the application of Industry 4.0 technologies to the ship­
building industry will promote the sustainable development of both the
shipbuilding industry and the shipping industry (Strandhagen et al.,
2022). Jin et al. (2019) and other scholars pointed out that the identi­
fication and utilization of marine trajectories in shipping companies by
technological innovation, can analyze the shipping risks in the dynamic
and changeable marine environment, so as to minimize the accidents in
the marine transportation. Besides, the green marine supply chain
management technology based on artificial intelligence strongly sup­
ported the implementation of green marine transportation strategies,
while technological innovations also have a significant impact on
environmental performance, financial performance and social perfor­
mance (Bag et al., 2020). Therefore, the following hypothesis is
proposed.
H5. Green marine supply chain technological innovation has a sig­
nificant positive impact on organizational performance improvement.
From the perspective of technology, the empathy of managers is the
external representation of their response to the green marine supply
chain management. Empathy is an indispensable part of the techno­
logical management in the green marine supply chain. The more
attention, emotion, and energy a company pays to the marine environ­
ment, the stronger the company’s desire to reform and innovate the
green marine technology, which improves its capability to design green
products and refine processes, thus strengthening the positive impact of
green marine supply chain technology on organizational performance
improvement (Brown et al., 2019). A large number of studies have
shown that application of empathy to green marine supply chain tech­
nology can accelerate the improvement of resource productivity and
realize the overall improvement of environmental performance, finan­
cial performance, and operational performance (Chatterjee et al., 2018;
Ruepert et al., 2017). In the management of green marine supply chain
technology, managers will elevate their cognition and emotion towards
marine environmental protection to the strategic level, and carry out the
eco-design of green packaging and the planning of routes in an all-round
way, so as to reduce the production and transportation costs. Therefore,
the following hypothesis is proposed.
H6. Empathic response plays a moderating role between technological
innovation and organizational performance improvement.
3.3. The impact of empathic response brought by green marine supply
chain stakeholder conflicts on performance
Green marine supply chain management practices involve complex
stakeholder conflicts. Its essence lies in the game between the subject
who exploits resources and the subject whose own interests are
compromised by the exploitation or environmental protection. Thus the
shipping company is under the multiple pressure from the government,
suppliers, investors, and customers, (Yuen et al., 2020; Chen et al.,
2021a). The complexity of conflicts between stakeholders is determined
by the globalization of green marine supply chain, and how to balance
the conflicts between stakeholders has become a major topic in the ac­
ademic world. Balancing the conflicts among stakeholders means that
managers should take both internal environment management and
external relationship management into account. Internal environmental
management can effectively alleviate the interest conflicts between top
managers and promote the implementation of positive green shipping
behaviors in the companies. Positive improvement of the interest rela­
tionship between the company and its employees can help to increase
the satisfaction and motivation of the employees to work on green
transportation, which can help to improve the organizational perfor­
mance (Hossain et al., 2021). External relationship management can
S. She et al. Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878

increase the trust between the green suppliers and reduce transaction of marine environmental protection and sustainability enhancement,
costs to improve their financial performance. Taking effective measures and thus maximize organizational performance. It is obvious that the
to alleviate congestion in ports not only helps to protect the interests of empathic response of managers has an important impact on the effective
cargo owners, shippers and customers, but also promotes the effective balancing of stakeholder conflicts. Therefore, the following hypothesis is
operation of ports and improves the sustainable operational perfor­ proposed.
mance of shipping companies (Ashrafi et al., 2019; Yi et al., 2022). The
H8. Empathic response plays a moderating role between stakeholder
sustainability of marine transportation and the development of business
conflicts balancing and organizational performance improvement.
strategies depend on the support of various stakeholder bodies for the
development of green marine supply chains (Xu et al., 2021b). There­
4. Research design
fore, the following hypothesis is proposed.
H7. Balancing stakeholder conflicts has a significant positive impact As mentioned above, the behavior of green marine supply chain
on improving organizational performance. managers is “based on the policy system, supported by technical
behavior, and guaranteed by the mitigation of conflicts”, which implies
Managers’ coordination of the stakeholder conflicts is an important
the pattern of empathic response for managers in a three-dimensional
representation of the managers’ empathic response to green marine
system level. For revealing this pattern, this study is carried out in
supply chain. The active participation of managers in green marine
three steps, as shown in Fig. 1. In Step 1, the study explores the empathy
transport is just a signal to other stakeholders to pay attention to marine
of marine managers facing the pressure of marine environmental pro­
environmental protection, so that other stakeholders can develop more
tection at the level of policies, which explores the role of organizational
consistent environmental values and promote the sustainable develop­
performance improvement from the perspective of external influences
ment of the shipping companies (Taljaard et al., 2021). As the main
on marine supply chain management. In Step 2, the study explores the
subject in green marine supply chain, managers need to actively un­
empathy of marine managers strategies implement for sustainable
derstand the environmental protection, the requirements of marine
development at the level of “technology-behavior” practices in shipping
supply chain stakeholders and consumers’ demand for green products,
companies, which explores the role of organizational performance
to achieve a harmonious and stable development relationship with all
improvement from the perspective of internal influence of marine sup­
stakeholders, which plays a significant role in improving the develop­
ply chain management. And in Step 3, the study explores the empathy of
ment performance (Ali et al., 2018). Managers can adapt to the goals of
marine managers in balancing stakeholders’ conflict, which identifies
green marine supply chain management to form a virtuous circle of
the role of organizational performance improvement from the perspec­
“government-company-public-other stakeholders” to achieve the goals
tive of process influence of marine supply chain management. The above

Fig. 1. Overall framework diagram of study.

6
S. She et al. Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878

three steps are unified in the overall management of marine supply Table 1
chain, which means to analyze the managerial behaviors and psycho­ Green shipping supply chain policy measurement scale.
logical states of marine managers in the external, internal and process Measurement Measurement Items Literature
stages of the supply chain, in order to draw more comprehensive Dimensions Sources
conclusions. Green Marine Supply PC1 I think shipping companies should Tuytens and
The purpose of this study is to reveal the emotional psychological Chain Policies actively practice the green marine Devos (2009)
pattern of managers under the three-dimensional system level of marine supply chain policy
supply chain management. To be specific, Step 1 selected 121 marine PC2 I think it is a trend for shipping
companies to practice green marine
managers from ports in the Pearl River Delta region of China as partic­ supply chain policy
ipants to analyze the impact of managers’ empathic responses to the PC3 I can feel the changes brought by
green marine policy on organizational performance, and to reveal its the green marine supply chain policy
patterns in terms of external influence. Step 2 selected 167 marine Organizational FP1 I think the implementation of the Zhu, et al.
Performance green marine supply chain policy (2008)
managers in the Yangtze River Delta port cluster in China as participants
improves the financial performance of
to analyze the impact of managers’ empathic response to technological shipping companies
innovation and behavioral change on organizational performance under FP2 I think the implementation of the
the requirements of sustainable development, and to reveal its patterns green marine supply chain policy
in terms of internal influence. Step 3 selected 156 marine managers in reduces the energy cost of shipping
companies
the Bohai Sea port cluster in China as participants to analyze the impact FP3 I think the implementation of green
of managers’ empathic response to stakeholder conflict on organiza­ marine supply chain policy reduces the
tional performance, and to reveal its patterns in terms of process influ­ waste disposal cost
ence. These researches aim to systematically explore the patterns of FP4 I think the implementation of green
marine supply chain policy reduces
managers’ empathic response to marine environmental protection
environmental penalty
affected by external, internal and process influences. EP1 I think the implementation of the
green marine supply chain policy
5. Scale design and data collection improves the marine environment
EP2 I think the implementation of the
green marine supply chain policy
This study conducted a three-step research and analysis based on the reduces the occurrence of
logical thinking for managers of green marine supply chain, namely, environmental incidents
“based on policy system, supported by technical behavior, and safe­ EP3 I think the implementation of the
guarded by mitigating conflicts”. The study selected managers of ship­ green marine supply chain policy
reduces the emission of waste gas and
ping companies in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Bohai
water
Rim regions of China as the target participants, performed scale design, OP1 I think the implementation of the
field research and data collection. green marine supply chain policy
improves shipping efficiency
5.1. Step 1 OP2 I think the implementation of the
green marine supply chain policy
streamlines operational processes
In Step 1, the research was guided by Question 1, and scale design OP3 I think the implementation of the
and data collection were carried out according to the participants, laying green marine supply chain policy
the foundation for exploring the pattern of managers’ empathic response improves the companies’ capacity
utilization
and its impact on organizational performance with green marine supply
OP4 I think the implementation of the
chain policy. green marine supply chain policy
Scale design. According to the research objects, this research in­ strengthens interdepartmental
volves the measurement variables of three dimensions, namely man­ collaboration
agers’ policy cognition, empathy, and organizational performance, OP5 I think the implementation of the
green marine supply chain policy
which have been adapted and designed based on a large number of lit­ improves the on-time delivery of the
eratures. This study was based on the policy implementation theory company
proposed by Fullan and drew on the policy cognition scale developed by OP6 I think the implementation of the
Tuytens and Devos to design the items for managers’ policy cognition green marine supply chain policy
increases the enthusiasm of employees.
dimensions (Tuytens and Devos, 2009). The study adapted and designed
Empathic Response ER1 I would be eager to learn about the Vachon and
the questions related to EP, FP, and OP in the Green Supply Chain green marine supply chain policy Lynam (2016)
Management Practices Scale proposed by Zhu et al. to form a new ER2 I think practicing the green marine
questionnaire for measuring the organizational performance dimensions supply chain policy is a sign of
(Zhu et al., 2008). The moderating variable of empathic response was undertaking corporate responsibility
ER3 I want my shipping company to
measured based on the ACME empathy scale proposed by Vachon and implement positive environmental
Lynam (Vachon and Lynam, 2016). The study adopted a 5-point Likert practices
scale and invited five experts who have long been engaged in marine ER4 I would like to reduce pollution of
supply chain management to review each item. And the final question­ the marine environment by
participating in environmental activities
naire was formed after several modifications, as shown in Table 1.
Questionnaire distribution. This study selected ports in the Pearl
River Delta region of China, which is being greatly influenced by the to conduct an undifferentiated questionnaire survey. Due to some con­
development framework and policy outlines of China’s Greater Bay flicts between the timing of the field research and the managers’
Area. The study conducted a questionnaire survey by means of field schedules, the study finally collected 121 valid questionnaires, with a
research with top managers such as executive directors, supervisors, valid return rate of 87.68%. The age distribution of the participants is
general managers and deputy general managers of shipping companies between 35 and 55 years old, all of them are port managers with rich
in the ports in the Pearl River Delta region. After a reasonable matching experience in marine supply chain management, of which there are 97
of the samples, the study selected 138 managers of shipping companies

7
S. She et al. Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878

male managers, accounting for 80.17%, and there are 24 female man­ Table 2
agers, accounting for 19.83%. Green marine supply chain technology-behavior measurement scale.
Measurement Measurement Items Literature
5.2. Step 2 Dimensions Sources

Green Supply Chain CT1 I think the processes of shipping Perotti et al.
In Step 2, the research was guided by Question 2, and scale design Technology companies should be designed to reduce (2012);
and data collection were carried out according to the participants, laying the consumption of energy and other Shang et al.
the foundation for exploring the pattern of managers’ empathic response natural resources (2010)
CT2 I think the shipping companies
with the impact of organizational performance with “technology- should use clean methods for their
behavior” innovation of green marine supply chain. products transportation
Sample selection. In this study, the fastest growing and strongest CT3 I think the shipping companies
port cluster among the five major port clusters in China, the Yangtze should consider the negative impact on
the environment during the design,
River Delta, was selected to conduct a questionnaire survey on the
transportation, sale, use and disposal of
managers involved in the marine supply chain. Firstly, the researchers products.
consulted experts who have long been engaged in research on marine CT4 I think the shipping companies
supply chain management to gain a preliminary understanding of the should establish a scientific and effective
current development of green marine supply chain in China. The re­ environmental monitoring system for
management.
searchers then selected three senior managers of shipping companies in Green Supply Chain CB1 I think the shipping companies Shang et al.,
the Yangtze River Delta port region to carry out telephone interviews, Behavior should encourage employees to 2010
with questions such as “In the context of the increasing attention to participate in green shipping practices
marine environmental protection, has there been any change in the CB2 I think the shipping companies
should regularly monitor their shipping
development mode of ports compared to the past?”, “How do port de­
environment
partments work on the green supply chain in China?”, “How are port CB3 I think the shipping companies
departments practicing green marine supply chain practices?” and should purchase energy-efficient and
“Which sectors do you think are making the fastest transition?”. The environmentally friendly products
researchers audio-recorded the interviews and organized the managers’ CB4 I think the shipping companies
should make environmental
responses afterwards, and summarized the main measures of managers’ commitments to their customers and put
green marine supply chain behaviors at present, laying a practical them into practice
foundation for the subsequent questionnaire design. Organizational FP1 I think the practice of green marine Zhu, et al.
Scale design. Based on telephone interviews, the research again Performance supply chain provides economic benefits (2008)
for the shipping companies
reviewed a large number of literatures. Referring to the items of Internal
FP2 I think the practice of green marine
Environmental Management (IEM), Customer Cooperation (CI), and supply chain reduces the energy cost of
Supplier Cooperation (SI) in the Self-Administered (SAM) questionnaire the shipping companies
proposed by Foo et al. (2018), and adapting the Internal Management FP3 I think the practice of green marine
Support Questionnaire (IMS) proposed by Perotti et al. (2012) and supply chain reduces the cost of waste
disposal
Shang et al. (2010), the researchers designed a questionnaire to measure FP4 I think the practice of green marine
the behavioral dimensions of green supply chains. And according to supply chain reduces environmental
Green Manufacturing (GM) and Environmental Management Tool Scale penalty
(EMT) proposed by Shang et al. (2010), and Ecological Design Scale FP5 I think the practice of green marine
supply chain improves the
(ED) proposed by Zhu et al., the researchers designed a measurement
competitiveness of the shipping
questionnaire for technological green supply chain dimensions. Based companies
on the items of environmental performance (EP), financial performance EP1 I think the practice of green marine
(FP), and operational performance (OP) in the green supply chain supply chain improves the marine
management practice scale proposed by Zhu et al., the researchers environment
EP2 I think the practice of green marine
designed a questionnaire to measure the organizational performance supply chain reduces the occurrence of
dimensions of green supply chain (Zhu et al., 2008). Likewise, the re­ environmental incidents
searchers took the ACME empathy scale proposed by Vachon and EP3 I think the practice of green marine
Lynam, to measure the empathic response as a moderating variable supply chain reduces the emission of
waste gas and water
(Vachon and Lynam, 2016). The research also invited five experts to
EP4 I think the practice of green marine
conduct a reassessment. And the final version of the questionnaires was supply chain meets the standards of
proposed after careful revisions, as shown in Table 2. The research national environmental legislation
distributed 200 questionnaires online, and finally collected 167 valid OP1 I think the practice of green marine
questionnaires, with a valid return rate of 83.5%. supply chain improves the shipping
efficiency
OP2 I think the practice of green marine
5.3. Step 3 supply chain has streamlined the
operational process
In Step 3, the research was guided by Question 3, and scale design OP3 I think the practice of green marine
supply chain improves the company’s
and data collection were carried out according to the participants, laying
capacity utilization
the foundation for exploring the pattern of managers empathic response OP4 I think the practice of green marine
and the role of organizational performance by balancing the stake­ supply chain enhances
holders’ conflicts of green marine supply chain policy. interdepartmental collaboration
Sample selection. This research selected the managers of the port OP5 I think the practice of green marine
supply chain improves the on-time
cluster in China’s Bohai Rim as the participants. Since those ports con­ delivery of the company
nect to both the international world and the Chinese mainland, and
(continued on next page)
owns a geographic location with certain political, economic, and cul­
tural value, the stakeholder conflicts involved in the marine supply

8
S. She et al. Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878

Table 2 (continued ) Table 3

Measurement Measurement Items Literature
Stakeholder conflict measurement scale.
Dimensions Sources Measurement Measurement Items Literature
Dimensions Sources
Empathic Response ER1 I would be eager to learn about the Vachon and
practice of green marine supply chain Lynam (2016) Stakeholder PC1 I think the stakeholder conflict has Tuytens and
ER2 I think the practice of green marine Conflict increased the pressure on the company’s Devos (2009)
supply chain practices is the sign of development to some extent
undertaking corporate responsibility PC2 I think the company needs to
ER3 I expect my shipping company to constantly consider the relationship with
implement positive environmental major suppliers
practices PC3 I think harmonious relationship
ER4 I would like to reduce pollution of between managers and employees is very
the marine environment by participating important
in environmental activities Organizational FP1 I think the balance of shareholder Zhu, et al.
ER5 I think the managerial green Performance conflicts improves the financial (2008)
practices promotes sustainable performance of shipping companies
development of the company FP2 I think the balance of shareholder
conflicts can reduce the energy costs of
shipping companies
chain of this area could be more representative. The researcher first FP3 I think the balance of shareholder
contacted the top managers of the shipping companies from Dalian Port, conflicts can reduce waste disposal costs
FP4 I think the balance of shareholder
Tianjin Port, Rizhao Port and Yantai Port by email, to explain the pur­
conflict can reduce the environmental
pose of this questionnaire research and expect their assistance in penalty
distributing and collecting the questionnaires afterwards. FP5 I think the balance of shareholder
Scale design. Drawing on the multidimensional conflict scale pro­ conflict can improve the competitiveness
posed by Carlson et al. (2000), the researchers designed a scale to of the company
FP6 I think the balance of shareholder
measure the conflict dimensions of stakeholders. The researchers conflicts can increase the market share of
designed a questionnaire to measure the organizational performance shipping companies
dimension by adapting the items of environmental performance (EP), EP1 I think the balance of stakeholder
financial performance (FP), and operational performance (OP) from the conflicts reduces the occurrence of
environmental accidents
Green Supply Chain Management Practices Scale proposed by Zhu et al.
EP2 I think the balance of stakeholder
(Zhu, et al., 2008). Based on the ACME Empathy Scale proposed by conflicts reduces the occurrence of
Vachon and Lynam, the researchers measured the empathic response as environmental accidents
a moderating variable (Vachon and Lynam, 2016). After the question­ EP3 I think the balance of stakeholder
naire design was completed, the researcher sent the survey invitation conflicts reduces the emission of waste
gas and water
together with the questionnaire to the liaisons in the shipping com­ EP4 I think the balance of stakeholder
panies, who would send it to the company’s managers in each part of the conflicts meets the standards of national
marine supply chain, as shown in Table 3. In this research, 180 ques­ environmental legislation
tionnaires were distributed and 156 valid questionnaires were collected, EP5 I think the balance of stakeholder
conflicts improves the internal operating
the valid return rate was 86.67%.
conditions of the shipping companies
OP1 I think the balance of stakeholder
6. Model analysis and data discussion conflicts improves the effectiveness of
cooperation in the company
OP2 I think the balance of stakeholder
The researcher cleaned and analyzed the data collected from the field
conflicts simplifies operational processes
research. Smart PLS 4.0 software was employed to conduct a PLS-SEM OP3 I think the balance of stakeholder
modeling analysis, in order to verify the hypotheses proposed in the conflicts increases the company’s
previous section, and to further explore the pattern of marine supply capacity utilization
chain managers’ empathic response to marine environmental OP4 I think the balance of stakeholder
conflicts enhances interdepartmental
protection. synergy
OP5 I think the balance of stakeholder
conflicts improves the on-time delivery of
6.1. The impact of empathic response brought by policy on performance
the company
OP6 I think the balance of stakeholder
Analysis of measurement model results: First, the results of PLS- conflicts increases the efficiency of
SEM analysis (in Fig. 2) showed that the distribution of the factors of shipping
each dimension conforms to the expected scale settings. The required Empathic Response ER1 I would be eager to understand the Vachon and
relationship between stakeholders Lynam (2016)
indicators of each component are above 0.70 to ensure their reliability, ER2 I think the balance of stakeholder
indicating that the data structure is relatively rational. The three conflicts is a sign of undertaking
required indicators have all received good feedback. Second, the reli­ corporate responsibility
ability and validity of the variables are shown in Table 4. The Cron­ ER3 I would like my shipping company to
implement positive environmental
bach’s Alpha coefficient of each latent variable is greater than 0.85,
practices
indicating a good reliability. The combined reliability (CR) is greater
than 0.85, further proving the high reliability of the model. The average
variance extracted (AVE) of each latent variable was greater than 0.6, consistent with the structural validity.
and rho_A value was greater than 0.85, indicating that those data an Analysis of structural model results: The Bootstrapping approach
adequate validity and met the relevant statistical standards. From the was employed to conduct a t value test of each path coefficient and the
above analysis, there is a perfect overall fitting effect of the model in detailed data are shown in Table 5. Two-tailed tests were applied to
Research 1. The internal potential relationship is well interpreted, the determine the significance of the path coefficients. The results show that
estimation effect is acceptable, and the reliability indicators are

9
S. She et al. Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878

Table 4 Table 7
Facet reliability and validity of model. Path coefficients and significance test results.
Cronbach’s rho_A Combination Average Initial Sample Standard T-statistic P
Alpha reliability Extracted sample mean deviation (|O/ value
Variation (O) (M) (STDEV) STDEV|)
(AVE)
Behavioral > 0.258 0.262 0.058 4.419 0.000
Financial 0.857 0.867 0.904 0.703 Financial
Performance Performance
Empathy 0.928 0.931 0.948 0.821 Behavioral > 0.186 0.188 0.051 3.624 0.000
Environmental 0.911 0.913 0.944 0.848 Environmental
Performance Performance
Operational 0.911 0.917 0.932 0.696 Behavioral > 0.413 0.410 0.048 8.588 0.000
Performance Operational
Policies 0.882 0.889 0.927 0.809 Performance
Technical > 0.306 0.305 0.064 4.749 0.000
Financial
Performance
Table 5 Technical > 0.277 0.282 0.067 4.135 0.000
Path coefficients and significance test results. Environmental
Performance
Initial Sample Standard T-statistic P
Technical > 0.108 0.113 0.044 2.487 0.013
sample mean deviation (|O/ value
Operational
(O) (M) (STDEV) STDEV|)
Performance
Empathy > 0.703 0.699 0.068 10.359 0.000 Empathy > 0.408 0.412 0.058 7.076 0.000
Financial Financial
Performance Performance
Empathy > 0.605 0.603 0.105 5.739 0.000 Empathy > 0.655 0.647 0.061 10.702 0.000
Environmental Environmental
Performance Performance
Empathy > 0.494 0.489 0.131 3.763 0.000 Empathy > 0.642 0.638 0.052 12.446 0.000
Operational Operational
Performance Performance
Policies > 0.424 0.424 0.058 7.281 0.000 Regulatory Effort 0.296 0.290 0.052 5.730 0.000
Financial 1 > Financial 0.000
Performance Performance 0.001
Policies > 0.355 0.353 0.075 4.700 0.000 Regulatory Effort 0.258 0.245 0.058 4.421 0.000
Environmental 2>
Performance Environmental
Policies > 0.431 0.429 0.081 5.290 0.000 Performance
Operational Regulatory Effort 0.163 0.155 0.050 3.232
Performance 3 > Operational
Regulatory Effort 0.192 0.200 0.082 2.336 0.020 Performance
1 > Financial Regulatory Effort 0.258 0.257 0.067 3.847
Performance 4 > Financial
Regulatory Effort 0.298 0.303 0.127 2.346 0.019 Performance
2> Regulatory Effort 0.097 0.097 0.035 2.739 0.006
Environmental 5>
Performance Environmental
Regulatory Effort 0.314 0.323 0.156 2.010 0.045 Performance
3 > Operational Regulatory Effort 0.130 0.129 0.042 3.114 0.002
Performance 6 > Operational
Performance

Table 6 the P-value of each path was less than 0.05, indicating that they all
Facet reliability and validity of model. passed the significant test and the model has a high structural stability
Cronbach’s rho_A Combination Average (Streukens and Leroi-Werelds, 2016). H1 and H2 have been verified.
Alpha reliability Extracted Table 5 also showed that the path coefficient of “Policy > Financial
Variation performance” is 0.424 (T value is 7.281, P value is 0.000), indicating
(AVE)
that marine environmental protection policies have a significant posi­
Behavioral 0.822 0.850 0.879 0.645 tive impact on the financial performance improvement of shipping
Financial 0.824 0.841 0.876 0.590
companies. The path coefficient of “Policy > Environmental perfor­
Performance
Empathy 0.868 0.877 0.905 0.658 mance” is 0.355 (T value is 4.700, P value is 0.000), indicating that
Environmental 0.733 0.761 0.832 0.555 marine environmental protection policies have a significant positive
Performance impact on the environmental performance improvement of shipping
Operational 0.807 0.819 0.867 0.569 companies. The path coefficient of “Policy > Operational performance”
Performance
Technical 0.853 0.881 0.900 0.694
is 0.431 (T value is 5.290, P value is 0.000), indicating that marine
environmental protection policies have a significant positive impact on
the operational performance improvement of shipping companies.
for 1.96<T < 2.58, the path coefficient is significant at the 0.05 level; for Therefore, H1 is verified. In Table 5, the T value of “Moderating effect 1
2.58<T < 3.29, the path coefficient is estimated to be significant at the (empathic response × policy) > Financial performance” is 2.336, and
0.01 level; and for T > 3.29, the path coefficient is significant at the the P value is 0.020, indicating that the interaction is significant. The T
0.001 level. The results of Bootstrapping approach showed that all the value of “Moderating effect 2 (empathic response × policy) > Envi­
path coefficients of the structural equation model had high T-values and ronmental performance” is 2.346, and the P value is 0.019, indicating

10
S. She et al. Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878

Fig. 2. Empathic response mechanism of green marine supply chain policies.

that the interaction is significant. The T value of “Moderating effect 3 protection policies can improve the impact of empathic response on the
(empathic response × policy) > Financial performance” is 2.010, and financial performance of shipping companies, which suggests that the
the P value is 0.045, indicating that the interaction is significant. It is acceptance of government’s green marine supply chain policies with a
clear that policy plays a moderating role with the impact of managers’ positive attitude is an important measure to improve the sustainable
empathic response on the organizational performance improvement of development of shipping companies.
shipping companies. H2 is verified.
This study examines the impact of managers’ empathic responses on
6.2. The impact of empathic response brought by “technology-behavior”
performance brought by about green marine supply chain policy, ana­
practices on performance
lyzes the mechanisms of managers’ empathic responses to marine
environmental protection from the perspective of the external influence,
Analysis of measurement model results: First, the results of PLS-
provides initial support for the theoretical model of this study, and an­
SEM analysis (in Fig. 3) showed that the distribution of the factors of
swers the question 1 posed by the study. The research results show that
each dimension conforms to the expected scale settings. The required
managers’ empathic response to green shipping environmental
indicators are all above 0.65 to ensure data reliability, which indicates

Fig. 3. Empathic response mechanism of green marine supply chain behavior.

11
S. She et al.
that the data structure is relatively rational. The four required indicators
have all received good feedback. Second, the reliability and validity of
the variables are shown in Table 6. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of
each latent variable is greater than 0.70, indicating their good reli­
ability. The combined reliability (CR) is greater than 0.80, further
proving the high reliability of the model. The average variance extracted
(AVE) of each latent variable was greater than 0.55, and rho_A value was
greater than 0.75, indicating that the data met the relevant statistical
standards. From the above analysis, there is a perfect overall fitting ef­
fect of the model in Research 2. The internal potential relationship is
well interpreted, the estimation effect is acceptable, and the reliability
indicators are consistent with the structural validity.
Analysis of structural model results: The Bootstrapping approach
was employed to conduct a t value test of each path coefficient and the
detailed data are shown in Table 7. Two-tailed tests were applied to
determine the significance of the path coefficients. The results show that
for 1.96 < T < 2.58, the path coefficient is significant at the 0.05 level;
for 2.58 < T < 3.29, the path coefficient is significant at the 0.01 level;
for T > 3.29, the path coefficient is significant at the 0.001 level. The
results of Bootstrapping approach showed that all the path coefficients
of the structural equation model had high T-values and the P-value of
each path was less than 0.05, indicating that they all passed the signif­
icant test and the model has a high structural stability (Streukens and
Leroi-Werelds, 2016).
Table 7 showed that the path coefficient of “Manager behavior >
Financial performance” is 0.258 (T value is 4.419, P value is 0.000),
indicating that the managers’ behavior with the green marine supply
chain has a significant positive impact on financial performance. The
path coefficient of “Manager behavior > Environmental performance” is
0.186 (T value is 3.624, P value is 0.000), indicating that the managers’
behavior with green marine supply chain has a significant positive
impact on environmental performance. The path coefficient of “Manager
behavior > Operational performance” is 0.413 (T value is 8.588, P value
is 0.000), indicating that the managers’ behavior with green marine
supply chain has a significant positive impact on operational perfor­
mance. In summary, the green marine supply chain management
behavior implemented by shipping company managers has a significant
positive impact on organizational performance, so H3 is verified. The
path coefficient of “Supply chain technology > Financial performance”
is 0.306 (T value is 4.749, P value is 0.000), indicating that the
improvement of green supply chain technology has a significant positive
impact on financial performance. The path coefficient of “Supply chain
technology > Environmental performance” is 0.277 (T value is 4.135, P
value is 0.000), indicating that the improvement of green supply chain
technology has a significant positive impact on environmental perfor­
mance. The path coefficient of “Supply chain technology > Operational
performance” is 0.108 (T value is 2.487, P value is 0.013), indicating
that the improvement of green supply chain technology has a significant
positive impact on operational performance. It can be seen that the
technological innovation of green marine supply chain has a significant
positive impact on the organizational performance of shipping com­
panies. H4 is verified.
In Table 7, the T value of “Moderating effect 1 (empathic response ×
behavior) > Financial performance” is 5.730, and the P value is 0.020,
indicating that their interaction is significant. The T value of “Moder­
ating effect 2 (empathic response × behavior) > Environmental per­
formance” is 4.421, and the P value is 0.019, indicating that their
interaction is significant. The T value of “Moderating effect 3 (empathic
response × behavior) > Financial performance” is 3.232, and the P value
is 0.001, indicating that their interaction is significant. In summary, the
empathic response of managers plays a moderating role as green marine
supply chain behaviors improve organizational performance. H5 is
verified. The T value of “Moderating effect 4 (empathic response ×
technology) > Financial performance” is 3.847, and the P value is 0.000,
indicating that the interaction is significant. The T value of “Moderating
effect 5 (empathic response × technology) > Operational performance”
12
Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878
is 2.739, and the P value is 0.006, indicating that the interaction is
significant. The T value of “Moderating effect 4 (empathic response ×
technology) > Environmental performance” is 3.114, and the P value is
0.002, indicating that the interaction is significant. It is clear that green
marine supply chain technology-behavior innovation plays a moder­
ating role with the impact of managers’ empathic response the organi­
zational performance improvement of shipping companies. H6 is
verified.
This study examines the impact of managers’ empathic responses on
performance brought by “technology-behavior” practices about green
marine supply chains, analyzes the mechanisms of managers’ empathic
responses to marine environmental protection from the perspective of
the internal influence, and provides further support for the theoretical
model of this study, and answers the question 2 posed by the study. The
research results showed that stronger the managers’ empathy towards
the environmental protection of the marine supply chain, easier the
actions be taken to promote the development of the shipping company
and the marine environmental protection. Green marine supply chain
technology should be treated as the core element of company trans­
formation, and it has an impact on the organizational performance
improvement of shipping companies. And the more attention managers
pay to the technological innovation, the more obvious the organiza­
tional performance improvement of the shipping companies.
6.3. The impact of empathic response brought by stakeholder conflict
balancing on performance
Analysis of measurement model results: First, the results of PLS-
SEM analysis (in Fig. 4) indicated that the distribution of the factors of
each dimension conforms to the expected scale settings. The required
indicators are all above 0.65 to ensure data reliability, indicating that
the data structure is relatively rational. The three required indicators
have all received good feedback. Second, the reliability and validity of
the variables are shown in Table 8. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of
each latent variable is greater than 0.85, indicating that each latent
variable has good reliability. The combined reliability CR is greater than
0.90, further proving the high reliability of the model. The average
variance extracted (AVE) of each latent variable was greater than 0.60,
and rho_A value was greater than 0.75, indicating that the data met the
relevant statistical standards. From the above analysis, there is a perfect
overall fitting of the model in research 3. The internal potential rela­
tionship is well interpreted, the estimation effect is acceptable, and the
reliability indicators are consistent with the structural validity.
Analysis of structural model results: The Bootstrapping approach
was employed to conduct a t value test of each path coefficient and the
detailed data are shown in Table 9. Two-tailed tests were applied to
determine the significance of the path coefficients. The results show that
for 1.96 < T < 2.58, the path coefficient is significant at the 0.05 level;
for 2.58 < T < 3.29, the path coefficient is significant at the 0.01 level;
for T > 3.29, the path coefficient is significant at the 0.001 level. The
results of Bootstrapping approach showed that all the path coefficients
of the structural equation model had high T-values and the P-value of
each path was less than 0.05, indicating that they all passed the signif­
icant test and the model has a high structural stability (Streukens and
Leroi-Werelds, 2016).
Table 9 showed that the path coefficient of “Stakeholder conflict
balance > Financial performance” is 0.418 (T value is 6.507, P value is
0.000), indicating that stakeholder conflict balance has a significant
positive impact on the financial performance of shipping companies.
The path coefficient of “Stakeholder conflict balance > Environmental
performance” is 0.310 (T value is 3.807, P value is 0.000), indicating
that stakeholder conflict balance has a significant positive impact on the
environmental performance of shipping companies. The path coefficient
of “Stakeholder conflict balance > Operational performance” is 0.304 (T
value is 3.514, P value is 0.000), indicating that stakeholder conflict
balance has a significant positive impact on the operational performance
S. She et al. Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878

Fig. 4. Empathic response mechanism of green marine supply chain stakeholders.

Table 8 Table 9
Facet reliability and validity of model. Path coefficients and significance test results.
Cronbach’s rho_A Combination Average Initial Sample Standard T-statistic P
Alpha reliability Extracted sample mean deviation (|O/ value
Variation (O) (M) (STDEV) STDEV|)
(AVE)
Empathy > 0.614 0.617 0.066 9.253 0.000
Financial 0.885 0.888 0.913 0.635 Financial
Performance Performance
Empathy 0.860 0.863 0.915 0.782 Empathy > 0.604 0.605 0.084 7.203 0.000
Environmental 0.918 0.925 0.939 0.754 Environmental
Performance Performance
Operational 0.894 0.906 0.919 0.656 Empathy > 0.450 0.455 0.092 4.898 0.000
Performance Operational
Stakeholder 0.894 0.895 0.934 0.825 Performance
Conflict Stakeholder 0.418 0.423 0.064 6.507 0.000
Conflict >
Financial
of shipping companies. It can be seen that the stakeholder conflict bal­ Performance
Stakeholder 0.310 0.313 0.081 3.807 0.000
ance has a significant positive impact on the organizational performance
Conflict >
of shipping companies. H7 is verified. In Table 9, the T value of Environmental
“Moderating effect 1 (empathic response × stakeholder conflict bal­ Performance
ance) > Financial performance” is 2.144, and the P value is 0.033, Stakeholder 0.304 0.309 0.087 3.514 0.000
indicating that their interaction is significant. The T value of “Moder­ Conflict >
Operational
ating effect 2 (empathic response × policy) > Environmental perfor­
Performance
mance” is 2.762, and the P value is 0.006, indicating that their Regulatory Effort 0.218 0.213 0.102 2.144 0.033
interaction is significant. The T value of “Moderating effect 3 (empathic 1 > Financial
response × policy) > Financial performance” is 2.722, and the P value is Performance
0.007, indicating that their interaction is significant. It is clear that the Regulatory Effort 0.343 0.338 0.124 2.762 0.006
2>
stakeholder conflict balancing plays a moderating role with the impact Environmental
of managers’ empathic response the organizational performance Performance
improvement of shipping companies. H8 is verified. Regulatory Effort 0.327 0.319 0.120 2.722 0.007
This study examines the impact of managers’ empathic responses on 3 > Operational
Performance
performance brought by stakeholder conflicts balancing in green marine
supply chain, analyzes the mechanisms of managers’ empathic re­
sponses toward marine environmental protection from the perspective development and organizational performance improvement of shipping
of the process influence, provides solid support for the proposed theo­ companies, and stakeholder conflicts balancing can effectively promote
retical model, and answers question 3 posed by this study. The research the sustainable management of shipping companies. The more managers
results showed that the marine environmental protection behavior of are capable to balance stakeholder conflicts, the less impediments they
various stakeholders has an important impact on the sustainable have to implement green marine supply chain behaviors, and the more

13
S. She et al.
benefits they get from the sustainable development of shipping
companies.
7. Conclusions and prospects
7.1. General discussions
Global marine environmental issues have brought serious challenges
to the organizational performance improvement of shipping companies.
Building a green marine supply chain to enhance the sustainable
development of shipping companies has become a common goal for
managers. This study analyzes the internal and external influencing el­
ements and the overall process from the perspective of empathic
response, and constructs a framework model of green marine supply
chain management, to explore the role of managers’ empathic response
on performance. The results show all that policies, “technical-behav­
ioral” practices, and stakeholders related to green marine supply chain
have a significant impact on the organizational performance, and the
empathic response plays a moderating effect, thereby the proposed hy­
potheses are verified. This study also proves that the series of environ­
mental regulations and policies issued by the government can shape the
behaviors of shipping companies, and the higher the level of managers’
empathic response to government policies, the more significant the ef­
fect of the policies on the enhancement of organizational performance is.
Therefore, the external influencing elements on managers’ empathic
response of green marine supply chain are verified. Because the higher
level of managers’ empathic response also leads to more significant ef­
fect of their technological and behavioral innovation on organizational
performance. Therefore, the internal influencing elements on managers’
empathic response of green marine supply chain are verified. Whereas
the operational performance of green marine supply chain management
is affected by stakeholder conflicts, balancing the conflicts can promote
the organizational performance of the shipping companies. Therefore,
the process elements on managers’ empathic response of green marine
supply chain are verified. In general, this study explores the impact of
managers’ empathic response on organizational performance from the
three major steps in the process of green marine supply chain manage­
ment one by one. The theoretical model proposed in the study, and the
pattern of empathic response in the green marine supply chain man­
agement are verified, which guides the managers of shipping companies
to promote synergistic development of economy and ecology in the new
era.
7.2. Theoretical significance
This study has three theoretical significances. First, this study ex­
pands the research on the field of marine transportation management
and highlights the theoretical value of managers’ empathic response.
Previous studies on marine transportation management have mostly
focused on managers’ exact response in terms of port infrastructure
development (Chen et al., 2020), container shipping management
(Ying-en and Xin, 2021), and oil leakage accidents of tankers (Wan and
Chen, 2018), while paying less attention to managers’ empathy. This
study comprehensively explores managers’ empathy from the perspec­
tives of policies, “technology-behavior” practices, and stakeholder
conflicts, which bridges the gap of previous studies that have only
addressed the issue from a single level, and also confirms the theoretical
contribution of managers’ empathic response to marine environmental
protection. Second, this study reveals the structure of empathic
response, demonstrates the existence of an empathic response pattern,
and expands the series of studies on empathy theory in green marine
supply chain management. Current research on empathy focuses on
psychology, communication, and marketing management, among which
empathy, empathic communication, and empathic marketing are
favored by scholars (Kupetz, 2020; Wang et al., 2022; Yi et al., 2021).
However, existing studies have not yet explored whether the pattern of
14
Ocean and Coastal Management 245 (2023) 106878
empathic response exist in the field of marine management. Therefore,
this study introduces empathic response into the field of marine supply
chain management, reveals that the structure of empathic response
follows the theoretical logic of “stimulus-response-result”. In order to
prove the existence of empathic response in green marine supply chain
management, this study digs deeper into the pattern, process and effect
of managers’ empathic response on green supply chain management.
Finally, this study devotes to the sustainable development of manage­
ment from the perspective of psychology, and discusses the behavior and
psychology of managers from the perspective from policy to “techni­
cal-behavioral” practices to stakeholder conflicts. It reveals the mecha­
nisms and patterns of change in the behavioral and psychological
tendency of marine managers. These psychological researches on marine
managers can be extended into the field of management, providing a
theoretical basis for the integrated development of management and
psychology.
7.3. Practical significance
This study has three practical significances. First, this study inspires
the government to issue policies on green marine transportation in a
timely manner, as the external pressure can lead shipping companies to
strengthen their regulation of green marine supply chain behaviors. The
manager of marine transportation should also give enough support and
understanding to the government policies and stabilize the stakeholder
conflict. Second, this study inspires shipping companies to promote
positive organizational performance with the help of green technology
and green innovation. Shipping companies should take the government
policy as a guide and actively carry out internal technological innova­
tion and employee behavior management. On the one hand, enterprises
should conduct environmentally friendly design to promote green
innovation; on the other hand, managers should enhance the environ­
mental awareness of their employees, and encourage cooperation within
the company to improve the operational performance. From the
perspective of long-term development of the company, the reconcilia­
tion of conflicts can be treated as a comprehensive manifestation of
managers’ practical ability. Thus, this study puts forward higher re­
quirements on the managers of marine transportation companies, who
should not only enrich their experience and knowledge, but also train
good social skills to coordinate multi-party conflicts in a rational
manner. When stakeholder conflicts occur, managers should commu­
nicate directly with multiple stakeholders, understand their needs, and
actively reach a consensus among all parties. Overall, this study inspires
managers to systematically consider policies, “technology-behavior”
practices, and stakeholder conflicts at a strategic level, to strengthen the
empathic responses and behavioral support for all three. Only by
applying a comprehensive and systematic strategic thinking to imple­
ment green marine supply chain management can the organizational
performance be improved.
7.4. Limitations and future focuses
There are some deficiencies in this research, which can be further
expanded. First, this research selected the managers of ports and ship­
ping companies in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Bohai
Rim region of China for investigation. The research conclusions are
limited to specific regions to a certain extent in China, without paying
attention to the green marine supply chain management in countries.
Therefore, the scope of the survey can be expanded, combined with case
studies, to improve the universality of the research conclusions. Second,
this research adopted the small-sample survey method, and only in­
vestigates managers’ practices and views on the green marine supply
chain in a specific period of time. Future research can follow up on
different shipping companies to conduct multi-stage surveys, pay more
attention to the dynamic process of psychological changes in the prac­
tices of green marine supply chain management, and further explore the
S. She et al.
empathic response mechanism between green supply chain manage­
ment and organizational performance, and then provide companies with
applicable measures to maintain sustainable competitive advantage in
dynamic changes.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Siyang She: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing original draft,
Data curation, Visualization. Jianfei Zhu: Writing original draft, Data
curation, Formal analysis, Visualization. Kui Yi: Methodology, Writing
review & editing, Supervision. Xue Wang: Data curation, Visualization,
All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
The data that has been used is confidential.
Acknowledgment
This study is supported by the funding of Project of National Natural
Science Foundation of China (No.51879156); General Project of the
Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science Project
(22YJC630190).
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