Simulationsbasierte Bewertung von Nachhaltigkeitskriterien im Transportbereich: Eine systematische Literaturrecherche

Transportation is crucial for economic prosperity and the quality of life. Yet, it is also associated with negative externalities (e.g. emissions). Developing and implementing more sustainable means of transportation is one of the major concerns of researchers and policy-makers to improve liveability and contribute to environmental conservation. The use of simulation to evaluate sustainability-related indicators of transportation systems has received increasing attention within the last decades. However, research and practice still lack a comprehensive overview of common performance indicators for different transportation modes that are particularly suitable to be analysed by means of simulation-based research. Therefore, we employ a systematic literature review to delineate and conceptualize the status quo of simulation-based sustainability research in the transportation sector. We provide insights on the appropriateness of different simulation methodologies and tools for various transportation modes and sustainability measures and identify research trends and knowledge gaps to provide guidance for prospective simulation-based research

Decreasing Shopping Duration by Altering Choice Environments? An Empirical Investigation of Individual and Hybrid Nudges in the Context of e-Grocery

Boosted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the utilization of online grocery shopping has gained an increasing relevance over recent years. Increasing customer value by reducing friction can be a key option for online grocers to maintain and increase growth, customer loyalty and satisfaction. Being easy and inexpensive to implement, digital nudges can offer distinct benefits for consumers and online grocers. In this context, we investigated the potentials of digital nudging, using anchoring, social norms and a hybrid nudging concept as rational choice triggers. Our results indicate that anchoring and hybrid nudges have a significant effect on purchase frequency, while none of the investigated concepts is capable of reducing the overall shopping duration. Interestingly, in combination with anchoring nudges, social norms do have a significantly influential effect, although individually proven to be ineffective in low involvement decision contexts such as buying groceries online

Integration of Passenger and Freight Transportation using Autonomous Shuttles: A Simulation Study on Sustainability-Related KPIs

Autonomous and integrated passenger and freight transport (APFIT) is a promising approach to tackle both, traffic and last-mile-related issues such as environmental emissions, social and spatial conflicts or operational inefficiencies. By conducting an agent-based simulation, we shed light on this widely unexplored research topic and provide first indications regarding influential target figures of such a system in the rural area of Sarstedt, Germany. Our results show that larger fleets entail inefficiencies due to suboptimal utilization of monetary and material resources and increase traffic volume while higher amounts of unused vehicles may exacerbate spatial conflicts. Nevertheless, to fit the given demand within our study area, a comparatively large fleet of about 25 vehicles is necessary to provide reliable service, assuming maximum passenger waiting times of six minutes to the expense of higher standby times, rebalancing effort, and higher costs for vehicle acquisition and maintenance

Exploring Digital Social Norms Nudges in E-Grocery: Typical Consumer Testimonials with a Warm Glow

Digitization offers several possibilities to alter consumer decisions to support social concerns. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of personalized digital social norm nudges on consumer decisions enriched with the theory of warm glow on e-grocery buying decisions with the aim of supporting social projects. Specific pro-social behaviors targeted were supporting fair payment of the producers of grocery goods, social inclusion projects and initiatives against poverty by deciding for a specific choice option. A between-subjects experiment was performed with the help of a questionnaire using a mock-up mobile grocery store to measure product choices. Results showed that claims supporting pro-social initiatives have a significant impact on buying decisions. Perceived product recommendation influenced our model positively, while we had a negative price impact. The study suggests that warm glow theory and enriched social norm nudges are effective tools for behavior change towards social initiatives

Consumers Choice? Fostering Sustainability in Grocery Deliveries Through Digital Nudging

Individuals are increasingly confronted with transactions and decisions in digital environments. This shift in consumption behaviour and context has a high potential to influence operational business processes in various fields such as the grocery retail industry and contribute towards more sustainable operations across different levels. Accordingly, organizations need to identify opportunities to actively influence the purchase behaviour of consumers in line with social, economic and ecological objectives. Therefore, based on a threefold research approach, we develop and test several digital nudges to influence customer decision-making in the context of online grocery sustainability. First, digital nudge principles and instantiations are deduced from theory, before we develop several digital nudges and test their perception effectiveness by means of an eye-tracking experiment. Finally, the most effective nudge designs are employed in a sophisticated online-experiment, empirically indicating the significant value of hyperbolic discounting and anchoring for influencing e-grocery delivery preferences

Waste of Time and Money? Constructing an Applicability Framework for Organizational Use of Simulation Studies and Digital Twins

While simulation modelling has become a popular tool both in IS research as well as organizational practice, the utilization and potential benefits of simulation studies and Digital Twins are still subject to manifold imponderabilities and variables. Hence, this paper proposes a sophisticated applicability framework to provide structural guidance for practitioners and researchers when it comes to assessing the individual suitability of computer simulation-based analysis approaches as well as the adoption of simulation studies and digital twins in particular. The general applicability of the framework is demonstrated by means of a prototypical case study and expert feedback

Computer Simulation as Evaluation Tool of Information Systems: Identifying Quality Factors of Simulation Modeling

With an increasing complexity and scale, sufficient evaluation of Information Systems (IS) becomes a challenging and difficult task. Simulation modeling has proven as suitable and efficient methodology for evaluating IS and IS artifacts, presupposed it meets certain quality demands. However, existing research on simulation modeling quality solely focuses on quality in terms of accuracy and credibility, disregarding the role of additional quality aspects. Therefore, this paper proposes two design artifacts in order to ensure a holistic quality view on simulation quality. First, associated literature is reviewed in order to extract relevant quality factors in the context of simulation modeling, which can be used to evaluate the overall quality of a simulated solution before, during or after a given project. Secondly, the deduced quality factors are integrated in a quality assessment framework to provide structural guidance on the quality assessment procedure for simulation. In line with a Design Science Research (DSR) approach, we demonstrate the eligibility of both design artifacts by means of prototyping as well as an example case. Moreover, the assessment framework is evaluated and iteratively adjusted with the help of expert feedback

Towards A More Sustainable Future? Simulating the Environmental Impact of Online and Offline Grocery Supply Chains

The negative effects of traffic, such as air quality problems and road congestion, put a strain on the infrastructure of cities and high-populated areas. A potential measure to reduce these negative effects are grocery home deliveries (e-grocery), which can bundle driving activities and, hence, result in decreased traffic and related emission outputs. Several studies have investigated the potential impact of e-grocery on traffic in various last-mile contexts. However, no holistic view on the sustainability of e-grocery across the entire supply chain has yet been proposed. Therefore, this paper presents an agent-based simulation to assess the impact of the e-grocery supply chain compared to the stationary one in terms of mileage and different emission outputs. The simulation shows that a high e-grocery utilization rate can aid in decreasing total driving distances by up to 255 % relative to the optimal value as well as CO 2 emissions by up to 50 %

Integration of Passenger and Freight Transportation using Autonomous Shuttles: A Simulation Study on Sustainability-Related KPIs

Autonomous and integrated passenger and freight transport (APFIT) is a promising approach to tackle both, traffic and last-mile-related issues such as environmental emissions, social and spatial conflicts or operational inefficiencies. By conducting an agent-based simulation, we shed light on this widely unexplored research topic and provide first indications regarding influential target figures of such a system in the rural area of Sarstedt, Germany. Our results show that larger fleets entail inefficiencies due to suboptimal utilization of monetary and material resources and increase traffic volume while higher amounts of unused vehicles may exacerbate spatial conflicts. Nevertheless, to fit the given demand within our study area, a comparatively large fleet of about 25 vehicles is necessary to provide reliable service, assuming maximum passenger waiting times of six minutes to the expense of higher standby times, rebalancing effort, and higher costs for vehicle acquisition and maintenance

Integration of Passenger and Freight Transportation using Autonomous Shuttles: A Simulation Study on Sustainability-Related KPIs

Autonomous and integrated passenger and freight transport (APFIT) is a promising approach to tackle both, traffic and last-mile-related issues such as environmental emissions, social and spatial conflicts or operational inefficiencies. By conducting an agent-based simulation, we shed light on this widely unexplored research topic and provide first indications regarding influential target figures of such a system in the rural area of Sarstedt, Germany. Our results show that larger fleets entail inefficiencies due to suboptimal utilization of monetary and material resources and increase traffic volume while higher amounts of unused vehicles may exacerbate spatial conflicts. Nevertheless, to fit the given demand within our study area, a comparatively large fleet of about 25 vehicles is necessary to provide reliable service, assuming maximum passenger waiting times of six minutes to the expense of higher standby times, rebalancing effort, and higher costs for vehicle acquisition and maintenance