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This article presents results of a systematic review of the US motor-carrier safety literature in transportation, logistics, and safety journals. The discipline has seen growth in research over the decades, and growth of the field rapidly increased in the last decade. We organize the literature into a systems framework and summarize the research across industry system levels to include government, regulators, carriers, and drivers. We then apply a goal-framing approach to reveal some of the dynamic interactions between system levels and the environment, as entities work to minimize risk to life and property during freight operations while striking a balance between the industry's welfare and societal welfare. This article provides recommendations for future research to fill gaps in the current body of knowledge and to aid government officials, regulators and law enforcement officials, carrier managers, and drivers in addressing industry challenges and maintaining safe roads in 2020 and beyond.

The purpose of this study is to first determine the current incidence of exit from the United States' motor-carrier industry. Second, we develop and test an econometric model of the determinants of motor-carrier exit. Using recent data derived from the Motor Carrier Management Information System database, we find that motor-carrier exit continues to be quite prevalent. This study also finds that motor-carrier crash rates are positively associated with the likelihood of exit from the industry, while fleet size and number of commodity segments handled by motor carriers are negatively associated with a carrier's likelihood of exit. Study findings also suggest that for-hire carriers are more likely to exit, and carriers handling hazardous materials are less likely to exit from the motor-carrier industry. The article discusses these findings, including managerial and public policy implications.

PurposeThis research aims at understanding the routes public e-marketplaces take, in the motor carrier spot market, to generate trust among participants.Design/methodology/approachThis work borrows cue signaling theory and an e-marketplace content analysis instrument from information systems literature. Our primary data captures differences in usage of a broad spectrum of cues between motor carrier spot e-marketplaces and a control sample.FindingsTransportation e-marketplaces use graphical cues more frequently than the control sample, display these cues on their “operational path” (where users click to conduct transactions) and try to generate beliefs in participants' integrity and competence.Research limitations/implicationsThe motor carrier online spot market constitutes a relevant test bed for trust-related theories. Several levels of trust-building conceptualizations are tested; the cue level shows the most potential. This paper extends cue signaling theory in the transportation e-marketplace context and calls for further work on operational path cues to enrich swift trust theories.Practical implicationsThis study helps e-marketplace designers by identifying essential and facultative cues for the motor carrier spot market.Originality/valueResearch on public spot e-marketplaces in the motor carrier context is scant. The context is described in detail to show its specificities in structures and behaviors. This helps to contribute to both practice and research. By evolving an existing research instrument from information systems literature, this study ensures replicability (problematic in academic research) .

Accidents involving large commercial trucks kill over 3,000 motorists every year in the United States. A substantial number of these accidents stem from truck drivers operating their trucks while excessively fatigued. This concern has resulted in regulatory agencies establishing hours-of-service (HOS) rules that carriers must ensure their drivers abide by. In this study we examine the relationship between carriers' capability at monitoring their truck drivers using electronic technologies and carrier-level compliance with HOS rules. Drawing on principles from deterrence theory, we explain why this relationship should be sigmoidal (S-shaped) in nature such that motor carriers receive the greatest gains from investing in electronic monitoring capability when they have a moderate level of this capability. We subject our theorized prediction to empirical testing using a longitudinal research design that combines primary data on motor carriers' electronic monitoring capability and secondary data from regulators regarding carrier-level compliance with HOS rules. Results from our econometric analysis corroborate the hypothesized sigmoidal relationship, which stands up to stringent robustness testing. These results hold important implications for theory and practice.

Motor carriers are facing a shortage of drivers. Traditional recruiting and retention incentives have become commoditized. This research investigated the effects of perceived safety climate on job attitudes and intentions to leave. The theory of work adjustment provided a model that was tested using responses of 553 truck drivers. Safety climate was strongly and positively associated with overall job attitudes. Overall job attitudes were, in turn, strongly and negatively associated with intentions to leave. This finding suggests that firms facing recruiting and retention challenges could leverage nontraditional occupational factors (such as safety climate) to inform human resource strategies.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a waste framework for motor carrier operations by adapting the classical 7 waste framework, and furthermore, to validate it by collecting empirical data from several motor carrier operators.Design methodology approach - The chosen approach includes three steps, starting with analyzing qualitative data from a literature review and an interview study. The interviewees were experts from carrier operations, the lean field, carrier technology providers and carrier service buyers. The findings were validated with qualitative and quantitative studies at five motor carrier operators.Findings - The finding of this paper is a waste framework adapted to motor carrier operations that has been based on the classical 7 waste framework. This provides a structured framework of inefficiencies found in motor carrier operations.Originality value - Previous literature is scarce on both holistic approaches to describing waste in carrier operations and in-depth studies of day-to-day transport operations. It is also a novel approach to use a waste framework for transport operations.

Multiple stakeholders have a vested interest in motor-carrier safety because it affects the welfare of the general public and companies' supply chain operations. This article develops new theory about motor carrier safety by utilizing processes from attention-based theory and new institutional theory to answer questions regarding carrier safety since the rollout of the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) program. This research examines the propensity that carriers flagged for poor performance on hours-of-service (HOS) compliance when the program was fully implemented in late 2010 exited this status at least once during the subsequent 3.5 years. Conversely, it examines whether carriers not flagged for poor HOS performance at the start of the program come to receive a safety warning at least once during the subsequent 3.5 years. It further examines how carrier size affects these respective hazard rates. Hypothesized effects are tested using panel data from N = 484 large, for-hire carriers by fitting a series of discrete time hazard models. The results are consistent with the theory put forward. The article concludes by describing theoretical contributions, explaining managerial and public policy implications, noting limitations, and making recommendations for further inquiry.

Motor-carrier safety is a critical and challenging issue in the US motor-carrier industry. Despite the vast safety improvements in the industry, a continuing challenge is the economic costs associated with regulatory oversight of safety inspection programs. The purpose of this article is to compute the costs and associated benefits of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's driver and vehicle inspection program of commercial motor vehicles in the 10,001- to 26,000-lb category. Our analysis reveals that for every dollar spent in program costs, the benefits are $8.86.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine whether or not early, mid, late career stage truck drivers view the safety regulations differently and how drivers’ regulatory attitudes influence their compliance attitudes and intentions. Design/methodology/approach This survey study is designed to evaluate the differences in truck drivers’ attitudes toward safety regulations across career stages. Moreover, the study applies ordinary least squares path analysis to determine the influence of drivers’ regulatory attitudes on compliance attitudes and intentions. Findings Results revealed that drivers in early and late career stages harbor different perceptions of the burden safety regulations place on driving operations, the effectiveness of driver-focused safety regulations in maintaining road safety, and the acceptability of certain unsafe acts. Moreover, drivers’ attitudes toward regulations directly and indirectly influenced compliance attitudes and intentions. Research limitations/implications The participant sample was taken from employees of four large motor carriers operating refrigerated and dry box trailers over the road in interstate commerce. While the sample is roughly representative of this segment, the authors recommend caution in generalizing the findings across the diverse US trucking industry as a whole. Practical implications Findings suggest that motor carrier management should tailor safety and regulatory familiarization training across career stages. Moreover, carriers should provide targeted communication regarding the effectiveness of regulations and impact of regulations on driving operations in order to alleviate drivers’ negative attitudes toward regulations where possible. Originality/value This study marks the first application of career stage theory to the motor carrier safety context. This study also provides further evidence as to the efficacy of drivers’ attitudes toward safety regulations in predicting drivers’ compliance attitudes and intentions. A better understanding of these phenomena may lead to improved compliance and safety.