Designing a framework for Evaluating and Ranking Humanitarian Supply Chain Sustainability Criteria Using the BWM

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Management, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Rafsanjan, Iran

10.22075/svcm.2026.39879.1075

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Sustainability in the humanitarian supply chain is considered one of the important challenges of relief organizations, because decision-making in this sector must simultaneously take into account economic, social and environmental criteria under conditions involving resource limitations, uncertainty and the urgent needs of affected people. The purpose of this study is to identify and rank sustainability criteria in the humanitarian supply chain using the best-worst multi-criteria decision-making method.
Materials and Methods: First, a set of initial sustainability criteria was identified through a systematic review of the literature. Then, the content validity of these criteria was examined through consultation with experts in the field of humanitarian relief and logistics and by using the CVR index and the final valid criteria were determined. In the next step, experts performed the required pairwise comparisons for the three main dimensions of sustainability and the sub-criteria of each dimension. Local and final weights of the criteria were calculated using BWM linear programming model.
Results: The results showed that the social dimension, with a weight of 40 percent, has the highest importance in evaluating the sustainability of the humanitarian supply chain. Among the individual criteria, stakeholder participation and collaboration, financial sustainability, empowerment of local communities, circular economy and supply chain resilience obtained the highest priorities.
Conclusion: The findings indicate the key role of social factors and community-based capacity building in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of relief activities. The results of the study can guide decisionmaker in humanitarian organization in resource allocation, operational design and developing sustainability policies during crises. Furthermore, providing recommendations for strengthening the important criteria is considered one of the managerial contributions of this research.

Keywords

References

References
Abbas, H., Asim, Z., Ahmed, Z., Moosa, S. (2022). Exploring and establishing the barriers to sustainable humanitarian supply chains using fuzzy interpretive structural modeling and fuzzy MICMAC analysis. Social Responsibility Journal, 18, 8, 1463–1484.https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-12-2020-0485.
Abidi, H., Leeuw, S. D., Klumpp, M. (2014). Humanitarian supply chain performance management: a systematic literature review. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. 19, 5-6, 592–608. https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-09-2013-0349.
Agarwal, S., Kant, R., & Shankar, R. (2019). Humanitarian supply chain management frameworks: A critical literature review and framework for future development. Benchmarking: an International Journal, 26(6), 174–1780. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-08-2018-0245.
Aksu, C. (2025). Tourism Logistics in the age of sustainability: challenges, innovations, and strategic integration. International Journal of Science Academic Research, 06, 02.
Alem, D., Hector, F., Londono, B., Povoa, A. P., Relvas, S., Ferreira, D., Moreno, A. (2021). Building disaster preparedness and response capacity in humanitarian supply chains using the Social Vulnerability Index. European Journal of Operational Research, 292, 1, 250-275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.10.016.
Anjomshoae, A., Banomyong, R., Hossein Azadnia, A., Kunz, N., & Blome, C. (2023). Sustainable humanitarian supply chains: a systematic literature review and research propositions. Production Planning & Control, 36(3), 357–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2023.2273451.
Augusto, A. K. & Scholz, J. K. (2022). Human rights for refugees: enhancing sustainable humanitarian supply chain to guarantee a health environment in refugee settlements. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 12 (3), 382-403. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-11-2020-0104.
Awasthy, P., Gopakumar, K. V., Gouda, S. K., & Haldar, T. (2019). Trust in humanitarian operations: a content analytic approach for an Indian NGO. International Journal of Production Research, 57(9), 2626–2641. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2019.1566652.
Bag, S., Gupta, S. & Wood, L. (2022). Big data analytics in sustainable humanitarian supply chain: barriers and their interactions. Annals of Operations Research, 319, 721–760. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-020-03790-7.
Bag, S., Luthra, S., Venkatesh, V., Yadav, G. (2020). Towards understanding key enablers to green humanitarian supply chain management practices. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 31, 5, 1111–1145. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-06-2019-0124.
Bhattacharya, S., Hasija, S. and Wassenhove, L. N. (2014). Designing efficient infrastructural investment and asset transfer mechanisms in humanitarian supply chains. Production and Operations Management, 23, 9, 1511-1521. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1982566.
Boostani, A., Jolai, F., & Bozorgi-Amiri, A. (2021). Designing a sustainable humanitarian relief logistics model in pre-and post disaster management. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 15(8), 604–620. https://doi.org/10.1080/15568318.2020.1773975.
Cao, C., Liu, Y., Tang, O., & Gao, X. (2021). A fuzzy bi-level optimization model for multi-period post-disaster relief distribution in sustainable humanitarian supply chains. International Journal of Production Economics, 235, 108081. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2021.108081.
Carland, C., Goentzel, J. and Montibeller, G. (2018). Modeling the values of private sector agents in multi-echelon humanitarian supply chains. European Journal of Operational Research, 269, 2, 532-543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2018.02.010.
Chen, F., Liu, S. and Appolloni, A. (2020). Horizontal coordination of I-LINGOs in the humanitarian supply chain: an evolutionary game approach. Sustainability, 12, 15. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12155953.
Chen, H. S., van Wassenhove, L., & Cheng, T. C. E. (2020). Designing sustainable humanitarian supply chains. OSF Preprints m82ar; Center for Open Science: Charlottesville, VA, USA.
Chowdhury, M. M. H., Paul, S. K., Khan, E. A. Mahmud, A. K. M. (2024). A Decision Support Model for Barriers and Optimal Strategy Design in Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chain Management. Global Journal Flexible Systems Management, 25 (3), 467–486 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40171-024-00394-z.
Corbett, C. J., Martinez, A. J. and Wassenhove, L. N. (2022). Sustainable humanitarian operations: an integrated perspective. Production and Operations Management, 13, 12, 4393-4406. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13848.
Dubey, R., & Gunasekaran, A. (2016). The sustainable humanitarian supply chain design: agility, adaptability and alignment. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 19(1), 62–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/13675567.2015.1015511.
Gossler, T., Wakolbinger, T., & Burkart, C. (2020). Outsourcing in humanitarian logistics–status quo and future directions. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 50(4), 403–438. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-12-2018-0400.
Green, J. L., Weck, O. L. and Suarez, P. (2013). Evaluating the economic sustainability of sanitation logistics in Senegal. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 3, 1, 7-21. https://doi.org/10.1108/20426741311328484.
Karuppiah, K., Sankaranarayanan, B., Ali, S. M., & Paul, S. K. (2021). Key Challenges to Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sustainability, 13(11), 5850. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13115850.
Kunz, N., & Gold, S. (2015). Sustainable humanitarian supply chain management – exploring new theory. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 20(2), 85–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/13675567.2015.1103845.
Larson, P. D. (2021). Security sustainability and supply chain collaboration in the humanitarian space. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 11, 4, 609-622. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-06-2021-0059
Lawshe, C. H. (1975). A quantitative approach to content validity. Personnel Psychology, 28, 563-575. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1975.tb01393.x
Lewin, R., Besiou, M., Lamarche, J. B., Cahill, S. and Guerrero-Garcia, S. (2018). Delivering in a moving world…looking to our supply chains to meet the increasing scale, cost and complexity of humanitarian needs. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 8, 4, 518-532. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-10-2017-0048.
Li, C., Zhang, F., Cao, C., Liu, Y., & Qu, T. (2019). Organizational coordination in sustainable humanitarian supply chain: An evolutionary game approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 219, 291–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.01.233.
Matopoulos, A., Kovacs, G. and Hayes, O. (2014). Local resources and procurement practices in humanitarian supply chains: an empirical examination of large-scale house reconstruction projects, Decision Sciences, 45, 4, 621-646. https://doi.org/10.1111/deci.12086.
Miles, S. (2017). Stakeholder theory classification: a theoretical and empirical evaluation of definitions. Journal of Business Ethics, 142, 3, 437-459. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2741-y.
Nawazish, M., Nandakumar, M., Mateen, A. (2024). Are humanitarian supply chains sustainable? A systematic review and future research themes. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 31, 8, 2565–2601. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-01-2023-0036.
Oguntola, I.O. and Ulku, M.A. (2023). Artificial intelligence for sustainable humanitarian logistics. Encyclopedia of Data Science and Machine Learning, IGI Global, Hershey, PA, pp. 2970-2983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2025.103415.
Patil, A., Shardeo, V., Dwivedi, A., Madaan, J. & Varma, N. (2021). Barriers to sustainability in humanitarian medical supply chains. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 27, 1794-1807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2021.04.022
Regattieri, A., Gamberi, M., Bortolini, M. and Piana, F. (2018). Innovative solutions for reusing packaging waste materials in humanitarian logistics. Sustainability, 10, 5, 1587. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051587
Rezaei, J. (2016). Best-Worst multi-criteria decision-making method: some properties and a linear model. Omega, 64, 126-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omega.2015.12.001.
Saari, S. (2023). Enhancing the environmental sustainability of emergency humanitarian medical cold chains with renewable energy sources. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 2, 157-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-09-2021-0095.
Sabri, Y., Zarei, M. H. and Harland, C. (2019). Using collaborative research methodologies in humanitarian supply chains. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 9, 3, 371-409. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-06-2018-0041.
Salvado, L., Lauras, M., Okongwu, U., Comes, T. (2019).  A multicriteria Master Planning DSS for a sustainable humanitarian supply chain. Annals of Operations Research, 283, 1303–1343. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-018-2882-3
Seifert, L., Kunz, N., & Gold, S. (2018). Humanitarian supply chain management responding to refugees: A literature review. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 8(3), 398–426. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-07-2017-0029.
Shakibaei, H., Moosavi, S. A., Aghsami, A. & Rabbani, M. (2024). Designing a sustainable-resilient humanitarian supply chain for post-disaster relief process, an earthquake case study in Haiti. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 14, 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-08-2023-0071.
Singh, R. K., Gupta, A. and Gunasekaran, A. (2018). Analyzing the interaction of factors for resilient humanitarian supply chain. International Journal of Production Research, 56, 21, 6809-6827. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2018.1424373.
Spindola, R. O., Dey, P., Albores, P., Chowdhury, S. (2023). Sustainability and Intramodality in humanitarian logistics: a two-stage multi-objective programming formulation. Annals of Operations Research, 346, 1687-1716. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-023-05459-3.
Tasnim, Z., Hamid, A. B. A., Dwivedi, Y. K. and Shareef, M. A. (2022). Sustainable disaster supply chain management for relief operations in Bangladesh. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 12, 2, 285-304. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhlscm-07-2021-0062.
Ulku, M. A., Bookbinder, J. H., & Yun, N. Y. (2024). Leveraging Industry 4.0 Technologies for Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains: Evidence from the Extant Literature. Sustainability, 16(3), 1321. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16031321.
Villamil, R. A., Jaegler, A. (2025). Transforming Humanitarian Supply Chains Through Green Practices: A Systematic Review. Logistics, 9(3), 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/logistics9030115.
Wang, C., Zhong, LMT. (2024). Reliable design of humanitarian supply chain under correlated disruptions: a two-stage distributionally robust approach. Annals of Operations Research, 25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-024-05916-7.
Yushimito, W. F., Jaller, M. and Ukkusuri, S. (2012). A Voronoi-based heuristic algorithm for locating distribution centers in disasters. Network and Spatial Economics, 12, 1, 21-39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11067-010-9140-9.
Zarei, M. H., Carrasco-Gallegeo, R. and Ronchi, S. (2019). To greener pastures: an action research study on the environmental sustainability of humanitarian supply chains. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 39, 11, 1193-1225. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-12-2018-0703.
Strategic Value Chain Management
Volume 3, Issue 1 - Serial Number 8
Research papers
In Progress
May 2026
Pages 109-128

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 29 November 2025
  • Revise Date: 10 December 2025
  • Accept Date: 02 February 2026
  • Publish Date: 21 April 2026

Share

How to cite

Statistics