Oh my, AI! How to foster Artificial Intelligence maturity for third-party logistics service providers?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s129.2026.03Keywords:
3PL, Artificial Intelligence, AI, dynamic capability;Abstract
Frame of the research. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly considered a transformative force within the logistics industry, including third-party logistics service providers (3PLs). However, the academic literature reveals a limited understanding of how 3PLs can develop their AI maturity to capture the emerging opportunities.
Purpose of the paper. The study explores AI adoption within the 3PL industry by leveraging the dynamic capabilities theory.
Methodology. Empirical insights were collected through a single case study at a leading British 3PL, including ten qualitative interviews and two on‑site visits. Abductive reasoning guided iterative comparisons between empirics and theory to understand how 3PLs sense and seize AI opportunities and reconfigure their processes during transformation.
Results. Sensing AI opportunities depends on developing robust AI awareness and actively involving customers to embed their perspective; seizing involves using AI to improve labour forecasting, scheduling and back‑office automation. Companies must also reconfigure resources by fostering a cultural shift and building a robust data infrastructure to support AI efforts. Building on these findings, a maturity model is developed to assess 3PLs’ dynamic capabilities in their AI journey.
Research limitations. The reliance on a single case study design inherently limits external validity, restricting the applicability of the study’s findings to a wider population of logistics and supply chain contexts.
Managerial implications. The study focuses on 3PLs to expose how they can navigate the complexities of AI adoption and develop their AI maturity, offering rich empirics about exploring the synergies between human workforce, technological tools, and physical assets.
Originality of the paper. Existing research has only nascently explored how 3PLs approach AI adoption. The study elaborates and contextualises the dynamic capabilities theory with respect to AI driven opportunities for 3PLs and provides an original maturity model.
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