Published Online:October 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJKM011025
DOI:10.71329/IUPJKM/2025.23.4.5-31
Author Name:Lathan Craig Austin and S Charles Malka
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Management
Download Format:PDF
Pages:5-31
The paper explores whether the platform for delivering logistics education at the graduate level affects the success of graduate students in finding desirable placement. More specifically, it explores whether in-person learning that emphasizes logistics-related technology, knowledge of logistics course content, and exposure to and practice of logistics driven hard and soft skills is superior to online learning. The paper seeks to establish which area of learning and which mode of delivery serve as valuable predictors of a successful field placement of graduates within supply chains. Data concerning these variables were collected from 201 former logistics graduates of the supply chain program at a southeastern university, and from 82 of their certified immediate supply chain managers. Structural Equation Modeling was employed for analysis, and Necessary Condition Analysis was used for a robustness check. The findings suggest that mastery of logistics core content, logistics technology, and soft skills emerged as prime predictors of successful field placement amongst graduates who completed their logistics program in-person rather than online. None of the corresponding variables emerged as statistically significant for graduates who elected the online program as the mode of learning. The findings help ascertain and illuminate facets of delivery platforms with a focus on in-person and virtual online learning. Since online learning is here to stay, course designers must make remote learning promising and beneficial for the remote learner.
The concept of knowledge management, especially empirical knowledge, occupies a central place in logistics given the ever-growing complexity of the field and the accelerating need for further development of talent, coupled with continuing pressures for operational improvement