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Reconciling Alternative Theories for the Safety of Owner–Operators
Author(s) -
Miller Jason W.,
Golicic Susan L.,
Fugate Brian S.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of business logistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.611
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 2158-1592
pISSN - 0735-3766
DOI - 10.1111/jbl.12180
Subject(s) - motor carrier , accountability , business , empirical research , operator (biology) , compliance (psychology) , economics , public economics , marketing , risk analysis (engineering) , public relations , engineering , psychology , political science , law , social psychology , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , epistemology , repressor , transcription factor , truck , gene , aerospace engineering
Motor carrier safety is an important concern of shippers, carriers, policy makers, consignees, insurance providers, and the motoring public. One aspect of carrier safety that has garnered substantial attention is whether carriers making greater use of owner–operators are more or less safe vis‐à‐vis carriers making greater use of employee drivers. Currently, conflicting theoretical predictions exist regarding the direction of this relationship. In this article, we offer a reconciliation of the alternative theoretical predictions by developing a coherent theory that merges sociological rational choice theory and theory regarding motor carrier safety. We subject our theory to empirical testing by fitting a series of seemingly unrelated regression models to a vector of safety measures tracked as part of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Compliance, Safety, and Accountability program. Our results are consistent with our proposed theory of owner—operator safety and provide meaningful theoretical and managerial implications and directions for future research.