Published Online:June 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Supply Chain Management
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJSCM030625
DOI:10.71329/IUPJSCM/2025.22.2.62-86
Author Name:Lathan Craig Austin and Shalom Charles Malka
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Management
Download Format:PDF
Pages:62-86
This study explores the fit between logistics-driven academic education and the successful placement of program graduates in the field. More specifically, it examines whether mastery of logistics-related technology, knowledge of logistics course content, and exposure to and practice of logistics-driven hard and soft skills are valuable predictors of 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 Florida International University, and from 81 of their certified immediate supply chain managers. The study employed Structural Equation Modeling for analysis. It was found that knowledge in both logistics technology and core logistics content emerged as statistically significant predictors of successful field placement. Furthermore, mastery of logistics core content and logistics technology emerged as a prime predictor of field placement amongst graduates who had completed their logistics program in-person rather than online. Surprisingly, identifiable hard and soft skills being taught were found to be statistically insignificant. Graduates’ GPA, as a measure of overall student learning, appeared to be a poor mediator when assessing the SEM model’s direct and indirect effects. The findings help ascertain and illuminate facets of the academic-practitioner model, and the critical alignment between its dual parts.
The call for the increased placement of adequately prepared graduates of logistics programs in supply chains has never been greater. Such placements are critical for the continued globalization of commerce that has led to intensified global competition, and the rising integration of supply chains (Lebovitz, 2021; Trautrims et al., 2016). As momentous as the