PLS-SEM survey of Moroccan industry links circular logistics, Industry 5.0 and sustainability

A survey-based study of Moroccan industrial firms found that circular logistics and Industry 5.0 technologies were each positively associated with supply-chain sustainability in a statistical model. The analysis also identified a sequential pathway: Industry 5.0 technologies were linked to circular logistics, which in turn carried part of the modeled relationship between the technologies and sustainability across economic, social, and environmental dimensions. The results support examining these two strategic factors as interconnected elements of sustainable supply chains rather than as isolated initiatives.

Researchers collected 150 valid questionnaires from professionals working in Moroccan industrial firms and tested the proposed relationships using partial least squares structural equation modeling, or PLS-SEM. The analysis was conducted with SmartPLS 4. Drawing on triple bottom line theory and circular economy principles, the study investigated the contribution of circular logistics and Industry 5.0 technologies to supply-chain sustainability. The model included direct relationships among the two strategic factors and the three sustainability dimensions, together with an indirect pathway connecting the technologies to sustainability through circular logistics.

The reported results support a significant moderate positive effect of circular logistics on supply-chain sustainability. Industry 5.0 technologies also made a significant positive contribution within the structural model. These findings indicate that the two factors were associated with sustainability-related performance in the Moroccan industrial firms represented by the survey. Because the evidence comes from a questionnaire study, the results describe relationships estimated within the proposed model; they do not by themselves demonstrate that introducing a particular technology or logistics practice will cause a specified change in an individual company or sector.

The model also validated the proposed mediating mechanism. Industry 5.0 technologies acted as enablers of circular logistics, while circular logistics mediated the relationship between those technologies and supply-chain sustainability across the economic, social, and environmental dimensions. In statistical terms, the analysis attributed part of the association between technology adoption and sustainability to circular logistics. This makes the study’s contribution more than a set of separate positive associations: it provides empirical evidence for a linked pathway connecting advanced industrial technologies, circular logistics practices and the three dimensions used to assess supply-chain sustainability.

The study adds an empirical examination of the joint role of circular logistics and Industry 5.0 technologies in a Moroccan industrial context, integrating circular economy and Industry 5.0 perspectives. Its scope is bounded by the 150 surveyed professionals, the questionnaire design and the single national setting, so the findings are most directly relevant to Moroccan industrial supply chains. The supplied research summary does not provide numerical effect sizes for the individual pathways, limiting assessment of their relative magnitudes beyond the reported characterization of the circular-logistics effect as moderate. The article was shared as an accepted, open-access research version that remains subject to further editorial changes before replacement by the final version of record.

Subject of Research: Empirical PLS-SEM analysis of circular logistics, Industry 5.0 technologies and supply-chain sustainability in Moroccan industrial firms

Article Title: An empirical PLS-SEM study of the contribution of circular logistics and Industry 5.0 technologies to supply chain sustainability in Moroccan industrial sectors

Article References: Garti, M. O., Arif, J., Jawab, F., Frichi, Y., & Benbrahim, F. Z. (2026). An empirical PLS-SEM study of the contribution of circular logistics and Industry 5.0 technologies to supply chain sustainability in Moroccan industrial sectors. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04622-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04622-7

Keywords: PLS-SEM, circular logistics, Industry 5.0, supply-chain sustainability, Moroccan industry, circular economy, triple bottom line, structural equation modeling, questionnaire survey, industrial sustainability, empirical, contribution