Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to progress operations management theory and practice by organising contributions to knowledge production, in industrial sustainability, from disparate researcher communities. It addresses the principal question “What scholarly dialogues can be explicated in the emerging research field of industrial sustainability?” and sub-questions: what are the descriptive characteristics of the evidence base? and what thematic lines of scientific inquiry underpin the body of knowledge?Design/methodology/approachUsing an evidenced-based approach, a systematic review (SR) of 574 articles from 62 peer-reviewed scientific journals associated with industrial sustainability is conducted.FindingsThis paper distinguishes three prevailing dialogues in the field of industrial sustainability, and uses Kuhn’s theory of paradigms to propose its pre-paradigmatic scientific status. The three dialogues: “productivity and innovation”, “corporate citizenship” and “economic resilience” are conjectured to privilege efficiency strategies as a mode of incremental reductionism. Industrial sustainability espouses the grand vision of a generative, restorative and net positive economy, and calls for a future research trajectory to address institutional and systemic issues regarding scaling-up and transition, through transformative strategies.Research limitations/implicationsThe review is limited by the nature of the inquiries addressed in the literatures by specific researcher communities between 1992 and 2014.Originality/valueThis study performs the first SR in the field of industrial sustainability, synthesises prevailing scholarly dialogues and provides an evaluation of the scientific status of the field.
Highlights
It has become axiomatic for scholarly communities in applied science and social science schools to offer three reflections concerning the theory and practice of industrial sustainability
Following Kuhn (1970), this paper argues that industrial sustainability – a field concerned with creating a generative, restorative and net positive economy – is yet to achieve a paradigmatic consensus, “normal science” status and a defined epistemological and methodological stance
Review question, inclusion/exclusion criteria and protocol were established following dialogue between the research team and a review guidance committee comprised of academic, librarian and industry experts. This resulted in the following review question: “What scholarly dialogues can be explicated in the emerging research field of industrial sustainability?” and sub-questions what are the descriptive characteristics of the evidence base? and what thematic lines of scientific inquiry underpin the body of knowledge?
Summary
It has become axiomatic for scholarly communities in applied science and social science schools to offer three reflections concerning the theory and practice of industrial sustainability. A closer qualitative analysis of the research literatures illuminate overarching dialogues which provide the evidence to support the proposition that science in the field of industrial sustainability shows some signs of progress beyond the pre-paradigmatic phase.
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