Responsible Production for Sustainability: Concept Analysis and Bibliometric Review

Fuzhen Liu,Kee-Hung Lai,Wei Cai

doi:10.3390/su13031275

Fuzhen Liu, Kee-Hung Lai + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031275

Copy DOI

Abstract

Responsible production is receiving growing attention in manufacturing operations, but systematic analysis of its concept is scanty. This paper aims to advance the knowledge by examining the research evolution of responsible production for sustainability. Using the concept analysis approach, we first summarize four underlying attributes, including the change to sustainability, preventive initiatives, process management, and company-specific context. Next, we identify that contextual factors and firm characteristics are antecedents of responsible production, which consequently affects customer attitude, employee behavior, and firm performance. Through a bibliometric review of 518 most relevant articles, we observe that responsible production for sustainability has seen a research boom in developing countries and that China is one of the most conspicuous countries in this regard. We also recognize that the link of responsible production and financial performance receives particular interest, but it needs a more synthesized assessment framework. To promote research development of responsible production for sustainability, research collaboration, either at the author or country level, is highly desirable for knowledge creation and transfer. In view of the growing interest on its performance value, we propose a research framework with guideposts for studying responsible production and financial performance. This review provides managerial and policy implications for responsible production with insights to advance knowledge in this emerging research field.

Highlights

This study provides a systematic concept analysis on responsible production and a bibliometric review of its link to sustainability
Considering that the positive change to sustainability is an essential attribute of responsible production and that numerous studies have discussed the effects of responsible production practices on sustainability, we aim to systematically analyze the position of responsible production for sustainability in the literature
We identify research trends and the main research domains through keyword co-occurrence, co-citation, country collaboration, term co-occurrence, and theme evolution analyses and propose a research framework for future directions

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The past decades have seen growing importance for firms to implement responsible production in achieving sustainability goals [1]. The neglect for responsible production can lead to serious problems including environmental degradation, resource shortage, and human health risks [2]. Policymakers have made progress on responsible production to address these issues. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws obligate producers to address the externalities caused by end-of-life products at the post-consumption phase [3]

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion