Systematic literature review guidelines for supply chain management research

Abstract

This chapter provides guidelines for systematic literature review (SLR) in the supply chain management (SCM) field. By mapping a transparent SLR process that can easily be replicated in practice, the chapter aims to support students and scholars who are planning to conduct their literature review in SCM topics in addition to enhancing their awareness about the importance and contribution of SLR in SCM. Several issues were identified including SCM researchers' challenges when conducting SLR, its limited contribution especially in highest-ranked journals, the use of SLR tactics from other fields without fully taking SCM characteristics into account and the use of different SLR models. Recognising the increasing complexity and dynamics of SCM, there are calls for SCM research to employ more rigour, transparent and replicable SLR processes that are particularly designed for the nature of SCM. Despite different perspectives, researchers reconciled that three main stages or steps involved in the SLR are (1) Planning the review (2) Conducting the review and (3) Reporting the results (aligned with Tranfield, Denyer and Smart, 2003). This chapter has adapted these SLR guidelines to SCM characteristics, illustrating the process with an example from Supply Chain 4.0 (SC 4.0) research.