A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of green procurement

Abstract

Purpose

Previous literature reviews mainly focus on green supply chain, however, there is surprisingly little effort made in the systematic literature review to focus on a specific function of green supply chain, i.e. green procurement (GP). Regarding research methodology, most reviews are qualitative and inductive generalizations. Quantitative methods such as bibliometrics have started to be applied in recent years. This paper responds to this trend by counting the largest amount of literature with 238 articles in the last 24 years from 2000 to 2023 to visually analyze different theoretical perspectives and research topics into a comprehensive framework and identify future research directions and opportunities in the GP field.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on CiteSpace and in-depth content analysis, this paper attempts to visually analyze 238 valid papers to identify key literature and analyze the evolution of research hot spots and frontier development trends.

Findings

Combined with the visualization results and the content analysis of key references, we identify key literature and examine the evolution of research hotspots and frontier development trends. The bibliometric analysis mainly includes knowledge mapping to identify key themes, co-occurrence and clustering analysis of keywords, cooperation networks in researchers' countries. An overall GP research model is presented and our research suggests future avenues for GP research, such as low carbon, digitalization, servitization and ecosystem perspectives.

Originality/value

Firstly, in terms of time and volume of literature, we have counted the most comprehensive and up-to-date literature in the field of GP research, which is conducive to further expanding and enriching GP research. Secondly, this study clearly describes the theoretical evolution of GP research from bilateral and multilateral to ecosystem perspectives, and constructs a new and comprehensive research framework of “driver-practice-outcome”. Thirdly, based on the bibliometric analysis results, our research suggests future avenues for GP research, such as low-carbon, digitalization, servitization, and ecosystem perspectives, which can contribute to expanding our understanding of GP development.