Sustainable Supply Chain and Environmental Collaboration in the Supply Chain Management: Agenda for Future Research and Implications

Abstract

Over the last decade, environmental collaboration has gained significant attention in supply chain research. The increasing interest in environmental collaboration in supply chain literature can be witnessed by the number of articles published in recent years. To establish the field further, this study aims to present a thorough analysis of the growth and emerging trends in environmental collaboration in the supply chain literature, highlight gaps and suggest future research directions in this domain. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method, a systematic literature review on a final set of 148 articles published between 2010 and July 2024 was carried out. The findings highlight the evolution of the field in terms of yearly growth, major publication outlets, research design-based classification and geographical distribution of selected papers. After that, the study presents emerging themes in sustainable operations literature and offers types, challenges, benefits and critical success factors of environmental collaboration in the supply chain. Finally, the study suggests future research directions based on existing knowledge gaps using the theory, context and methodology (TCM) framework. The study has several academic and practical implications for encouraging environmental collaboration for sustainability development in the supply chain. It has revealed gaps and new opportunities that can be pursued in future research.