A comprehensive literature review on green supply chain management: recent advances and potential research directions

Organisations are attempting to make their supply chain eco-friendly due to rising carbon emissions and unsustainable use of natural resources. In this context, this study seeks to give an up-to-date literature review on green supply chain management (GSCM) from 2011 to December 2021. Initially, 375 articles were collected from the Web of Science (WoS) database for metadata analysis. In metadata analysis, the descriptive statistics of research trends of GSCM; most contributing authors, countries/regions and institutions; and most prominent journals, keywords and subject areas are discussed in detail. Later, 50 scholarly publications were selected according to their citations for content analysis. Based on their contents, the papers were classified into four categories: GSCM practices and performances, mathematical techniques, drivers and barriers of GSCM, and general articles related to GSCM. According to the in-depth analysis, most of the publications are theoretical works that contribute to the theory-building of GSCM. Likewise, mathematical techniques are gaining appeal among researchers, whereas research on drivers and barriers is limited. In articles regarding GSCM practices and performance, the structural equation modelling methodology was often employed. The results and future research directions presented may assist beginners in exploring new GSCM research domains.