Analysis of Indicators used for Measuring Sustainability in Supply Chains: A Systematic Review

The purpose of this paper is to analyze indicators used for measuring sustainability in supply chains. A systematic review was conducted to explore indicator-based frameworks and identify the associated gaps within published peer-reviewed articles that are relevant to sustainability performance measurement of supply chains. A total of 628 indicators were analyzed: 202 for economic, 208 for environmental and 218 for social dimensions of sustainability. The majority of the indicators were used only once, which indicates a lack of consistency and consensus on how sustainability should be measured in supply chains. Four indicators, product quality, energy consumption, occupational health and safety, and employment/job opportunity, were found to be the most frequently and consistently used indicators. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) techniques are the most widely applied research methods for analyzing the indicators. Case studies were mostly conducted in the automotive and food industries compared to other industrial sectors. The majority of previous research focused on linear multi-echelon supply chain than closed-loop supply chain. The indicator-based frameworks proposed by the previous research did not consider context-based sustainability. Unlike previous long-lists of indicators in the literature, this paper analyzed the most consistent and frequently used indicators for measuring sustainability in supply chains. Moreover, it provides a comprehensive view of indicators by including all the three dimensions of sustainability. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the use of indicators in sustainability measurement of supply chains. It proposes a preliminary research agenda by highlighting gaps in the existing research and this will provide a strong basis for future academic and practitioner work.