Sustainability Measurement in Supply Chain: A Systematic Literature Review

The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of the indicators that have been used to measure industrial sustainability. A systematic review was conducted to explore indicators published in peer-reviewed articles that are relevant to industrial sustainability performance measurement. A total of 1,013 indicators were identified and analyzed: 277 for economic, 402 for environmental and 334 for social dimensions of industrial sustainability. The majority of the indicators were used only once, implying a lack of consistency and consensus on their application for measuring industrial sustainability, and invites an ongoing debate on how sustainability shall be measured in manufacturing industries. On the other hand, few indicators such as profit, research and development expenditure, product quality, revenue, material cost, labor cost, water consumption, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, material consumption, employment/job opportunity, employee turnover and work-related injuries were consistent and frequently used for measuring industrial sustainability. The indicators have been used to measure progress towards the goals associated with increasing financial benefits, reducing costs, improving market competitiveness, improving resources utilization effectiveness, reducing emissions, properly managing wastes, and improving the well-being of employees, customers and community. This paper presents a comprehensive view of the indicators considering the triple bottom line dimensions of sustainability. It would be a strong basis for future academic and practitioner work on performance measurement of industrial sustainability.