Sustainable supply chain in emerging economies during and post COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic literature review and future research directions

Abstract

Purpose

COVID-19 pandemic interrupted global supply chains (SCs) affecting both developed and developing countries. In context of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous studies were conducted on sustainable supply chain (SSC) in emerging markets (EMs). However, the contributions of these studies require to be systematically reviewed to provide a platform of knowledge. The purpose of this review is to systematically explore the relevant literature on SSC management during the COVID-19 pandemic in EMs.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors applied Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework to perform a systematic literature review. Scopus database was used to extract the relevant literature, and 51 journal articles along with 5 conference proceedings were included in the study.

Findings

This study identified the major contents along with four different themes, which are the impacts of COVID-19 on the SC, recovery strategies to alleviate the adverse impacts of COVID-19, sustainable practices to improve SC performance and resilience activities to assure firms' survivability. Furthermore, the research reveals that interview/survey/case study–based research and review articles focusing on various industries have dominated the field of SSC management in the context of EMs.

Originality/value

This research enriches the literature by providing an overall scenario of SSC during the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of emerging economies.

Citation

Ahmed, H.N., Ahmed, S., Khan, M.A. and Ali, S.M. (2024), "Sustainable supply chain in emerging economies during and post COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic literature review and future research directions", International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 19 No. 9, pp. 2472-2498. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-01-2022-0092