Responsible Production for Sustainability: Concept Analysis and Bibliometric Review

Fuzhen Liu, Kee-hung Lai and Wei Cai
Additional contact information
Fuzhen Liu: Faculty of Business, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Kee-hung Lai: Faculty of Business, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Wei Cai: Faculty of Business, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-27

Abstract: Responsible production is receiving growing attention in manufacturing operations, but systematic analysis of its concept is scanty. This paper aims to advance the knowledge by examining the research evolution of responsible production for sustainability. Using the concept analysis approach, we first summarize four underlying attributes, including the change to sustainability, preventive initiatives, process management, and company-specific context. Next, we identify that contextual factors and firm characteristics are antecedents of responsible production, which consequently affects customer attitude, employee behavior, and firm performance. Through a bibliometric review of 518 most relevant articles, we observe that responsible production for sustainability has seen a research boom in developing countries and that China is one of the most conspicuous countries in this regard. We also recognize that the link of responsible production and financial performance receives particular interest, but it needs a more synthesized assessment framework. To promote research development of responsible production for sustainability, research collaboration, either at the author or country level, is highly desirable for knowledge creation and transfer. In view of the growing interest on its performance value, we propose a research framework with guideposts for studying responsible production and financial performance. This review provides managerial and policy implications for responsible production with insights to advance knowledge in this emerging research field.

Keywords: responsible production; sustainability; concept analysis; bibliometric review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1275/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1275/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1275-:d:487030

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().