Benefits and Difficulties of the Implementation of Lean Construction in the Public Sector: A Systematic Review

Emily M. Simonsen, Rodrigo F. Herrera and Edison Atencio ()
Additional contact information
Emily M. Simonsen: School of Civil Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2340000, Chile
Rodrigo F. Herrera: School of Civil Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2340000, Chile
Edison Atencio: School of Civil Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2340000, Chile

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-22

Abstract: Lean philosophy has shown successful results in the manufacturing industry since the eighties regarding efficiency, reducing cost and errors. However, the philosophy originated in the private sector, where the work rules are defined by business owners within the framework of some regulation. In the public sector, however, the picture is different. The way of working and carrying out operations and projects is directly defined by regulation, where the owner’s role—as in the private world—is embodied by the entire political system. This article aims to take a comprehensive look at the academic literature on how Lean has been applied in the public sector (LIPS) from a bibliometric perspective and then delve deeper into the concept of lean construction in the public sector (LCPS) through a systematic review. The results give a complete picture of the research in LIPS, revealing that research directions focus on implementing Lean, how it works in the public sector and the human factors involved in its practice and digitalization. Moreover, the advantages and challenges of LCPS have been presented, where again, the human factor is the central concern of researchers.

Keywords: Lean; Lean construction; public sector; Lean implementation; Lean in the public sector (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/7/6161/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/7/6161/ (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:15:y:2023:i:7:p:6161-:d:1114961

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 ().