Investigating the Theoretical Constructs of a Green Lean Six Sigma Approach towards Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Directions

Abstract

Green lean six sigma (GLSS) is an emerging approach towards environmental sustainability in conjunction with operational achievements. The success of this approach is premised on an understanding of the different components of a GLSS program; being the determinants for its outcomes. The aim of this paper is to investigate the various constructs of GLSS that play an essential role in achieving environmental sustainability. For this purpose, a systematic review of available literature has been conducted to evaluate the drivers, enablers (tools), and outcomes of a GLSS strategy as well as its critical success factors and barriers. Findings reveal that these constructs of GLSS as a holistic approach can facilitate an organization to better accomplish environmental objectives such as waste minimization, emission reduction, and resource conservation as compared to constructs of only one or any two of these strategies. Based on the analysis, an integrated GLSS framework is developed for environmental sustainability in addition to identifying vital research gaps and future directions.

A natural resource and institutional theory‐based view of green‐lean‐six sigma drivers for environmental management

“…Therefore, researchers have emphasized an integrated GLSS approach as an environmental management strategy to overcome the drawbacks of GL and LSS combinations (Garza‐Reyes, 2015; Gholami et al, 2021). Such an integrated strategy can improve the environmental performance by identifying environmental impacts and removing waste, with common characteristics of waste reduction, value addition, and customer satisfaction (Farrukh et al, 2020; Gaikwad & Sunnapwar, 2020).…”

“…A scarcity of studies in this area calls for an investigation of motivational factors behind the adoption of GLSS and the overall trajectory a company would pursue towards improving its environmental performance. Further, a comparative analysis of drivers for environmental management between different countries is lacking in the literature (Belhadi et al, 2020; Farrukh et al, 2020). From this perspective, Cherrafi et al (2016) have highlighted this gap and emphasized comparative regional evaluation through an integrated model comprising strategies such as GLSS.…”

Green-Lean Operations Evaluation Framework: A case from Iranian Automotive Industry

“…This added value to organizations so that they can better recruit and manage their employees. Farrukh et al (2020) investigated the various constructs of Green lean six sigma (GLSS). Findings showed that these constructs of GLSS as a holistic approach can facilitate an organization to better achieve environmental goals such as waste minimization, emission reduction, and resource conservation as compared to constructs of only one or any two of these strategies.…”

“…Also, the results of our study showed that these factors were crucial, based on experts' opinion. Farrukh et al (2020) found that a comprehensive GLSS strategy meets the necessities of environmental performance together with operational objectives. Their research results are also in line with our research results.…”

The combined implementation of Green, Lean and Six Sigma approaches for achieving environmental sustainability – A Review

“…It provides an operational framework in the company that explores and promotes problem solving [19]. Although the primary goal of this approach is not to reduce environmental waste, it is capable of improving environmental performance by lowering air emissions, energy consumption, and wastewater [20]. Technically, this methodology yields a failure rate of 3.4 parts per million [21].…”