Sustainable Healthcare Supply Chain Innovations: A Systematic Literature Review

The concept of sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) requires intentionally applying new or improved changes at both organizational and process levels to create social and environmental value and promote economic returns.Within the healthcare sector, however, organizational priorities are often directed toward short-term goals and easily accessible resources, and responsibilities relating to sustainable development tend to be disregarded.Due to the complexity of the sustainability concept within the healthcare context, research explicitly focused on this topic remains scarce.This research presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of SOI sustainable healthcare supply chain innovations, revealing current research themes in the field.The content-based conceptual guide analysis identifies the current research and knowledge gaps by analyzing collected literature and developing an understanding of sustainable healthcare supply chain innovations.The findings encompass both technological and organizational practices and models in healthcare.The conceptual guideline for future practices and research is presented through building on two theoretical concepts: circularization and the diffusion of innovation.Furthermore, the SLR reveals potential future research avenues which improve both the practical implementation and theoretical understanding of SOI within the healthcare supply chain.