Literature Review on the interconnectedness of risk

The objective of this paper is to identify, describe, and discuss the literature surrounding the interconnectedness of risk and any existing literature surrounding the way that multiple risks can compound to create larger disruptive events within supply chains. Numerous research studies on singular risk events have been conducted, which aim to explain those individual risks’ effects on the supply chain. Existing research is mostly siloed in scope, overlooking a gap in research surrounding the compounding effects that multiple risks can have on an event, and the systemic and compounding propagation of multiple risks across the multi-tiered structure of modern supply chains. This gap between the study of singular event analysis and multiple risk propagation necessitates a fresh review of articles surrounding the topic. The methodology of this paper aims to answer the central research question “are risks interconnected in a way that they can influence one another and compound to create even more disruptive events?” by employing an inductive analysis comprised of narrative overview, analysis, and synthesis of existing literature retrieved from online databases of academic journal entries. The findings of this paper demonstrate an incommensurate focus of existing literature on singular risk events, and a lack of research focus on the interconnectedness of risk and the compounding effects that multiple risks can have on a disruptive event. This literature review aims to provide practitioners with practical insights on where risk analysis improvements can better protect enterprises from risk, while serving as a starting point for scholars interested in bridging the gap between the growing siloes of specific risk hazard data research and the research that aims to understand how risk hazards are connected.