The global spread of lean management in the public sector: A systematic mapping review of practices, patterns, and regional variations

Abstract This article presents a systematic mapping review examining the global diffusion of lean management practices in the public sector. While previous systematic reviews have generally treated lean as a unitary managerial approach, this study unpacks lean management into four analytically distinct pillars: pull logic, muda elimination, kaizen, and employee empowerment. Drawing on 85 articles published between 2003 and 2023, it analyses how these pillars have been selectively adopted across different geographical regions and policy sectors. The findings reveal growing scholarly interest in lean public management across multiple countries, with healthcare emerging as the dominant application sector (60%). While muda elimination appears in 92% of the analysed articles, the remaining pillars show substantially lower levels of adoption, suggesting that lean is typically implemented through selective combinations of individual principles rather than as a comprehensive managerial philosophy. Distinct patterns of adoption also emerge across geographical regions and policy sectors. By analysing lean management through the four‐pillar framework, this article offers a more nuanced understanding of how lean public management has been interpreted in the literature and provides a framework for analysing its heterogeneous diffusion across public sector contexts. Points for practitioners Lean management is not implemented as a single, standardised model across the public sector. Public organisations adopt different combinations of lean principles depending on their organisational priorities and policy context. Managers should therefore avoid assuming that all lean initiatives pursue the same objectives or require the same implementation strategy. The four‐pillar framework developed in this article (pull logic, waste elimination, continuous improvement, and employee empowerment) can be used as a practical diagnostic tool for planning, evaluating, or reviewing lean initiatives. Identifying which pillars are emphasised—and which receive less attention—can help practitioners better understand the strategic orientation of organisational reforms. Lean initiatives place different emphasis on efficiency, user orientation, organisational learning, and employee involvement. Recognising these different configurations can help public managers align lean practices with the specific challenges and objectives of their organisations, rather than treating lean as a fixed set of managerial tools.