Towards responsible conflict minerals supply chain management: a systematic literature review and a supply chain governance framework

Purpose

Literature on conflict minerals supply chain management issues has witnessed a significant surge during the last decade. The authors review how CM research addressed supply chain issues over the last decades and present a critical assessment of such literature based on supply chain governance theory.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review approach was adopted, and a sample of 122 papers were identified in relevant journals. A descriptive, thematic and content analysis of the papers is presented to delineate the structure and the main research clusters of the literature.

Findings

The authors provide a comprehensive assessment of CMSC literature and identify four main research clusters. Most research has focussed on operational practices and adopted a fragmented approach to CMSC issues. Accordingly, the authors provide research propositions related to under-explored aspects in extant literature.

Research limitations/implications

This study has a number of implications. Practitioners and researchers will gain a greater understanding of specific CMSC issues which have been addressed in current literature and of how responsible CMSC actions can be implemented.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first literature reviews of publications on CMSC from a supply chain governance perspective. This review presents an overarching map of CMSC literature and a series of propositions to inform future research.