Key themes of practical implications of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma in the public administration sector. A Systematic Literature Review

Key themes of practical implications of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma in the public administration sector. A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the key themes of practical implications of Lean, Six Sigma (SS) and Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in the public administration sector.

Design/methodology/approach: A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted based on the following academic publishers: Emerald, Elsevier/Science Direct, Sage, Springer Link, Taylor & Francis, and Willey online. Fifty-six articles published between 2004 and 2020 were found. Based on the “affinity diagram”, the practical implications of Lean, SS and LSS were classified into key themes.

Findings: The plethora of the practical implications identified were classified into fourteen meaningful key themes which can be further classified into two broad categories, namely “themes concerning the Lean, SS and LSS approaches themselves”, and “themes concerning factors outside the Lean, SS and LSS approaches”.

Research limitations/implications: The fact that some publishers might have been missed out and the subjectivity in applying the “affinity diagram” constitute the main limitations of this study.

Practical implications: The key themes of practical implications can guide practitioners to further develop Lean/SS/LSS in public administration and academics to focus on specific research subjects.

Originality value: This is the first SLR presenting the key themes of practical implications of Lean, SS and LSS in the public administration sector.

Keywords: Lean, Six Sigma, Public administration, Systematic literature review, Practical implications.

Paper type: Literature review