Supply Chain Finance: A Research Review and Prospects Based on a Systematic Literature Analysis from a Financial Ecology Perspective

Abstract

Since the global financial crisis of 2008, research on supply chain finance (SCF) based on supply chain management (SCM) has increased rapidly. The context of SCF development is continuously changing, which means that it cannot function in isolation and financial ecology must be taken into consideration. Previous research has shown that comprehensive SCF studies incorporating financial ecology are lacking; although it was mentioned, it was at a descriptive level with fragmented dimensions, limiting the broader understanding of SCF. Therefore, to address this research gap and reveal future study prospects, we conducted a systematic literature search, focusing on 132 selected papers published between 2002 and February 2022. The present study provides insights into the development stages of SCF, and the understanding of ‘Supply Chain’ and ‘Finance’ in the context of the financial ecosystem. This study reiterates the necessity of studying SCF from a financial ecology perspective and contributes to the SCF ecosystem understanding framework, bridging the theoretical inadequacies in investigating SCF.