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Fuzzy ISM–DEMATEL modeling for the sustainable development hindrances in the renewable energy supply chain

Iman Ghasemian Sahebi (Department of Industrial Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran)
Seyed Pendar Toufighi (Department of Industrial Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran)
Mahdi Azzavi (Department of Industrial Management, University of Qom, Qom, Iran)
Behzad Masoomi (Department of Industrial Management, Islamic Azad University, Firouzkoh, Iran)
Mohammad Hasan Maleki (Department of Industrial Management, University of Qom, Qom, Iran)

International Journal of Energy Sector Management

ISSN: 1750-6220

Article publication date: 27 January 2023

Issue publication date: 2 January 2024

250

Abstract

Purpose

By replacing traditional fossil fuels, renewable energy (RE) has the potential to become an outstanding sustainable energy supply. However, owing to technological, economic, social and legal constraints, RE is still in its early stages of development. Hence, this paper aims to analyze the sustainable development hindrances in the RE supply chain (RESC).

Design/methodology/approach

Twenty-three hindrances to the sustainable development of the RE industry were investigated in this research, which included a review of the expert opinion and literature. Then, a mutual relationship between the hindrances by integrating interpretive structural modeling and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory in fuzzy environment was established. Furthermore, using the cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to a classification analysis, these hindrances were grouped.

Findings

The findings show that the important hindrances are “lack of standards for the RESC (H19), lack of entrepreneurship support (H21), lack of incentives/subsidies to encourage RE producers to compete (H30) and lack of governmental support for sustainable supply chain solutions (H31).

Originality/value

This research provides unique insights into the area of sustainability in RESC. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to analyze the sustainability hindrances in the RESC.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thanks experts for their insights (Mrs Farzaneh Abouhashem, Dr Mostafa Safaie). The authors are also thankful to anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments to improve the quality of the paper.

Conflict of interest and funding statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The sources of financial or material support are personal funding. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, publication decision or manuscript preparation. The authors did not receive a salary from any of the funder institutions funders, and the authors received no specific funding for this work.

Citation

Ghasemian Sahebi, I., Toufighi, S.P., Azzavi, M., Masoomi, B. and Maleki, M.H. (2024), "Fuzzy ISM–DEMATEL modeling for the sustainable development hindrances in the renewable energy supply chain", International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 43-70. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJESM-05-2022-0024

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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