Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Exploring the green economy – A systems thinking modelling approach

Arnesh Telukdarie a, *, Tatenda Katsumbe a, Hlobisile Mahure a, Khuliso Murulane b
a
Johannesburg Business School, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
b
Department of Physics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

HANDLING EDITOR: Athanasios Papadopoulos The green economy (GE) is a very contemporary knowledge area with global research growth and rapid in­
dustrial adoption rates. As a knowledge area, the GE is continuously expanding, making it challenging for re­
Keywords: searchers to identify the latest trends, add to the relevant body of knowledge or forecast the impact technologies
Bibliometric analysis in industry. Industrial partners are seeking to adopt new GE concepts and implement GE technological devel­
Systems modelling
opment but find it difficult to identify and quantify relevant information. Systems thinking orientates around the
Green economy
quantification of all contributing factors and can provide structure to expanding research and technological
Systematic literature review
adoption. The key challenge is identifying all the factors, subsystems, and systems in a quantitative approach.
Therefore, this research expands on a two-tiered methodology, with the first tier adopting literature to develop
expert knowledge in the GE. This expert knowledge is applied in the second-tier analysis to create quantifiable
relations between all influencing variables advancing the GE. The results provide for comprehensive insights into
all systems currently contributing towards the GE. The results quantify 9 systems with 96 elements. The quan­
tified interaction strength between the systems and their elements on an intra-system and inter-system is pro­
vided. The overall aim of the study is to quantify systems of the GE, inclusive of subsystems and their elements.
The two-layer research protocol adopted in this study can be used as a foundation for future studies that aim to
develop systems models with quantified interactive data.

These obstacles hinder the development of accurate holistic GE models,

1. Introduction
The green economy (GE) is an ambiguous, complex system with
many interconnected constitutive systems, and associated system ele­
ments (Alsmadi et al., 2023). Numerous definitions exist for the GE, with
most of them gravitating towards a conceptualisation that is reliant on
four fundamental features: ecological scarcities, equity, human
well-being, and environmental risks (Merino-Saum et al., 2020). Some
explicitly associate GE with the older sustainable development (SD)
concept. Others define the GE as a component that is dependent on the
natural environment and is a component of the global ecosystem
(Merino-Saum et al., 2020). Understanding the interdependencies
within the GE system is crucial to inform its contextual application, at
any scale by global industry actors. However, its broad complex nature
emanating from its diverse systems presents significant limitations
(Merino-Saum et al., 2020). Incorporating quantitative technology
analysis into strategic management for the GE is difficult due to con­
straints related to data availability, analytical tools, and the ability to
translate qualitative insights into actionable strategies (Liu et al., 2023).
making it challenging to effectively adopt sustainable practices. Whilst
systematic literature review (SLR) studies outline protocols to enable
collation of research trends for knowledge areas (Kılıç Depren et al.,
2022), the crucial challenge is that most SLRs focus on the GE silos.
These silos inclusive of green marketing (Liu et al., 2023), green jobs
(Kozar and Sulich, 2023) and green finance (Kumar et al., 2023), are
deficient of a holistic approach that fully portrays interdependencies
between constituent elements. This therefore hampers the ability to
holistically adapt to the ever-evolving intricacies of the GE. Further, the
studies are deficient of a complementary structured approach to
leverage qualitative collated entail towards the formulation of quanti­
tative models for strategic decision-making (Telukdarie et al., 2023).
The authors are appreciative of related SLR and meta-analysis studies for
knowledge gathering purposes (Kılıç Depren et al., 2022; Lima et al.,
2021). These conventional SLRs present limitations in the inability to
leverage collated qualitative entail to prioritise system elements in ho­
listic quantitative systems modelling (Telukdarie et al., 2023), thus
posing as a critical research gap. On the other hand, as a more instructive
quantitative methodology (Yu et al., 2020), bibliometric analysis (BA)

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: arnesht@uj.ac.za (A. Telukdarie), tatendakatsumbe47@gmail.com (T. Katsumbe), paris.mahure@gmail.com (H. Mahure), kmurulane@uj.ac.za
(K. Murulane).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.140611
Received 30 July 2023; Received in revised form 27 November 2023; Accepted 3 January 2024
Available online 4 January 2024
0959-6526/© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc/4.0/).
A. Telukdarie et al.
Table of acronyms
BA Bibliometric analysis
BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa
BRICS-T Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Turkey
CE Circular Economy
CS-ARDL Cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed
lag
DEMATEL Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory
FoodBev Food and beverage
GE Green Economy
ISM Interpretive Structural Modelling
PRISMA Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-Analyses
PV Photovoltaic
SD Sustainable development
SLR Systematic Literature Review
SNA Social Network Analysis
presents opportunity for quantitative modelling of complex systems
such as GE, informed by qualitative entail. This study thus aims to bridge
the critical research gap by adopting a structured two-tier methodo­
logical approach, fusing the complementary merits of SLR and BA. This
is done in order to comprehensively define the principal systems and
constituent elements of the GE informed by qualitative collation of data,
and quantitatively analysing the interdependencies between system el­
ements via BA in the form of an nxn quantitative model matrix. In this
model matrix, n is the total number of the system elements of the pro­
posed GE system model. By so doing, this integrated quantitative model
of the GE system enables better-informed strategic decision-making by
global industry players, academics, policy makers, and corporate
stakeholders in the GE domain. To achieve the aim of this research
study, the following research questions were formulated.
• What are the distinctive systems that constitute the GE system, their
constituent elements, interdependencies between elements, and
relative importance of each element?
• How can these distinctive systems be portrayed, to enable holistic
understanding of the GE system?
• What are the merits of portraying this holistic system approach of
understanding?
Based on the aforementioned research questions, the associated
research objectives are thus as follows.
• To conduct a comprehensive quantitative analysis of each of the
distinctive systems of the GE, quantifying the characteristics, in­
terdependencies, and relative importance of each element.
• To develop an integrated GE system model, capturing its complex
interactions and relationships among its constituent elements, and
enable holistic understanding of the system.
• To advance quantitative technology analysis within the GE by
developing innovative methods to assess and prioritise technology-
related strategies at various scales.
To facilitate the objectives of the research, the study initiates by a
preliminary literature review section to give background context of the
green economy scope, followed by a research methodology outlining the
sequential steps towards the model development, and finally synthesis
and discussion of results.
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Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611
2. Literature review
The GE has significantly gained popularity as a research domain;
stemming from global societies recognising the urgent need to address
pressing environmental challenges while simultaneously promoting SD
(Conrad et al., 2023). The adoption of GE has emerged as a crucial
response to the widespread recognition that individual efforts alone are
insufficient to combat the dire consequences of climate change and
environmental degradation. Instead, collective global economic adjust­
ments are imperative (Babkin et al., 2023). The GE concept is built upon
fundamental pillars such as environment, social, and economic consid­
erations. Numerous studies have emphasised the GE as a superior
alternative to conventional economic models regarding the tackling of
present sustainability issues. This includes improving human well-being,
fostering social equity, preserving natural resources, reducing environ­
mental risks, and responding to the climate crisis (Babkin et al., 2023).
Furthermore, the GE advocates for good governance, transparency, and
accountability as indispensable elements for achieving SD. The broad­
ness and complex manner of the GE as a research domain, necessitates
the need to holistically understand the distinctive systems that consti­
tute it as a complex system (Diale et al., 2022). This aligns with systems
thinking which advocates for holistic comprehension of systems by
analysing their elements and interactions, to contextualise the applica­
tion of GE principles at any scale (Basu et al., 2019). The ensuing section
explores some of these systems, based on global literature.
2.1. The distinctive systems of the green economy as informed by global
literature
2.1.1. Sustainable development (SD)
The GE and SD are often used interchangeably, both aimed at safe­
guarding environmental resources for future generations. While they
share common fundamental goals, these concepts address various as­
pects of human well-being. Sustainability encompasses interdependent
activities and benefits that continue to meet technological, economic,
and institutional requirements (Kozar and Sulich, 2023). The GE can be
viewed as technical modification (greening) of existing processes, or as a
transformative change that challenges all dimensions of the current
system (Xie et al., 2019). GE can pave way for achieving sustainable
development goals (SDGs) by promoting economic growth; carbon
emissions reduction; energy consumption and pollution minimisation;
resource efficiency; and ecosystem services’ maintenance (Conrad et al.,
2023). SD is achievable by leveraging technological innovations. This
knowledge is augmented by (Adebayo et al., 2023), who derived the
positive correlation between carbon emissions reduction, and variables
such as natural resources, technological innovations, and consumption
of renewable energy, via a CS-ARDL technique. Focusing on BRICS
countries, the study concluded that there is need for significant policy
suggestions such as enhancing energy effectiveness, investing in energy
technologies and increasing renewable energy usage to stimulate tech­
nological innovation and achieve a net-zero-carbon economy target
(Adebayo et al., 2023).
2.1.2. Circular economy (CE)
The CE and GE concepts aim to transition present economic models
towards more sustainable ones (Loiseau et al., 2016). These innovative
approaches challenge the traditional linear economy, which follows a
“take, make, and dispose" principle (Merino-Saum et al., 2020). While
traditional models favour uneven production and consumption patterns,
it is widely recognised that economic systems are intricately linked with
the environment (Santeramo, 2022). The CE addresses this issue by
decoupling resource efficiency, production efficiency, and resource
extraction from economic growth (D’Amato and Korhonen, 2021). It
establishes a continuous virtuous cycle that reduces systemic risk by
safeguarding natural capital, optimising resource development, and
effectively managing finite supplies and renewable energy flows
A. Telukdarie et al.
(Ghisellini et al., 2016). By focusing on the CE and GE, opportunities can
present for future research to better comprehend the environmental and
social challenges posed by rapid economic development (Merino-Saum
et al., 2020). Notably, the CE is already reshaping various industries,
such as waste and energy sectors (Genovese et al., 2017).
2.1.3. Green energy
Fossil fuels have been the predominant source of energy for
numerous years, with oil and coal being more predominantly consumed
in energy production, compared to natural gas. Due to concerns over the
nexus between ecological pollution and dilapidation and the usage of
fossil fuels, green energy has provided eco-friendly solutions for reso­
lution of this wicked sustainability challenge (Kılıç Depren et al., 2022).
The green energy sector focuses on renewable energy sources such as
solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal, which offer sustainable alternatives
to fossil fuels and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Diale
et al., 2022). For instance, the accelerating growth of renewable energy,
accounted for over 90% of new power generation capacity globally in
2020 (Ekins et al., 2019). This emphasises the crucial role of supportive
policies, such as feed-in tariffs and renewable portfolio standards, in
propelling green energy technologies’ adoption. Solar power has
emerged as a dominant force in the green energy sector, with in­
novations in photovoltaic (PV) technology significantly improving solar
panel efficiency and reduced costs (Lima et al., 2021). The levelled cost
of solar electricity has plummeted by more than 80% over the past
decade, making it one of the most cost-effective energy sources (Diale
et al., 2022). Additionally, advancements in energy storage technolo­
gies, such as lithium-ion batteries, have enhanced reliability and inte­
gration of intermittent renewable energy sources into the grid (Asiimwe
and de Kock, 2019). Green hydrogen, has also gained considerable
attention as a key enabler of the green economy, by offering a versatile
and carbon-neutral energy carrier that is useable across various sectors,
including transport, industry, and heating (Lima et al., 2021).
2.1.4. Skills development
The GE focuses on ensuring the availability of necessary tools and
resources, while incorporating information technology and creativity
(Gondal et al., 2018), thus requiring thorough examination of existing
global models and best practices. Researchers emphasise that achieving
milestones in capacity building for climate change is crucial for tran­
sitioning to a green economy within the context of Industry 4.0 eco­
systems (Agaton et al., 2022). Boosting the green economy involves
promoting energy efficiency and adopting clean technologies (Griffin
and Hammond, 2021). In terms of learning needs, the shift towards the
GE implies significant focus on SD and sustainability. Both concepts
share fundamental commitment to profound social changes that
encompass just transitions, economic equality, and ecological sustain­
ability (Diale et al., 2022). Training communities, facilitating technol­
ogy transfer, and leveraging technology to support skills development
enable the achievement of sustainable goals (Quiroz-Niño and
Murga-Menoyo, 2017). Europe, China, and Taiwan are valuable refer­
ences for documenting and learning from development, innovation, and
technological advancements in the GE. Addressing skills gaps and
meeting the demands of the upcoming industrial revolution require
holistic education and training towards producing highly qualified
personnel (Asiimwe and de Kock, 2019).
2.1.5. Green economy (GE) policies
GE policies aim to create a supportive framework that incentivises
sustainable practices while discouraging harmful activities (Halkos and
Aslanidis, 2023). These include financial incentives such as tax breaks,
subsidies, and grants to encourage businesses and individuals to adopt
eco-friendly practices. Regulations and standards are put in place to set
environmental targets, limit emissions, and promote the use of renew­
able energy sources (Barbier, 2011). This is turn fosters a shift towards a
more sustainable and resilient economy that considers social, economic,
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Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611
and environmental factors. By promoting the principles of sustainabil­
ity, green economy policies seek to balance between economic growth,
environmental protection, and social well-being, ensuring a better
future for current and future generations (Griffin and Hammond, 2021).
For example, foreign direct investment is crucial for enhancing eco­
nomic growth and development, especially in emerging economies such
as BRICS-T (Ullah et al., 2023). Further, globalisation and global eco­
nomic interconnectedness are fostered via trade, financial flows,
resource modelling, and technological diffusion, in a bid to achieve
sustainable economic growth (Ullah et al., 2023). It therefore follows,
that there is a need to adopt evidence-based, holistic approaches of
deriving optimised green economy policies, cognisant of the diverse
factors encompassing the promotion of economic growth and develop­
ment (Fan et al., 2019).
2.1.6. Green logistics
Green logistics plays a crucial role in conserving natural resources,
serving as a link between natural resources and products, and between
products and consumers. It serves as a vital tool for closing the loop in
the CE (Loiseau et al., 2016). In a CE, the effectiveness of the economic
cycle is heavily influenced by green logistics. Therefore, key activities in
green logistics encompass environmentally friendly packaging, as well
as green transportation, storage, and processing flow (Droste et al.,
2016).
2.1.7. Hydroponics
Hydroponics has increasingly become a dominant farming technol­
ogy, replacing traditional methods, driven by the escalating rate of soil
erosion and potential health risks associated with organic farming
(Kenya Climate Innovation Centre, 2017). This technique involves
cultivating plants in nutrient solutions that provide all the necessary
elements for optimal growth (with or without a solid medium); and al­
lows innovative cultivation practices, including off-ground production
methods (Martin et al., 2019). Hydroponic agriculture provides greater
control over key resources like energy, nutrients, and pesticides,
resulting in reduced waste and minimised environmental impact. Hy­
droponic systems can recycle and reuse wastewater (Prazeres et al.,
2017). This offers two significant benefits: providing necessary nutrients
for plant growth and development, and simultaneously treating and
managing wastewater by depleting organic matter and nutrients
through biological processes (Mahmood Malik et al., 2018). Contrary,
wetland treatment systems utilise plants of limited commercial value to
mitigate wastewater contamination (Comino et al., 2013). Recognised
for its exceptional yield and food safety, hydroponics has already
contributed to the vertical expansion of the global food industry, for
example Pakistan’s fruits and vegeTables industry (Mahmood Malik
et al., 2018).
2.1.8. Food systems
The global food and beverage (FoodBev) industry plays a critical role
in guaranteeing availability of high-quality food, employment oppor­
tunities, and contributing to the gross domestic product of global
countries (Genovese et al., 2017). However, the industry has faced
criticism for its unfavourable environmental practices. Consequently,
addressing the pressing global issues of food insecurity and climate
change requires the industry’s active involvement (Droste et al., 2016).
Recognising the need for change, many companies within the FoodBev
industry have made commitments to minimise their ecological impact,
with primary focus areas such as reducing environmental footprint,
improving sustainable food sourcing, minimising food waste, and
expanding the range of environmentally friendly products (D’Amato and
Korhonen, 2021). The introduction of new regulations focusing on
achieving net zero emissions is further driving the industry’s commit­
ment to sustainability (Santeramo, 2022).
A. Telukdarie et al.
2.2. Definition of strength of paths between the principal elements of a
system
Whilst there is potential to identify the distinctive systems that
constitute the GE as a complex system (Merino-Saum et al., 2020), it is
crucial to explore some of the methods that enable the visualisation of
the constituent elements of these systems. The cascade effect is used to
identify the principal factors which constitute a “system of systems” and
clarify the strengths of the paths of interaction between these factors.
Diverse approaches have been proposed to define these factors, and the
strengths of paths, via matrices and networks. These approaches
leverage both qualitative and quantitative methods (Guan et al., 2022).
Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) enables
the identification and evaluation of causal interdependencies between
factors in complex systems (Chen, 2021). Interpretive Structural
Modelling (ISM) enables the evaluation of structural complexity of
problems; transform unclear system models into clearer structural
models; and consider interactions between factors. ISM however ne­
glects to identify critical factors (Guo et al., 2019). Social Network
Analysis (SNA) analyses association relationships among network in­
dividuals, which expresses the overall characteristics of the network
structure holistically (Teymourifar and Trindade, 2023). Still, it is
difficult to grasp the whole picture of the network comprehensively
since SNA over-considers the liaison nature of the network and ignores
isolated points (Guan et al., 2022).
2.3. as an enabler to portray strength of interactive paths between
elements of a system
The broad manner of the GE makes knowledge gathering strenuous
since knowledge is scattered over a wide array of research databases
(Telukdarie et al., 2023). Hence, bibliographic coupling is essential to
explicate themes in the repository of research knowledge. Co-word
analysis enables the demarcation of foundational knowledge and
unveiling of topical trajectories (Goodell et al., 2021). Keyword
co-occurrence references co-citation, and bibliographic coupling of
publication clusters are recognised by utilising the modularity of nodal
networks; whereby, corresponding nodes represent publications in re­
view, keywords specified by the author, or referenced citations (Donthu
et al., 2021). Modularity is used in BA to quantify the strength of the
division of a network into different module alias groups, communities,
or clusters. Therefore, leveraging of BA, and the matrices and networks
methods provides potential to explicate the various themes that make up
the GE and present them as elements of a complex system (Donthu et al.,
2021). Global sustainability scholars utilise BA to explicate emerging
trends in literature and thus inform evidence-based policymaking
(Ranjbari et al., 2021).
BA was adopted for purposes of explicating the nexus between en­
ergy consumption and environmental degradation at a disaggregated
scale via investigating bibliometric indicators at a global level, whereby
the study outlined a clearly defined protocol of the following sequential
methodological steps: scope determination to identify research hotpots;
determination of keywords for utilisation in data collection; data
collection from research databases; BA; comparison of results; and
conclusions and implications (Kılıç Depren et al., 2022). A similar
approach was adopted entailing the following sequential steps: delin­
eating the aims of the SLR; search criteria; research scope; inclusion and
exclusion criteria; methodological validation; discussion of results; and
data processing (Cassia et al., 2020). Regarding the BAs that are
GE-related, most studies are sector-specific focused with examples such
as green finance in a CE (Kumar et al., 2023); green jobs (Kozar and
Sulich, 2023); green finance and SD goals nexus (Annu and Tripathi,
2023); green bonds and sustainable green energy nexus (Alsmadi et al.,
2023); and green marketing (Liu et al., 2023). Though they explicated
valuable trends and themes, the studies however focused on specific
sub-sections of the GE discipline. This therefore poses limitations, for
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Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611
instances whereby one seeks to fully understand the GE from a holistic
approach inclusive of all the essential sub-sections that make the GE and
interdependencies in-between (Santeramo, 2022).
2.4. Theoretical grounding
The research study leverages the systems thinking approach to
conceptualise the GE as a system of interconnected systems (Meta et al.,
2022). The cascade effect aimed at the identification of the principal
elements making up a complex system, and the definition of the strength
of paths between them (Guan et al., 2022), is another grounding theory
upon which the research is premised on. This definition of the strength
of paths between elements requires a quantitative approach (Mer­
ino-Saum et al., 2020). Based on this information, the GE can be viewed
from the systems thinking lens, whereby the constituent systems that
make up the GE are interdependent on each other, and the strength of
paths between the corresponding constituent system elements can be
defined quantitatively.
3. Research methodology
This study proposes a systems thinking approach (Choudoir and
Deangelis, 2022) which conceptualises the GE as comprising of
distinctive systems, with associated constituent system elements, and
interdependencies between systems and elements. Therefore, a two-tier
(Kılıç Depren et al., 2022) sequential mixed methods research protocol is
adopted in order to achieve the following.
• Qualitatively identify the constituent systems making up the holistic
GE system via systematic literature review (SLR) (Choudoir and
Deangelis, 2022), and
• Quantify the respective constituent elements of each system and
intra-system interdependencies via bibliometric analysis (BA)
(Ranjbari et al., 2021).
The adoption of this two-tier mixed methods research protocol
(Ngulube and Ukwoma, 2021) fuses the complementary efforts of both
quantitative and qualitative methods; and facilitates the research
objective of acquiring contextual insight to comprehend the GE holis­
tically. The two-tier protocol is advantageous in addressing the short­
comings of conventional SLRs which usually end in a qualitative level,
with BAs, which are more instructive regarding quantitative modelling
(Yu et al., 2020).
The methodology initiates with the landscaping or scoping of the GE
system, through the qualitative collation of its distinctive constituent
systems using keyword search strings. This aligns to a similar approach
by Kılıç Depren et al. (2022) who commenced their BA by an initial
scoping of the research area. Upon collation of the systems, each
respective system is disassembled into constituent elements, via the
sequential combination of SLR, followed by BA. This is also similar to the
approach by Kılıç Depren et al. (2022) whereby advanced SLR is
informed by keywords obtained in the initial scoping step. Paths of
interaction (intra-system dependencies) between the elements of each
system are then portrayed via an nxn adjacency matrix that maps the
different strengths of relationships between elemental pairs through the
quantitative parameter nodal-to-nodal strength. The methodology ends
by integrating the modular systems into the holistic GE system to derive
paths of interaction for the holistic system, hence offering entail to
prioritise these elements in modelling and decision-making purposes.
The methodology which is summarised in sequential steps in Fig. 1 is
outlined as shall be illustrated.
3.1. Landscaping of the distinctive systems that constitute the entire green
economy system
Initial landscaping of the GE system is essential to delineate the scope
A. Telukdarie et al.
Fig. 1. Sequential steps of the research methodology protocol.
of the GE (Kılıç Depren et al., 2022), by qualitatively collating knowl­
edge on its constituent systems. Accordingly, this landscaping is ach­
ieved via the preliminary literature review whereby the keyword search
string: TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy") is used to query research da­
tabases such as ScienceDirect and Scopus for peer reviewed publications
on the GE subject matter. These research databases are elected as pre­
liminary literature review data collection sources due to their vast
knowledge on research areas such as engineering, environmental
studies, and mathematics. Additionally, during this initial landscaping
endeavour, screening of publications has not commenced (Mwanza
et al., 2023).
3.2. Iterative disassembling of each system into respective elements
(cascading) via the combined effort of SLR and BA
Disassembling each system is essential to gain insight on the con­
stituent elements of each respective system. This then informs the
modular modelling of each system prior to integration into the entire
system. Accordingly, the combined sequential effort of SLR and BA is
iteratively executed for each of the aforementioned systems. This com­
bined sequential effort of SLR and BA is outlined as follows.
3.2.1. Systematic literature review (SLR)
An SLR entails the location and collation of data in the form of
previous research studies from peer-reviewed databases such as Scopus,
Web of Science or ScienceDirect; analysis of the significance of the
research contributions of those studies; synthesis of data from the
analysis; derivation of conclusions based on existing references; and
dictation of future research trajectories (Neghabadi et al., 2019).
Filtering of common keywords enables the acquisition of a relevant,
representative sample size of publications for data collection via the SLR
(Kılıç Depren et al., 2022). Therefore, the iterative abstraction of com­
mon keywords is executed for each of the respective collated systems,
which are in turn used to query relevant peer-reviewed publications
from 2013 to 2023, in the English language. This 2013–2023 filtering
restriction is premised on the knowledge that the GE research domain
has increasingly gained prominence during the past decade, emanating
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Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611
from the increasing global mandate to gravitate towards sustainability
and cleaner production by all facets of the global economy (Stelwagen
et al., 2021). Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) screening approach is adopted to screen and
retain the relevant publications for the SLR.
3.2.2. Bibliometric analysis (BA)
BA identifies trends in the number of publications over time;
frequently used keywords in publications; and relevant or highly cited
publications (Khodabandelu and Park, 2021). Its additional merit lies in
the leveraging of numerous statistical and mathematical studies to assess
bibliometric data (Donthu et al., 2021); and has been applied as a
quantitative review methodology in numerous research fields such as CE
(Marcucci et al., 2021), using data sourced from diverse citation indexes
(Tamala et al., 2022). Based on these merits, BA of selected publications
is thus conducted to abstract the respective characteristics of the diverse
GE systems, using VOSviewer analysis software package (Jan van Eck
and Waltman, 2020). Further, BA is used to define the strength of the
paths between respective elements of constituent systems (Guan et al.,
2022) via quantitative parameters illustrated in the ensuing paragraph.
3.3. Definition of the strength of paths of interaction (intra-system
interdependencies) between constituent elements of each system
The constituent elements of each system, as extracted by BA are
graphically presented via a meta-network of densely connected nodes, in
various color-coded clusters. For purposes of this research methodology
protocol, the terminology node is interchangeably used to mean the
same thing as constituent element (Jan van Eck and Waltman, 2020). As
per the BA from VOSviewer software, the strength of each element is
expressed via the quantitative parameter total nodal strength. This
quantitative parameter attribute illustrates the aggregate strength of all
the nodal paths of the constituent elements which interconnect in that
specific node (Jan van Eck and Waltman, 2020); thus providing quan­
titative means to prioritise each identified element of a system for
modelling purposes. Upon identification of the elements of systems, the
iterative leveraging of the Adjacency Matrix is executed for each
A. Telukdarie et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611

Table 1
Summary of the qualitatively collated information of the systems of the green economy system and associated common keywords.
Item Identified system Common keywords Reference Generated keyword search string

1 Circular Economy
(CE)
2 Sustainable
development
3 Skills development
4 Policy
5 Green logistics
6 Infrastructure
7 Green energy
8 Hydroponics
9 Food systems
Green economy, circular economy
Green economy, sustainable development
Green economy, skills development
Green economy, policy, emission*, governance
Green economy, green logistics, sustainable
logistics, green transport
Green economy, infrastructure
Green economy, green energy, hydrogen economy
Green economy, hydroponics
Green economy, food systems, bacteria
Santeramo (2022)
Xie et al. (2019)
Agaton et al. (2022)
Halkos and Aslanidis (2023)
(Droste et al., 2016; Loiseau
et al., 2016)
Merino-Saum et al. (2020)
Griffin and Hammond (2021)
Martin et al. (2019)
Sillman et al. (2019)
TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy” AND “circular economy")
TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy” AND “sustainable
development")
TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy” AND “skills development")
TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy” AND “policy” OR
“emission” OR “governance”)
TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy” AND “green logistics” OR
“green transport)
TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy” AND “infrastructure")
TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy” AND “green energy")
TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy” AND “hydroponics")
TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy” AND “food systems” OR
“bacteria")

respective system, to create an nxn matrix that portrays the strength of
paths between various nodes, in a meta-network (intra-system in­
terdependencies). In this matrix, n refers to the total number of nodes
(elements) for each system. Further this matrix maps together, the
element-element pair relationships based on the strength of their
interaction via the quantitative parameter nodal-to-nodal link strength.
Whilst total nodal strength parameter offers insight for the quantitative
modular modelling of the elements of each system of the GE, nodal-­
to-nodal link strength parameter offers insight for the quantitative
modelling of the interdependencies between the elements of a system.
Therefore, by leveraging bibliometric analysis to derive respective total
nodal strength, and nodal-to-nodal link strength parameters, this adds a
complementary step on conventional SLRs which are void of the tran­
sition of qualitative entail towards quantitative modelling (Telukdarie
et al., 2023).
3.4. Holistic systems modelling of the entire green economy system
4.2. Disassembling of each system into constituent elements
After identifying the 9 systems, an SLR followed by BA is iteratively
executed to disassemble each system into respective constituent ele­
ments, using the corresponding keyword search strings in Table 1, and
PRISMA for exclusion criteria purposes. The keyword search strings are
informed by the keywords which occurred the most, guided by literature
review during landscaping. Of these 9 systems as summarised in Table 1,
the “circular economy” is elected as an example, to illustrate this
disassembling.
4.2.1. Illustration of the constituent elements of a system using circular
economy (CE)
The CE system keyword search string: TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green econ­
omy” AND “circular economy") illustrated in Tables 1 and is used to query
Scopus and ScienceDirect for English publications from 2013 to 2023.
The choice of Scopus and ScienceDirect as data collection sources is
justified in the methodology.

Repetition of the same protocol mentioned in steps 3.2 and 3.3 is
executed under the following specifications: all the publications for each
collated system in step 3.2 are imported and deduplicated via Zotero
software, thus constituting the aggregate publications for BA of the
entire GE system. This is then followed by the respective definition of the
strength of paths between the constituent elements of this holistic GE
system in the form of the aforementioned nxn adjacency matrix, thus
informing the holistic system modelling context.
4. Results
• An initial 1113 and 265 publications are downloaded from Scien­
ceDirect and Scopus correspondingly.
• These 1378 publications are deduplicated using Zotero, thus
retaining 997 publications.
• Parallel screening based on topic and abstract relevance, results in
597 publications for BA with VOSviewer.
• The BA in turn results in a net of (n = 54) constituent elements of the
CE system,
• The 54 elements comprise of a densely connected meta network,
aggregated around 5 color-coded clusters (Fig. 2).

The systems thinking approach is adopted to collate the diverse
constituent systems that constitute the GE as a holistic system and derive
tangible insight for the integrated system modelling thereof. This
adoption of the system ecology augmented by SLR and BA is illustrated
as follows.
4.1. Initial landscaping of the green economy system
Landscaping of the GE system is initiated via the utilisation of the
keyword search string TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green economy”), to query
Scopus and ScienceDirect, and execute an initial global preliminary
literature review. No screening of publications is done during this initial
landscaping, resulting in the qualitative collation of nine (9) principal
systems, which constitute the GE, as an entire system. The rationale for
selecting these systems is premised on the knowledge that these are the
keywords with the highest occurrence as per the literature review during
this landscaping. These systems, together with their respective key­
words, are summarised in Table 1.
These elements are obtained after VOSviewer performed the meta-
analysis of the most occurring keywords during the BA of the 1378
publications. Of the aforementioned 54 elements, the top 20 are
abstracted and displayed in Table 2. These elements are arranged in
hierarchical order, premised on the quantitative parameter total nodal
strength, with CE, GE, and sustainability ranking as the top three signifi­
cant elements of this system. This top ranking agrees with global authors
who argue that the escalating global demand to gravitate towards
cleaner production, necessitates the incessant need to comprehend and
contextually apply these broad concepts towards all the facets of the
global economy (Mgbechidinma et al., 2022).
The broadness of the CE, as a constituent system of the GE system
poses challenges for quantitative modellers who seek to establish paths
of interaction between these elements (Choudoir and Deangelis, 2022).
Hence, the ranking of all the elements of the CE system based on total
nodal strength (Table 2), provides quantitative means of prioritising these
elements as model inputs, based on their presence within the system.
Additionally, this hierarchical ranking of elements of a system based on
the strength of presence within the system provides entry point insight

6
A. Telukdarie et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611

Fig. 2. The constituent elements of the circular economy system as analysed by VOSviewer.

illustrated in Table 3.
Table 2
Once the list of constituent elements is identified per system, the
Top 20 constituent elements of the circular economy system, ranked based on to
detailed quantitative interactions to develop a holistic systems model
total nodal link strength values.
must be extracted. Therefore, the follow-up step is to extract and illus­
Constituent Cluster Nodal-to- Total nodal Occurrences trate the quantitative interaction of each constituent element in indi­
element nodal link strength
links
vidual systems.

1 circular economy blue 51 481 274

2 green economy red 47 394 144 4.3. Defining the strengths of paths of interaction (intra-system
3 sustainability red 51 312 158
dependencies) between elements
4 sustainable green 47 290 126
development
5 environmental red 38 213 44 Following from illustrating the constituent elements of a system, and
economics the presence of these elements within the system based on total nodal
6 recycling green 34 148 53
strength, it is crucial to define the strengths of the intra-system paths of
7 waste blue 41 142 44
management
interactions between these elements. Iterative generation of nxn adja­
8 green economies green 31 124 29 cency matrices is thus executed for each system in a structured systems
9 bioeconomy blue 31 92 48 manner via the quantitative parameter nodal-to-nodal link strength(eij).
10 environmental red 33 89 17 This parameter eij refers to the corresponding numerical entry in row i
protection
and column j. The CE system is once more used, as shall be illustrated.
11 climate change purple 34 86 43
12 economic green 24 83 18
development 4.3.1. Illustrating strength of the path of interaction using the CE system as
13 economic and yellow 24 78 14 an example
social effects
Table 4 illustrates the nxn adjacency matrix, mapping the strength of
14 economic aspect blue 22 71 12
15 economics green 25 68 18
paths of interaction of elements of the CE system, based on nodal-to-
16 economic growth green 24 66 22 nodal link strength. Though BA resulted in a total of 54 elements, only the
17 innovation red 24 64 35 first 20 are abstracted for illustration. For instance, a strong path of
18 environmental red 22 53 17 interaction between the element pairs circular economy:bioeconomy is
impact
exemplified by e3;9 of 23 (Table 4); augmenting the knowledge by global
19 decision making yellow 21 49 10
20 greenhouse gases green 26 48 12 scholars who mention CE, GE, and bioeconomy as prominent narratives
which offer diverse pathways for sustainability transformations. There is
need for more holistic, systems-wide, and integrative research work on
into the modular modelling endeavour of the system prior to integration these potentially competing or supplementary sustainability narratives
into the entire system. Although not illustrated here, the same conven­ (D’Amato and Korhonen, 2021). The convention of quantifying eij
tion of SLR followed by BA is adopted, to rank the constituent elements values is further adopted to define diverse strength of paths of interac­
of the remaining systems based on visibility and gain valuable insight for tion between the rest of the elemental pairs in the nxn matrix. Overall,
their modular modelling. Only the summative results of initial and final the most critical contribution of Table 4 is quantitative modelling insight
publications after filtering; and the resultant characteristics, are for accurate representation of intra-system interactions between all the

7
A. Telukdarie et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611

Table 3
Summative results for all the systems.
System ScienceDirect Scopus Initial publications before Final publications for bibliometric Resultant constituent elements per
filtering analysis system

1 Circular Economy 1113 265 1378 597 54

2 Sustainable 3975 1890 5865 629 49
Development
3 Skills Development 43 28 73 73 28
4 Policy 3789 2804 5654 653 52
5 Green Logistics 40 18 58 58 18
6 Infrastructure 3313 297 1262 362 45
7 Hydrogen Economy 386 124 510 478 13
8 Hydroponics 56 23 79 79 18
9 Food 1467 2879 4346 452 44
10 Holistic GE system – – 9160 7897 96

elements of a modular system, of a complex system.
The aforementioned protocol of extracting constituent elements of a
system via BA, and definition of paths of interaction between intra-
system elements is adopted for the rest of the systems which were
collated via initial landscaping; followed by replicating Table 4 for each
of these systems. The following sequential step is the integration of the 9
systems to formulate the integrated system, and respective definition of
paths of interaction in the entire green system, as shall be illustrated.
4.4. Holistic green economy system
4.4.1. Constituent elements of the integrated green economy system
The constituent elements of the GE as a holistic system are extracted
via BA of the net deduplicated publications of 7897 (Table 3), resulting
in a meta-network of 96 densely connected nodes around 7 clusters
(Fig. 3). Compared to the well-defined geometrical spread of the ele­
ments in the CE system, the elements of the holistic system are more
sparsely populated, emanating from the increasing complexity in the
defined strength of the paths of interaction, due to the increase in system
elements. This in turn is representative of a more accurate, realistic
rendition of a complex holistic system, that is integrative of all 9 systems
– not simply a modular system. The magnitude of the total nodal strength
values significantly increased (Table 5), compared to the CE system
(Table 2), reiterating the increased system complexity, with increased
number of elements (Tsagkani and Tsalgatidou, 2022). Commonality
exists between the elements of the holistic system, and modular systems
(Table 6), thus, aligning with the system thinking concept which is
premised on the existence of both intra- and inter-system in­
terdependencies within a complex holistic system (Basu et al., 2019).
Hence, the elements not only influence a modular system, but also in­
fluence other systems. This is exemplified by the visible, representative
appearance of for example climate change (common in CE and SD sys­
tems), or policy (common in policy and SD systems). Overall, the
quantitative ranking of the elements of the holistic GE (Table 5) gives
entry point insight for their prioritisation respectively during the tran­
sition towards integrated modelling of the green economy as a complex
holistic system. This is because, this quantitative insight enables a
realistic representation of the visibility or occurrence of each of the el­
ements of the holistic system based on their total nodal link strength,
hence enabling model accuracy.
Based on the aforementioned trends which give quantitative
modelling insight for the prioritisation of the elements of the holistic
system, the follow up step is to infer quantitative modelling insight on
the manner in which these elements of the holistic system influence each
other.
4.4.2. Illustrating strength of the path of interaction of the elements of the
holistic system
Upon BA and extraction of the 96 constituent elements of the holistic
system, an extract of the nxn adjacency matrix is illustrated (Table 6).
This matrix maps the paths of interaction between the elements of the
holistic system; thus, showing the way, these elements influence each
other. For instance, the path of interaction e3,11 of 30, illustrates a strong
relationship between climate change and adaptation. This is augmented
by (Halkos and Aslanidis, 2023) who advocates for enhanced political
will and commitment towards provision of adequate funding for pro­
grammes’ implementation to ensure successful localised or regionalised
climate change action for adaptation, and mitigation. Similarly, the
same convention of eij, is thus used to analyse the rest of the paths of
interactions within Table 6. Further, the overall significance of Table 6 is
in portraying a more accurate representation of the interdependencies of
the elements of the green economy as an entire complex system. The
integrated modelling of the green economy as a complex system must
therefore be cognisant of the accurate capturing and prioritising of these
interactions as model inputs, informed by this quantitative entail.
4.4.3. Overview synthesis of the holistic modelling endevour
Based on the integrated complementary effort of the SLR and BA, the
combined list of the 9 independent systems, and associated constituent
elements is detailed in Table 7, mapped against the hierarchically
ranked elements of the holistic system. Only the top 3 ranked elements
of each system are detailed versus the top 27 elements of the holistic
system for illustration. The elements of each system define and influence
the overall independent systemic behaviour within their respective
modular systems. Whilst the elements define the overall system behav­
iour within their respective systems, the elements are haphazardly
configured in ranking (relative to their modular systems), or do not
emerge at all in the holistic system. For instance, agriculture which is
quite influential in the food system is displaced to a lower ranking;
whereas climate change, which is quite dominant in the policy system,
retains dominance in the holistic system. The holistic system is signified
by the emerging dominance of climate change, policy, sustainability,
governance, and ecosystem services; reiterating the need for integrated
systems modelling, which is cognisant of all stakeholders, to optimally
contextualise the GE in addressing sustainability challenges (D’Amato
and Korhonen, 2021). Based on this knowledge, the resultant configu­
ration of elements in the holistic system (relative to their respective
modular systems), signifies a more realistic representation of a holistic
system. This representation emanates from the overall increased system
complexity emanating from diverse inter-system interactions between
elements; how these elements influence each other; and in turn overall
system complexity. This agrees with systems thinking, which is premised
on comprehending and describing the complexity of systems by ana­
lysing their elements and interdependencies, so as to visualise holistic
system behaviour.
5. Discussion and implications
5.1. Overview discussion of results
The study was able to accomplish the intended research objectives
which seeks to transition and leverage qualitative data into quantitative

8
A. Telukdarie et al.
Table 4
An extract of the nxn adjacency matrix for the circular economy system.
modelling, so as to inform decision-making by stakeholders within the
GE realm. To further augment this research contribution the following
was achieved.
5.1.1. Comprehensive quantitative analysis of each of the systems of the
green economy
The objective of identifying the principal constituent systems, and
associated elements of the GE alluded to in the introduction was
accomplished via qualitative knowledge extraction of the SLR. This was
then followed by transition of this qualitative entail into quantitative
modelling inputs. Additionally, from the 9 identified systems of the
green economy (GE), the circular economy (CE) system was then utilised
as an example, in order to illustrate its 54 constitutive elements. The
same protocol of SLR followed by BA, was utilised to derive the elements
of the remaining 8 systems. By delving into comprehensive quantitative
9
Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611
analysis of the constituent elements that make up each system of the
green economy, enabled by BA, the research objective of portraying
interdependencies between the component elements of each modular
system were met via the nxn adjacent model matrix. Therefore, this
modelling approach gives evidence-based quantitative insight to enable
the modular modelling of the interdependencies of the elements of a
system, as identified via SLR.
5.1.2. Integrated or holistic modelling of the green economy (GE)
The development of the integrated model of the GE which maps the
intricate interactions and relationships that exist among the various
constituent elements, presented comprehensive understanding of the
system as a whole. The formulation of the adjacency matrix of the ho­
listic system, and the increase in system complexity that resulted
compared to the modular CE, thus validated the existing knowledge on
A. Telukdarie et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611

Fig. 3. Constituent elements of the holistic GE systems.

holistic systems modelling. This knowledge alludes to the fact that
overall system complexity is associated with a corresponding increase in
systems elements.
5.1.3. Advancement of quantitative technology analysis within the green
economy
The study contributes in advancing quantitative technology analysis
in the green economy by leveraging techniques such as bibliometric
analysis, nodal strength ranking, and adjacency matrices to assess and
prioritise interactions and elements, and model complex interactions of
the green economy.
5.2. Significance and contribution of the study
Recognising that the GE is a complex system, with interrelated sys­
tems, this study’s unique methodology of leveraging qualitative data
towards quantitative modelling of holistic systems is a valuable contri­
bution to the field,. This approach helps in understanding how changes
within one system can affect the whole system and other interrelated
systems. Moreover, this study identifies and measures shared connec­
tions between various elements at different levels, thus indicating the
importance of addressing sustainability challenges with a comprehen­
sive and integrated approach. Through emphasising how climate
change, policies, sustainability, and other factors are interrelated, the

Table 5
Illustration of commonalities of constituent elements among the diverse systems, using the first 20 elements of the holistic GE system.
Constituent element Cluster Representative system Nodal-to-nodal links Total nodal strength Occurrences

1 climate change yellow circular economy, sustainable development 62 214 204

2 Policy red policy & sustainable development 58 165 197
3 sustainability green sustainable development, green logistics & hydrogen economy 56 130 119
4 governance turquoise sustainable development, hydrogen economy, 51 104 99
5 ecosystem services purple All systems 39 94 100
6 renewable energy green sustainable development, circular economy & hydrogen economy 40 92 106
7 adaptation turquoise All systems 33 89 57
8 resilience turquoise policy, circular economy & sustainable development 36 81 80
9 agriculture yellow hydroponics 37 80 63
10 covid-19 red All systems 40 70 101
11 energy policy green circular economy, policy, sustainable development, & green logistics 31 70 71
12 energy transition green sustainable development, circular economy & green logistics 26 66 92
13 infrastructure red sustainable development 37 66 75
14 climate policy green policy & sustainable development 27 50 78
15 energy blue policy & sustainable development 30 43 36
16 circular economy green All systems 22 42 71
17 food security blue hydroponics and bacteria 25 42 54
18 urban planning purple sustainable development, green logistics 25 42 47
19 vulnerability orange circular economy, skills development 23 42 27
20 decision-making yellow skills development, circular economy, policy 25 41 29

10
A. Telukdarie et al.
Table 6
nxn adjacency matrix of the holistic GE system.
study further augmented the knowledge that cross-disciplinary or ho­
listic optimisation. This could guide the, increasingly crucial intersec­
tion of policies and industry practice with green economy. This
information is therefore valuable to global industry actors and other
stakeholders within the green economy domain.
5.3. Bridging literature gaps in the green economy
This study utilizes an SLR and BA to delve deeper into the GE,
compared to traditional SLR methods which end at qualitative level.
This process identifies nine main systems of the GE, each represented by
11
Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611
a set of common keywords. This initial research sets the groundwork for
a comprehensive examination of the complexities of the GE. Addition­
ally, the study takes a systems thinking approach to better understand
this intricate system. This approach bridges the gap between quantita­
tive data analysis and strategic decision-making by allowing for a ho­
listic view of the interconnectedness of various aspects within the green
economy (Adebayo et al., 2023; Ullah et al., 2023).
5.4. Limitations of the study, and future work
The study did not go as far as modelling and simulating various
A. Telukdarie et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 436 (2024) 140611

Table 7
Mapping of the elements (top three chosen for illustration) of each system against the holistic system.
Top three ranked elements for each system Top ranked elements for the holistic green economy system

System Top 3 elements per Total nodal strength of element per Elements Total nodal strength of element in the holistic
system system system
1 Food systems Food security 76 climate change 214
Nutrition 59 policy 165
Agriculture 53 sustainability 130
2 Sustainable Sustainable 209 governance 104
development development
Green economy 153 ecosystem services 94
Sustainability 105 renewable energy 92
3 Circular economy Circular economy 481 adaptation 89
Green economy 394 resilience 81
Sustainability 312 agriculture 80
4 Skills development Green economy 21 COVID-19 70
Sustainability 19 energy policy 70
Green jobs 17 energy transition 66
5 Infrastructure Green economy 594 infrastructure 66
Sustainable 369 climate policy 50
development
Sustainability 212 energy 43
6 Policy Climate change 174 circular economy 42
Methane 87 food security 42
Life cycle assessment 85 urban planning 42
7 Hydroponics Circular economy 13 vulnerability 42
Decoupling 10 decision-making 41
Urban nexus thinking 10 uncertainty 40
8 Green energy Sustainable 32 livelihoods 39
development
Hydrogen 27 sustainable development 38
Green economy 26 cities 36
9 Green logistics Green logistics 14 transport 36
Green economy 9 green infrastructure 35
Sustainable 9 sustainable development 35
development goals

scenarios in the event of changes within each of the constituent elements
of the model. This therefore provides limitations, but also serves as an
area to delve in as an extension of this research, complicated by
increasing popular dynamic modelling approaches such as systems dy­
namics, agent-based modelling, or discrete event modelling (Khoda­
bandelu and Park, 2021). Future work in this field should thus leverage
these insights to develop integrated models that capture the holistic
dynamics of the green economy using these dynamic modelling ap­
proaches therefore. These models can serve as decision-support tools for
policymakers and stakeholders, enabling them to make informed
choices that promote sustainability and address environmental chal­
lenges effectively. Additionally, further research could explore the
temporal dynamics of the green economy and how it evolves over time,
providing a deeper understanding of its adaptive nature in response to
changing environmental, economic, and social factors.
6. Conclusion
Premised on the knowledge that the diverse nature of the GE domain
complicates its contextualised application, this study sought to ad­
dresses this research gap by leveraging the systems thinking framework
to conceptualise the GE as a complex system, made of 9 distinctive
constituent systems. These systems which were qualitatively collated via
respective iterative SLRs, include the CE, green energy, green logistics,
skills development, food systems, hydroponics, and SD. The combined
merits of SLR followed by BA was then iteratively employed for each
identified sysetm, to establish the respective constituent elements based
on their presence within the system; and the interdependencies thereof
with the aid of network matrices. The purpose of delving into quanti­
tative analysis in the form of BA was premised on the knowledge that
most SLRs end in the qualitative collation of research themes but void of
the portrayal of the interdependencies between those themes. This
delving into quantitative analysis thus serves as the significant
contribution of this paper to illustrate the leveraging of both qualitative
and quantitative research methods for purposes of system model
development. VOSviewer analysis software packaged was used for this
purpose to analyse the peer-reviewed publications which had been
collected via the SLR, and the data sources. The data collection sources
where the peer-reviewed publications collected from Scopus and Sci­
enceDirect, for the purposes already mentioned in the methodology
section. Via quantitative parameters total nodal strength, and nodal-to-
nodal link strength, the presence of the elements and intra-system in­
terdependencies were established, to draw insight for the modular
modelling of these systems as the model inputs of the holistic green
system. The same protocol for BA was then employed to derive insight
for the modelling of the holistic system made of 96 constituent elements.
It was observed that system complexity increases with increased number
of system constituent elements, which aggress with system thinking
principles. The final stage of the research study which entailed the
development of a nxn matrix model, illustrates the interdependencies
between these elements of the GE system. This model serves as valuable
entry-point insight towards informing the further development of dy­
namic models for complex systems such as the GE. Further, by deviating
from conventional SLRs via the leveraging of the qualitative entail into
quantitative modelling, the research thus justified the originality and
novelty of the study.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Arnesh Telukdarie: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Method­
ology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review
& editing. Tatenda Katsumbe: Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing –
original draft. Hlobisile Mahure: Formal analysis, Investigation,
Writing – review & editing. Khuliso Murulane: Data curation, Formal
analysis, Investigation, Software.

12
A. Telukdarie et al.
Declaration of competing interest
None.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
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