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1. Introduction
Manufacturing and service organizations in the developing world have not been left behind in the quest for implementing lean manufacturing (LM). This is because they face the need to enhance the three main dimensions of performance: economic, environmental and social, known as the triple bottom line (Henao et al., 2019). Though much effort has been put into implementing LM, most LM implementations have not yielded the desired results in developing countries than developed countries (Marodin et al., 2018). Most manufacturing organizations in the developing world use outdated manufacturing systems and machinery (Carvalho et al., 2019; Goshime et al., 2019; Gupta and Jain, 2013). They also lack skilled labour and have insufficient resources such as capital, raw material, water and electricity (Zahraee, 2016; Kinyondo et al., 2014). Goshime et al. (2019) reported that most industries in the developing countries are still in an infant stage in adopting the LM philosophy, while Yadav et al. (2020b) asserted that many organizations have not yet adopted the LM philosophy in the developing world. The developing countries lack the expertise that helps in the implementation of LM (Hokoma et al., 2010; Ghosh, 2013; Khusaini et al., 2014), and there is also more knowledge of LM in the developed countries compared to the developing countries (Hokoma et al., 2010; Panwar et al., 2016). In addition to that, authors such as Khaba and Bhar (2018), Shamah (2013) and Wong and Wong (2011) averred that some employees fear losing their jobs due to retrenchment when non-value-added activities become visible. Organizations in developing countries also lack organizational and governmental support (Sangwan et al., 2014; Shamah, 2013; Wong and Wong, 2011; Pearce et al., 2018; Coetzee et al., ; Thanki and Thakkar, 2018; Singh et al., 2019); therefore, they consider the implementation of LM as expensive thus have not ventured to apply it.
Marodin et al. (2017) stated that LM studies in developing countries are still lower in quantity than in developed countries. A review of academic papers published for LM between 1991 and 2017 by Durakovic et al. (2018) showed that the USA contributed 34.1% of the publications, India had 10.9% and UK 6.8%. Yadav et al. (2020b)...