A Systematic Literature Review on Social Impact Bonds

Social Impact Bonds are a new mechanism for delivering public services. This paper examines peer-reviewed articles about this topic. With a systematic literature review complemented by a literature mapping for content analysis of 116 articles published between 2010 and 2022, we identified (i) the evolution in the literature; (ii) the key articles, authors, journals, and countries contributing to the field; (iii) the countries and policy areas most analyzed and (iv) the most used research approaches. Our results suggest that most studies follow a qualitative or mixed approach. Moreover, the literature appears UK oriented. We conclude by proposing future research directions.