ScholarWorks@성균관대학교

초록

Complex challenges increasingly demand multidisciplinary research across intersecting knowledge domains. However, existing systematic (literature) review protocols offer limited guidance and tend to confine scholars to single-domain or single-intersection reviews. Practical solutions, such as valorizing food waste (i.e., turning food waste into value), draw from multiple domains (e.g., food waste, behavioral change, mobile applications, and revenue). Consequently, synthesizing evidence across domains remains challenging, often unsystematic. This article introduces The Lotus Protocol to address this gap. Visualized by the petal-like structure of Venn diagrams, the protocol offers a systematic multi-domain approach that synthesizes evidence through three phases, namely conceptual exploration, corpora creation, and contribution capture. Notably, the approach relies on a (critical) review of all relevant domains and intersections (e.g., up to the point of theoretical saturation), which enables researchers to manage combinatorial complexity and visualize intersecting domains clearly and systematically. Illustrated by a multi-domain systematic (literature) review on food waste, behavioral change, mobile applications, and revenue, The Lotus Protocol identifies four value propositions for food-waste-fighting apps, namely brokering, delivery, inventory planning, and education. The review also reveals gaps about specialized insights missing foundational theories on planetary boundaries, overconsumption, and behavioral science. Therefore, The Lotus Protocol formalizes an approach to synthesize evidence across multiple knowledge domains and positions systematic (literature) reviews as translational research that yields holistic, evidence-based insights for addressing grand challenges, as illustrated here by valorizing food waste.

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