The evolution of the intellectual structure of strategic management between 1980 and 2019

Abstract

Purpose

The authors evaluate the evolution of the intellectual structure of strategic management (SM) by employing a document co-citation analysis through a network analysis for academic citations in articles published in the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employed the co-citation analysis through the social network analysis.

Findings

The authors outlined the evolution of the academic foundations of the structure and emphasized several domains. The economic foundation of SM research with macro and micro perspectives has generated a solid knowledge stock in the literature. Industrial organization (IO) psychology has also been another dominant foundation. Its robust development and extension in the literature have focused on cognitive issues in actors' behaviors as a behavioral foundation of SM. Methodological issues in SM research have become dominant between 2004 and 2011, but their influence has been inconsistent. The authors concluded by recommending future directions to increase maturity in the SM research domain.

Originality/value

This is the first paper to elucidate the intellectual structure of SM by adopting the co-citation analysis through the social network analysis.

Citation

Köseoğlu, M.A. and Parnell, J. (2020), "The evolution of the intellectual structure of strategic management between 1980 and 2019", Journal of Strategy and Management, Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 503-534. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSMA-05-2020-0102