The relevance of management research debate: a historical view, 1876–2018

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to map how the debate concerning the relevance of management research historically evolved to (a) determine if B-schools and management researchers have been uninterested bystanders, as critics posit, or if they have had a relevant role, and (b) discover if a pathway for management research becoming socially relevant has been established by such debate.

Design/methodology/approach

This study performed a citation network analysis of the scientific literature concerning the relevance of management research. The network had a total of 1,186 research papers published between 1876 and 2018.

Findings

The results show that from a minimal to peripheral role at the beginning and middle stages, management researchers have rather taken over this debate since the 1990s; the key components of the citation network reveal a strong convergence on what needs to be done, but no convergence on how to do it; and the debate has failed to generate actual change.

Originality/value

This study maps the debate concerning the relevance of management research since its historical inception using a method underused in management history research. It reveals the main path of the debate and the journals that echoed such debate.

Citation

Wood, T., Souza, R. and Caldas, M.P. (2022), "The relevance of management research debate: a historical view, 1876–2018", Journal of Management History, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 409-427. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-10-2021-0056