A Review of Social Value Research in the Management Literature: A Citation and Co-Citation analysis

Abstract

Research on social value became a growing interest in management and organization research. However, the disciplines of investigation are rather large and heterogeneous. The purpose of this contribution is to provide an overview of the current state of research on social value. For doing so, we employ content analysis and bibliometric analysis to analyse the research on social value published during the last decade, between 2010 and 2019, in the management and organization field. We employ methods of citation analysis, document co-citation analysis, and cluster visualization to identify major themes studied. The paper explores the assumptions underlying the core concept of social value in organization and management research. Thereby, we analyse 1,117 papers containing 55,059 cited references and uncover the structure, or intellectual base, of research on social value. We identify six distinct clusters of social value research that are grounded in multiple disciplines; (1) marketing and social psychology, (2) economy, (3) development studies, (4) medicine, (5) strategy and social entrepreneurship, and (6) social responsible investing. The assumptions found in these clusters can be grouped into three categories that conceptualize social value (1) as an individual/and or commodity characteristic, (2) as an asset of communities, and (3) as a matter of organizing.