A scientometric analysis of knowledge spillover research

Abstract

This paper explores current trends in knowledge spillover research using scientometric analysis of all papers published in journals indexed in the Web of Science. No chronological filter was applied. The search yielded 1568 articles. The bibliometric study presented herein was based on co-citations analysis. Given that this paper deals with a complex research area, multidimensional scaling was used to map connections between articles that present different approaches. Hierarchical cluster analysis was then applied to group related articles into sets. Finally, principal component analysis with Varimax rotation was applied to obtain further insight into existing knowledge spillover research. This process showed which articles share common elements and which articles have the largest weights for each of the previous factors. The knowledge spillover literature focuses on five main approaches: (i) knowledge spillover location; (ii) knowledge spillover agglomeration; (iii) knowledge spillover institutional approach; (iv) knowledge spillover demography; and (v) knowledge spillovers of entrepreneurship. This is the first comprehensive scientometric study of knowledge spillover research to describe the state of the art and provide suggestions for the future research agenda for this field.