Abstract

Indubitably, for operational research journals articles are meant to entail content to do with Operations research models, theories and fields. This provides organisations and companies with best optimization solutions so as to achieve a competitive age among other benefits. This article aimed appraising the content of the ORSEA Journal articles (2011-2017) to deduce the theoretical, philosophical, methodological, and contextual aspects used in operations research. Using a matrix designed specifically for the study, content analysis was applied and utilised in analysing fifty (50) articles. 21 used theories, 14 developed and used models that emanated from theoretical frameworks and 15 articles which had neither theories nor models. 38 articles used quantitative methods, 6 qualitative approach and 6 mixed methods. Findings revealed that the theoretical contributions of the articles in the context of OR in East Africa are questionable; implying that most of the theories derived in other context can be totally adopted in East Africa which is far from the truth. In addition to the above, the over reliance on positivism and deductive approaches dominant in the ORSEA Journal articles can be complimented with more Interpretivism and inductive approaches that might generate mid-range contextual theories and models.

Highlights

  • Operations Research (OR) and Operations Management (OM) as an academic field with practical importance have expanded over the years both in depth of understanding as well as research in different geographical contexts

  • Though it was challenging to place the studies either into OR issues, it was resorted to use the generic topics under OR (ICT, resource planning, efficient, efficiency, and optimization) as well as the specific areas defined by Operation Research Society for East Africa (ORSEA) that amounted to 44% of the studies

  • The study reported in this paper aimed at appraising the contents of the ORSEA Journal articles with respect to the theoretical, methodological, and contextual elements

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Summary

Introduction

Operations Research (OR) and Operations Management (OM) as an academic field with practical importance have expanded over the years both in depth of understanding as well as research in different geographical contexts. This expansion has been felt within the African context, with the launching of the Operations Research Society of East Africa (ORSEA). The department of Management Science in the School of Business University of Nairobi was allotted the secretariat position coupled with the role of coordinating office of the ORSEA activities.

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