Cross-Disciplinary Communities or Knowledge Islands: Examining Business Disciplines

Abstract

Successful knowledge transfer provides benefits to companies and society. Knowledge management across disparate business functions leads to improvement in business processes. Colleges are comprised of different departments training the next generation of business leaders who must be prepared to contribute in open, cross-functional environments. This research uses bibliometric research methods to examine the transfer of knowledge across business disciplines over four decades. Bibliometrics uses publication and citation data to document knowledge creation and transfer. The goal of this research is to identify publication and citation trends associated with knowledge creation and knowledge transfer within business disciplines. We analyzed four decades of citation patterns of the top 25 journals from established and emerging business disciplines. Initial analyses show increases in within-discipline and interdisciplinary publications and citations, demonstrating increased knowledge creation and transfer. Further analysis indicates the strength of knowledge flow among business disciplines, identifying the greatest knowledge transfer among disciplines.