From classical interpretive structural modeling to total interpretive structural modeling and beyond: A half-century of business research

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of interpretive structural modeling (ISM) in business research, little is known about its overall scientific productivity and impact on business research. This study presents a comprehensive review of the published ISM research and its latest editions in business using text mining. A two-tier review (narrative and systematic) is used to examine the methods and provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis and an application roadmap. We demonstrate the number of ISM publications has been increasing in the past fifteen years, even though ISM was developed half a century ago. The study provides evidence for the increasing impact of ISM research in business. Content analysis shows an increase in the application of an updated edition of ISM, total interpretive structural modeling (TISM). In addition, the overall scientific productivity of ISM and TISM is assessed, and an ISM/TISM method selection roadmap is proposed. We further develop ISM+, a new integrated framework combining ISM and its latest editions to improve its performance and potential applications in business research.