Organizational failure and decline – A bibliometric study of the scientific frontend

Abstract

In today's challenging economic times, the number of failing firms remains high. Theories of why corporations fail and consequences for organizations and individuals those affected by failure have mainly been examined in a research field traditionally summarized as “organizational failure and decline.” Unfortunately, this research field suffers from strong fragmentation and various separate streams of scholarly interest. The aim of this study is to structure existing research with the help of bibliometric methods and present developments in research between 1982 and 2016. This can essentially contribute to a better understanding of the ongoing maturation of this specific research field. Concretely, we perform a co-citation analysis and visualize existing sub-clusters of organizational failure research. We also present the most frequently cited publications based on a citation analysis and highlight shifting citation patterns in different research periods. The main clusters are finally summarized in an integrated framework.