Association Of Business Schools Research Articles

Service Oikos as a complex self-perpetuating system: a bibliometric study of service ecosystems

PurposeThis study aims to address the following research questions: (1) What are the theoretical frameworks and areas of study that influence the development of service ecosystems? and (2) To what extent does a service ecosystem align with the theoretical concepts presented in other research contexts within the study areas, thereby transforming the fundamental structure of the core concept?Design/methodology/approachWe conducted a bibliometric systematic literature review, analyzing 280 papers from a sample of 52 journals listed in the Association of Business Schools (ABS). The review covered the period between 2004 and 2022, and we utilized co-citation analysis, multi-dimensional scaling analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) on a total of 2,614 citations.FindingsThis study employs co-citation analysis to identify the conceptual structure of the service ecosystem based on highly cited papers. Additionally, we utilize multidimensional scaling (MDS) to uncover key approaches driving service ecosystem research. Through HCA and network analysis, we examine the research scope and its development, emphasizing theory-driven approaches. By combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, we explore the interrelationships between scope, domain and evolution. This comprehensive analysis allows us to delve deeply into the study of service ecosystems. To broaden the research scope, we propose a conceptual framework for comparing the main components of a service ecosystem. The current paper clarifies the service ecosystem's intellectual structure, including service performance, humanistic approach, sustainable innovations and service reflexivity and reformation and proposes a prospective research framework for specialists and researchers by introducing a metaverse service ecosystem.Originality/valueFor the first time, the findings of this study shed light on processes that facilitate the flow of technologies, business models and markets through social structures, ultimately contributing to social change. In service-based systems, the development and application of a more humanistic approach within and surrounding social service ecosystems are crucial as they evolve. Therefore, adopting a dynamic and multifaceted approach offers valuable insights into the drivers of value creation.

Geopolitical disruptions in global supply chains: a state-of-the-art literature review

This paper systematically reviews the literature on the impact of geopolitical disruptions on supply chains to identify primary discourses, emergent themes and key gaps to set a future research agenda. The guiding research question is ‘how do geopolitical disruptions affect the configuration, flow, and management of global supply chains?’. The study applies a systematic literature review of 50 papers from the Association of Business Schools’ (ABS) ranked academic journals in the fields of operations, production, and supply chain management published between 1995 and 2022. Through an in-depth literature analysis, this paper demarcates geopolitical disruptions and the resulting impact on supply chains as a new subfield of research. The results indicate that the impact of geopolitical disruptions on supply chains can be mitigated through: (1) supply chain re-design including regionalisation, back-shoring, and moving away from just-in-time delivery models as well as (2) the implementation of emerging technologies, such as blockchain, 3D printing and artificial intelligence, to improve supply chain transparency and the development of modularised manufacturing. This paper is one of the first to define the current state of research and thinking on the impact of geopolitical disruptions on supply chains, laying a firm foundation for future research by setting a detailed research agenda based on identified gaps.

It takes two to tango: a multidisciplinary bibliometric review across six decades of dyadic service encounter research

PurposeThe authors systematically review empirical dyadic service encounter research published in top-tier journals between 1972 and 2022.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed bibliometric techniques, co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling analysis to map schools of thought and research frontiers within the dyadic service encounter literature. In total, the authors analyzed 155 articles. To ensure inclusion of high-quality research, the authors screened articles from 139 journals with “4” or “4*” ratings on the 2021 Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS) journal list, in addition to articles published in three service sector-specific journals: Journal of Service Management, Journal of Services Marketing and Journal of Service Theory and Practice.FindingsThe authors' co-citation analysis identified four distinct clusters within the dyadic service encounter literature: (1) shaping and explaining service encounters; (2) emotions in service work; (3) modeling, manipulating and measuring encounter service quality and (4) emotional labor and regulation in dyadic service encounters. Furthermore, the authors' bibliographic coupling analysis generated three research clusters: (1) service encounter characteristics; (2) emotions and emotional labor and (3) service encounter interaction content.Originality/valueThe authors' comprehensive review synthesizes knowledge, summarizing similarities among research clusters within the service encounter realm. Noteworthy are research clusters that clarify the emotion-based underpinnings and reciprocal nature of behaviors and emotions within dyadic encounters. By conducting complementary bibliometric analyses, the authors trace the evolution of the service encounter literature, providing an overview of the present state of dyadic service encounter research. These analyses offer valuable insights into the current landscape of the field, identifying future dyadic service encounter research opportunities.

Online Consumer Stickiness: A Systematic Review

Despite the growing interest of researchers and practitioners in figuring out why users stick to some websites and not others, the resulting scholarly work is still divergent, partial, and fragmented. Online stickiness plays a vertical role in consumer decision-making, so this research domain is still developing, and a comprehensive and critical overview of existing research on this topic is sorely needed. This paper seeks to establish a scientific foundation for future research on the subject matter by conducting a thorough evaluation of the literature on online consumer stickiness via publications in peer-reviewed academic journals in various domains. A systematic analysis of 53 articles from 32 journals listed in the Association of Business Schools (ABS) or Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) reveals a lack of consistent conceptual consistency and a conflict between stickiness’s antecedents and consequences in the online context.

The role of intelligences in teams: a systematic literature review

AbstractWith organizations moving towards team-based structures, there is a great interest in studying organizational teams. Using a comprehensive, thorough, and systematic literature review, this study reviews the existing studies that have contributed to the importance of intelligences in various types of teams. This study intends to structure existing research, identify its current trends, and provide an overview of recent research strands and topics on the role of intelligences in organizational teams. Searches were conducted of Web of Science and EBSCO databases, and 44 eligible studies, published in Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS) ≥ 2-star journals, were identified. The results indicate that cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, and cultural intelligence can be considered important factors contributing to various team-related outcomes. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate a growing interest in research on global virtual teams, which is a trend that is predicted to continue. Suggestions for future research directions are discussed.

Marketing Journal Rankings: Active Scholar Assessment

Abstract Journal rankings convey important information to researchers and influence processes related to promotion, remuneration, research funding, and resource allocation in academe. The present research uses direct responses from an international sample of 203 active marketing scholars in a web-based survey to endogenously rank 138 marketing journals by quality, awareness, and importance. We employ regression estimation with nested random journal-within-tier effects to comprehensively rank the marketing journals into four ordered tiers (A–D), and then in turn, subdivide journals in each tier, into “upper,” “middle,” and “lower” groups (e.g. Tier A: A+, A and A−). Our methodology, Active Scholar Assessment (ASA), produces an independent ranking of marketing journals that aggregates individual expert opinion regarding journals by researchers from 68 countries. Subsequently, we compare our ASA-developed marketing journal rankings and categories with prominent citation-based ranking systems (Scimago, Clarivate Analytics’ Journal Citation Reports, Association of Business Schools, and the Australian Business Deans Council) to demonstrate that the opinions of active scholars are comparatively more stable and capture additional information (that is not reflected by computations based solely on citations), and provide useful strategic information and direction to scholars.

The academic landscape of sustainability in management literature: Towards a more interdisciplinary research agenda

AbstractSustainability research is vast and complex, making it difficult to grasp the big picture. To help researchers understand the field better, we created a comprehensive knowledge map of sustainability in management literature by utilising citation‐based clustering and text mining techniques to analyse 25,737 sustainability‐related papers across 22 academic disciplines, as categorised by the Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS)'s Academic Journal Guide. We identify 23 research streams, with the top three being corporate social responsibility, operations & supply chain and tourism. Each research stream has varying degrees of definition coverage, levels of analysis, levels of interdisciplinarity and connections to the 17 United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goals #9, #10, #12 and #13 receive more attention than Goals #3, #14 and #15. Our findings suggest a need for more interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers, and we propose four research directions to achieve this.

Determinants and consequences of corporate social responsibility disclosure: A survey of extant literature

AbstractThis paper systematically analyzes and synthesizes the literature on the determinants and consequences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure. The study is unique in that it synthesizes based on the geographical setting of the original research. We analyzed 135 empirical studies published in Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS) ranked journals from 1982 to 2020. The results reveal that various global, country‐specific, market‐specific, and firm‐specific factors are important in determining a firm's CSR disclosure policies. These factors are consistently relevant in both developed and developing economies. Furthermore, the synthesis shows that companies achieve various CSR disclosure‐related benefits in the form of a better reputation, enhanced financial performance, better access to external finances, better stakeholder management, and enhanced corporate accountability. In terms of theories, we observe a high heterogeneity among various studies examining the same empirical phenomenon. Based on the analysis and review results, we identify avenues for future research.

Bibliometric-Based Evaluation of the Neuromarketing Research Trend: 2010-2021.

Neuromarketing has become a new and important topic in the field of marketing in recent years. Consumer behavior research has received increasing attention. In the past decade, the importance of marketing has also been recognized in many fields such as consumer behavior, advertising, information systems, and e-commerce. Neuromarketing uses neurological methods to determine the driving forces behind consumers’ choices. Various neuroscience tools, such as eye movements, have been adopted to help reveal how consumers react to particular advertisements or objects. This information can be used as the basis for new advertising campaigns and brand promotions. To effectively explore the research trends in this field, we must understand the current situation of neuromarketing. A systematic bibliometric analysis can solve this problem by providing publishing trends and information on various topics. In this study, journals that focused on neuromarketing in the field of marketing between 2010 and 2021 were analyzed. These journals were core journals rated by the Association of Business Schools with three or more stars. According to the data analysis results, neuromarketing has 15 main journals with relevant papers. Based on the data collected by the Web of Science (WOS), this study mainly collected 119 references and analyzed the most productive countries, universities, authors, journals, and prolific publications in the field of neuromarketing via Citespace. Through the analysis of knowledge maps, this study explored the mapping of co-citation, bibliographic coupling (BC), and co-occurrence (CC). Moreover, the strongest citation bursts were used to study popular research at different time stages and analyze the research trends of neuromarketing research methods and tools. This study provides an overview of the trends and paths in neuromarketing, which can help researchers understand global trends and future research directions.

Global value chains and digital platforms: Implications for strategy

AbstractThe emergence of global value chains (GVCs) appears due to the rise of international trade deregulation and market liberalization over the past decades. The rise of information and communication technologies, which supports knowledge‐intensive activities, has also radically transformed value capture across GVCs and raises the bar for value‐creating opportunities as a new generation of technologies emerges. Of particular relevance to GVCs is the rise of digital technologies, such as big data, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence. These technologies promise to herald a new era of connectedness, collaboration, and innovation, affording significant growth opportunities for GVCs. Digital platforms will play a key role for GVCs in orchestrating such value‐creating opportunities. There remains a lack of empirical understanding of how digital platforms can enable GVC strategy. The study seeks to address this question by reviewing the digital platform literature to support key GVC strategy learnings. Specifically, 61 “digital platform”–titled articles across 38 Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS)‐ranked journals were reviewed. The study adopts Mainardi and Kleiner's (Strategy + Business, 2010, 61, pp. 1–14) “strategy landscape” framework to organize emerging findings. Eight key themes emerged from the literature to reveal critical issues for digital platforms. Implications for strategy are then discussed, revealing four key learnings for GVCs, namely, (i) boundary management, (ii) definition of the unit of analysis, (iii) alignment of capabilities, and (iv) governance and leadership.

Ambiguity in public sector performance measurement: a systematic literature review

PurposeThis paper presents a systematic literature review aiming at analysing how research has addressed performance measurement systems’ (PMSs) ambiguities in the public sector. This paper embraces the ambiguity perspective that PMSs in public sector coexist with and cope with existing ambiguities.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a literature review in Scopus and ScienceDirect, considering articles published since 1985, and the authors selected articles published in the journals included in the Association of Business Schools' Academic Journal Guide (Chartered ABS, 2018). Of the 1,278 abstracts that matched the study’s search criteria, the authors selected 131 articles for full reading and 37 articles for the final discussion.FindingsThe study's key findings concern the elements of ambiguity in PMSs discussed in the literature. The study’s results suggest that ambiguity is still a relevant problem in performance measurement, as a problem that is impossible to be solved and therefore needs to be better understood by researchers and public managers. The analysis allows us to summarize the antecedents and consequences of ambiguity in the public sector.Research limitations/implicationsThe key findings of the study concern the main sources of ambiguity in PMSs discussed in the literature, their antecedents and their consequences. The study results suggest that ambiguity exists in performance measurement and that is an issue to be handled with various strategies that can be implemented by managers and employees.Practical implicationsManagers and researchers may benefit from this research as it may represent a guideline to understand ambiguities in their organizations or in field research. Researchers may also benefit from a summary list of the key issues that have been analysed in the empirical cases provided by this research. Social implicationsThis research may provide insights to limit ambiguity and thus contribute to improve performance measurement in the public sector.Originality/valueThis research presents a comprehensive review on the topic. It provides insight that suggests what future research should attend to in helping to interpret ambiguity, considering also what should be done to influence ambiguity.

Blockchain in accounting research: current trends and emerging topics

PurposeThis paper provides a structured literature review of blockchain in accounting. The authors identify current trends, analyse and critique the key topics of research and discuss the future of this nascent field of inquiry.Design/methodology/approachThis study’s analysis combined a structured literature review with citation analysis, topic modelling using a machine learning approach and a manual review of selected articles. The corpus comprised 153 academic papers from two ranked journal lists, the Association of Business Schools (ABS) and the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC), and from the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). From this, the authors analysed and critiqued the current and future research trends in the four most predominant topics of research in blockchain for accounting.FindingsBlockchain is not yet a mainstream accounting topic, and most of the current literature is normative. The four most commonly discussed areas of blockchain include the changing role of accountants; new challenges for auditors; opportunities and challenges of blockchain technology application; and the regulation of cryptoassets. While blockchain will likely be disruptive to accounting and auditing, there will still be a need for these roles. With the sheer volume of information that blockchain records, both professions may shift out of the back-office toward higher-profile advisory roles where accountants try to align competitive intelligence with business strategy, and auditors are called on ex ante to verify transactions and even whole ecosystems.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors identify several challenges that will need to be examined in future research. Challenges include skilling up for a new paradigm, the logistical issues associated with managing and monitoring multiple parties all contributing to various public and private blockchains, and the pressing need for legal frameworks to regulate cryptoassets.Practical implicationsThe possibilities that blockchain brings to information disclosure, fraud detection and overcoming the threat of shadow dealings in developing countries all contribute to the importance of further investigation into blockchain in accounting.Originality/valueThe authors’ structured literature review uniquely identifies critical research topics for developing future research directions related to blockchain in accounting.

Framing the customer journey: touch point categories and decision-making process stages

PurposeThis paper aims to define and frame the understanding of customer journeys, associated areas of consumer decision-making process stages and touch point categories based on an ownership perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on a detailed literature review of customer journeys, in peer-reviewed marketing and retail journals, within the last decade. The Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS) academic journal guide marketing discipline list was used because it only includes peer-reviewed journals, based on an internationally accepted quality ranked list.FindingsThe detailed analysis of the journals identified three groups of touch points (brand owned, partner owned/managed and outside the control of brand owner/partner) and three decision-making process stages (pre-purchase, purchase and post–purchase) that informed a clearer definition and understanding of the customer journey.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations concern the ABS database was used and a ten-year date period was selected, which may exclude some relevant journal articles, particularly those written in a language other than English.Originality/valueThe authors have provided a revised definition of customer journey, clarified the decision-making stages and subsequent categorisation of touch points from an ownership perspective.

Disciplinary Conversations on Sustainability Impact: Epistemic Bubbles and Silent Spaces

This paper maps where sustainability impact (social, economic and environmental) conversations are taking place within business and management disciplines. This paper presents a review of impact conversations within papers published in highly ranked journals in the Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS) Academic Journal Guide 2018 between 1970 and 2018. Following a bibliometric review of 1455 abstracts we map where the discipline conversations on sustainability impact are occurring. We present an Impact-Issue typology which shows that three distinct patterns emerge in terms of how the term ‘impact’ is deployed within and across 22 ABS sub- disciplines: 1) Sustain-centric impact conversations; 2) Corporate- centric impact conversations, and 3) The ‘quiet’ sub-disciplines. We find distinct leaders in terms of sub-disciplines and journals who are shaping and influencing the conversation, however we find “strong” disciplines” are notably absent. The evidence suggests that epistemic bubbles exist at the discipline level, leading to a persistent disconnect between corporate and system level literatures. Epistemic bubbles reinforce single disciplinary approaches to corporate sustainability impact which can be problematic in the development of theories of impact, This we argue is due to the epistemic landscape of disciplines. We argue that these bubbles need to be bridged, rather than burst, as disciplines play an important role. Bridging argue is through the creation of conversations to create “common ground” to enable collaboration and interdisciplinary impact research to emerge to bridge the divide.

A critical approach to BSC studies: State of art, critical issues and future trends

The aim of this paper is to identify criticisms of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and create a new model that is more adequate for business performance, thus providing researchers and practitioners with a way to manage critical issues con-nected to the BSC. To this end, we devote our attention to two main research ques-tions: (1) What are the main critical dimensions in the existing studies on BSC? (2) How could the structure of the BSC be modified in order to take into account its critical dimensions? Accordingly, we review articles published in 429 journals, in 22 different subject areas of the Chartered Association of Business Schools' Academ-ic Guide (ABS). We examine a total of 342 papers and obtain 102 relevant papers that focus on criticism of the BSC. Thanks to the information obtained from a survey and interviews conducted with managers of Italian companies, we create an adjusted BSC (ABSC) that allow us to consider the critical aspects from a new perspective, named the critical perspective. The conceptual model is developed in three dimensions (conceptual, structural and environmental). Research findings suggest that considering the critical perspective makes it possible to build the ABSC, making this management tool more accessible and useful for businesses.

Does the institutional diversity of editorial boards increase journal quality? The case economics field

In academic communication, editors exert a significant influence on a journal’s mission and content. We examined how the composition of editorial board members, in particular diversity in terms of institution, is related to journal quality. Our sample comprised 6916 editors who were affiliated with 246 economics journals. Using Stirling Index of Diversity, we provided a single numeric index (DI) to measure the diversity of institutions which is composed of variety, balance, and disparity. Then we related it to journal quality, as reflected in three widely used indices in economics: the five-year impact factor, the association of business schools’ (ABS) journal quality guide, and the eigenfactors. The results show that academic journals in the field of economics are heavily dominated by US institutions, but in terms of geographic distribution, there are more institutions in Europe than in North America. Surprisingly, we found that the diversity of editorial board members in terms of institution is negatively related to ABS ranking, but unrelated to the five-year impact factor and the eigenfactors. While when we removed the US journals from the sample, there was a significant positive impact between institutional diversity and the five-year impact factor. Our study extends the scarce knowledge on the composition of editorial teams and their relevance to journal quality by study the correlation between the institutional diversity index and three different journal quality indices. The implication of this study is that more effort is needed to increase the diversity in the composition of editorial teams in order to ensure transparency and promote equity.

The Matthew effect of a journal's ranking

We examine the impact of a journal's ranking on the citations its papers garner. Our testbed is journals included in the early annual publications of the Academic Journal Guide, published by the Association of Business Schools from 2007 to 2010. By focusing on a small subset of these journals, we provide causal evidence that an increase in a journal's ranking will increase citations to its papers. We argue that this increase can be attributed to (i) more authors learning about and viewing these outlets and their publications and (ii) researchers signalling their paper's own impact by citing highly ranked journals. We find some evidence for the former, though not robust, and substantial evidence for the latter. Given that signalling is deliberate and associated with incentives to publish in highly ranked journals, we decompose this channel by citing researchers’ characteristics. Except for senior academics, all types of researchers are consistent with signalling. The policy implications of our results relate to the pervasive use of journal rankings and recent initiatives to evaluate research.

Multi-theoretical perspectives for corporate risk disclosure: a literature review

The purpose of this article is to review and discuss theoretical approaches commonly used to study corporate risk disclosure (CRD) behaviour. The review presents areas of convergence and divergence in understanding CRD so as to build a case for an integrated theoretical perspective. The multi-theoretical approach will provide wide conceptual lens to understand, explain CRD behaviour, and identify ways in which CRD can attain high quality. The paper reviewed 52 articles from accounting and non-accounting journals published between 1990–2019. The journals reviewed were identified according to the UK's Association of Business Schools (ABS) journal quality ranking guide. The paper responds to literature calling for CRD quality to improve among policymakers, regulators, and academicians. The paper argues that any attempts to enhance CRD quality should start by establishing an integrated framework that will help in understanding the phenomena in several perspectives in order reconcile inconsistent results of prior studies.

From output to outcome measures in the public sector: a structured literature review

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to perform an analysis of the current literature providing a deep contribution to understanding the paradigm shift from output to outcome measures in the public sector. Thus, the main aim is to provide relevant insights of both theoretical and empirical studies, offering a critique of the schemes and the research methods used and underlining future research opportunities for the compelling (or underestimated) contents and new emerging trends.Design/methodology/approachArticles published in main public management and administration journals, as internationally recognized, are analyzed using a structured literature review methodology. The paper investigates selected contributions published in Association of Business Schools (ABS) (Chartered Association of Business Schools – UK] Grade 4, 3 and 2 journals specializing in the field of “Public Sector Management,” dealing with the topic of performance measurement, from output to outcome.FindingsFindings are described defying a framework that deepens emerging elements of current literature such as main countries analyzed, main research topics highlighted, research methods applied (qualitative versus quantitative; case studies, interviews, comparative studies etc.), different definitions of “output” and “outcome,” top keywords and their connections.Originality/valueThe paper’s findings aim to offer insights and a current “shared vision” into the state of the art and possible future research avenues on the topic of output and outcome measures in the public sector fostering the development of further studies especially in the direction of sustainability.

Mapping the evaluation results between quantitative metrics and meta-synthesis from experts’ judgements: evidence from the Supply Chain Management and Logistics journals ranking

Meta-syntheses from experts’ judgements and quantitative metrics are two main forms of evaluation. But they both have limitations. This paper constructs a framework for mapping the evaluation results between quantitative metrics and experts’ judgements such that they may be solved. In this way, the weights of metrics in quantitative evaluation are objectively obtained, and the validity of the results can be testified. Weighted average percentile (WAP) is employed to aggregate different experts’ judgements into standard WAP scores. The Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is used to map quantitative results into experts’ judgements, while WAP scores are equal to the final closeness coefficients generated by the TOPSIS method. However, the closeness coefficients of TOPSIS rely on the weights of quantitative metrics. In this way, the mapping procedure is transformed into an optimization problem, and a genetic algorithm is introduced to search for the best weights. An academic journal ranking in the field of Supply Chain Management and Logistics (SCML) is used to test the validity obtained by mapping results. Four prominent ranking lists from Association of Business Schools, Australian Business Deans Council, German Academic Association for Business Research, and Comite National de la Recherche Scientifique were selected to represent different experts’ judgements. Twelve indices including IF, Eigenfactor Score (ES), H-index, Scimago Journal Ranking, and Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) were chosen for quantitative evaluation. The results reveal that the mapping results possess high validity for the relative error of experts’ judgements, the quantitative metrics are 43.4%, and the corresponding best weights are determined in the meantime. Thus, some interesting findings are concluded. First, H-index, Impact Per Publication (IPP), and SNIP play dominant roles in the SCML journal’s quality evaluation. Second, all the metrics are positively correlated, although the correlation varies among metrics. For example, ES and NE are perfectly, positively correlated with each other, yet they have the lowest correlation with the other metrics. Metrics such as IF, IFWJ, 5-year IF, and IPP are highly correlated. Third, some highly correlated metrics may perform differently in quality evaluation, such as IPP and 5-year IF. Therefore, when mapping the quantitative metrics and experts’ judgements, academic fields should be treated distinctively.