Conducting content‐analysis based literature reviews in supply chain management

Abstract

Purpose -Inconsistent research output makes critical literature reviews crucial tools for assessing and developing the knowledge base within a research field. Literature reviews in the field of supply chain management (SCM) are often considerably less stringently presented than other empirical research. Replicability of the research and traceability of the arguments and conclusions call for more transparent and systematic procedures. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the importance of literature reviews in SCM. Design/methodology/approach -Literature reviews are defined as primarily qualitative synthesis. Content analysis is introduced and applied for reviewing 22 literature reviews of seven sub-fields of SCM, published in English-speaking peer-reviewed journals between 2000 and 2009. A descriptive evaluation of the literature body is followed by a content analysis on the basis of a specific pattern of analytic categories derived from a typical research process. Findings -Each paper was assessed for the aim of research, the method of data gathering, the method of data analysis, and quality measures. While some papers provide information on all of these categories, many fail to provide all the information. This questions the quality of the literature review process and the findings presented in respective papers. Research limitations/implications -While 22 literature reviews are taken into account in this paper as the basis of the empirical analysis, this allows for assessing the range of procedures applied in previous literature reviews and for pointing to their strengths and shortcomings. Originality/value -The findings and subsequent methodological discussions aim at providing practical guidance for SCM researchers on how to use content analysis for conducting literature reviews.

Social Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Textile and Apparel Industry—A Literature Review

“…Based on the idea of Mayring [60] and their analysis, they provide guidelines for conducting content analysis, which is in turn the foundation for the paper at hand. In the following, the authors discuss the four suggested stages in conducting content analysis based on Mayring [60], i.e., material collection, descriptive analysis, category selection, and material evaluation, but extend the process with the suggestions of Seuring & Gold [61]. The proposed stages by Mayring [60] ensure validity as well as reliability and have been conducted successfully by other researchers of the field for similar objectives [12,17,23,61].…”

“…In the following, the authors discuss the four suggested stages in conducting content analysis based on Mayring [60], i.e., material collection, descriptive analysis, category selection, and material evaluation, but extend the process with the suggestions of Seuring & Gold [61]. The proposed stages by Mayring [60] ensure validity as well as reliability and have been conducted successfully by other researchers of the field for similar objectives [12,17,23,61]. Additionally, in terms of validity and reliability, the content analysis research can be enhanced with the involvement of one more researcher during data search and analysis [62].…”

“…Furthermore, it has been declared as an effective tool to conduct systematic literature reviews in a transparent way in order to provide insight to the research area [61]. Moreover, the content analysis method has been described by Seuring & Gold [61], with a more specific view on SCM. Based on the idea of Mayring [60] and their analysis, they provide guidelines for conducting content analysis, which is in turn the foundation for the paper at hand.…”

“…The paper at hand examines related publications in major electronic databases, namely, Elsevier (sciencedirect.com), Sage (sagepub.com), Wiley (wiley.com), Emerald (emeraldinsight.com), and Springer (springerlink.com) by using the library service of Ebsco (ebsco.com). The technique of keyword search has been recommended, especially when encompassing a specific topic that is present in various academic disciplines [61]. The keywords for the search process first arose from frequently used terms of related literature in the field.…”

Revisão sistemática da literatura sobre as formas de mensuração do desempenho da logística reversa

“…It is used to map primary studies on a particular topic (Dresch et al, 2015), to critically evaluate the literature and to consolidate the results of relevant studies (Seuring & Gold, 2012;Dresch et al, 2015).…”