Intellectual structure of trust in business and management: a co-citation analysis

Abstract

Purpose

In the past few decades, there has been a lot of literature about trust research for business and management. However, few authors have applied co-citation analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

Trust is one of the most discussed issues in management, as it has proved to have an essential role in business operations. In this study, all citation documents are included in Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Knowledge database from 1992 to 2010.

Findings

By using statistics analysis including factor analysis, cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling, researchers identified four domains, including organizational behaviour, strategic alliance, marketing and social capital. Directions for future research are discussed.

Originality/value

This study is the first to apply co-citation techniques in the fields of trust. Therefore, the major contribution of this study is to provide an intellectual structure and trends within the field of trust from an objective and quantitative perspective.

Citation

Yang, K.-C. (2016), "Intellectual structure of trust in business and management: a co-citation analysis", The Electronic Library, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 358-370. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-07-2014-0121