Mergers and Acquisitions Research – A Bibliometric Analysis
European Management Journal
48 Pages Posted: 17 Sep 2020 Last revised: 28 Feb 2023
Date Written: July 1, 2022
Abstract
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) remain a popular vehicle for organizational development to ensure future competitiveness. However, despite the extensive body of research in recent decades, significant gaps can be observed between the understanding of the phenomenon M&A in the literature and the importance of M&A activities in practice. Heterogeneous perspectives from different schools of thought, contradictory findings and controversies, and changing economic environments make M&A research a complex endeavor and highlight the need for integrative approaches and holistic perspectives. This paper takes a holistic view of M&A research to map interrelationships among key documents, authors, institutions, and countries; trace the evolution of M&A research over time; and suggest avenues for future research to expand the boundaries of M&A scholarship. For this purpose, a sample of 580 articles from 9 leading management science journals was examined bibliometrically, including 42,630 citations and 18,734 unique references for the years 1963–2019.
Keywords: M&A, bibliometrics, co-citation analysis, network analysis, science mapping
JEL Classification: G34, M10, M19
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation