Utilization and development of systematic reviews in management research: What do we know and where do we go from here?

Several years since the introduction of systematic review in management research, our paper takes stock of how the methodology has been used thus far to elicit potential areas for improvement and a future best practice agenda. It was our focus to investigate how synthesis methods have been approached and how implications are spelled out for future research, practice and, where relevant, policy. To address this, we conducted a systematic review of systematic reviews published in management research since the early 2000s ( N = 391). We found that whilst scholars adopted similar methodological steps, there was variability in focus, with more attention paid to explaining the systematic review methodology protocol and search strategy utilized, than on detailed analysis and synthesis of the included studies’ findings. These aspects should be addressed more explicitly from the outset as an integral aspect of a systematic review protocol to support more refined application of relevant synthesis methods to develop the field. We conclude with a guide for ‘best practice’, including recommendations and published examples where available and an agenda for future refinement.