A critical review of empirical research methodology in supply chain management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the extant literature on empirical research in supply chain management (SCM). It provides a comprehensive assessment of research methodology of 619 empirical research articles on SCM published between 1994 and 2009. In total, 21 journals were short listed out of 115 journals for the purpose.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviewed a set of 619 empirical research articles in SCM research with respect to empirical research methodology and its related aspects, using the empirical research approach given by Flynn et al. The paper demonstrates the present status of empirical research in SCM.Findings – It is concluded from the analysis of the results that empirical research in SCM is increasing at a faster rate than ever, with theory building more in focus than verification. On the other hand, SCM researchers seems to have left several aspects of empirical research unexplored, such as action research, significance of triangulation of data and longitudinal...

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