A critical review of empirical research methodology in supply chain management

Abstract

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 data collection. Other significant findings revealed that SCM research is very scanty in developing countries, the majority of research papers are written at firm level only and several industrial sectors such as construction, retail, and agriculture are still unexamined. Originality/value There have been a couple of literature reviews in SCM but none of them focused exclusively on empirical research methodology in SCM. Also the sample size with respect to the number of papers (619 papers), as well as number of journals (21 journals), is larger than ever considered for literature review in SCM. The papers spans a longer time period of 16 years (1994‐2009).

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