Bibliometric Analysis of Organizational Ecology Theory (OET): Review Past for Directing the Future of the Field

Abstract

In this study, 399 articles of the extant literature published in the Web of Science database between 1975 and 2020 were examined using bibliometric analysis to determine the extent of Organizational Ecology Theory (OET) literature and current research priorities. Bibliometric techniques such as performance analysis, citation analysis, co-word and co-citation analysis are used for this purpose. We extracted several thematically clusters from bibliometric networks using co-citation and co-word analysis, describing related but distinct subfields of inquiry within the OET literature. Organizational change, organizational forms and identity, and organizational founding and mortality are overlapping clusters. Topics such as new organizational type, organizational failure, first-mover advantage, organizational founding, and coevolution may be examined in future research. Therefore, the expected contribution of this study is to provide a helpful inventory of past research to advance OET literature.