Article: Behavioural operations management - identification of its research program Journal: International Journal of Services and Operations Management (IJSOM) 2020 Vol.36 No.1 pp.42 - 71 Abstract: The rise in popularity of the behavioural operations management field has resulted in several attempts to clearly establish this multidisciplinary field. Given the divergent views of what the field actually includes, this paper attempts to contribute to an ongoing debate about the current state of the field as a research field and its future development. The paper uses Lakatos' view that suggests that instead of individual theories, scientific progress should be viewed in the context of research programs, which consist of the hard core and the protective belt. To identify subfields, the paper combines the literature review with a co-citation network analysis of the behavioural operations management field between 1957 and 2015. Six clusters are identified. The domain base cluster represents the hard core of the field, while five other clusters (newsvendor, bullwhip and inventory optimisation, social goals, supplier relationship, and organisational behaviour) represent its protective belt. In addition to the exploration of existing clusters, the analysis in the paper offers an excellent starting point to identify and position further research questions. A study like this is easily replicable and enables following the evolution of the field. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Behavioural operations management - identification of its research program

Authors: Jure Erjavec; Peter Trkman

Addresses: Academic Unit for Business Informatics and Logistics, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva pl. 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia ' Academic Unit for Business Informatics and Logistics, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva pl. 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract: The rise in popularity of the behavioural operations management field has resulted in several attempts to clearly establish this multidisciplinary field. Given the divergent views of what the field actually includes, this paper attempts to contribute to an ongoing debate about the current state of the field as a research field and its future development. The paper uses Lakatos' view that suggests that instead of individual theories, scientific progress should be viewed in the context of research programs, which consist of the hard core and the protective belt. To identify subfields, the paper combines the literature review with a co-citation network analysis of the behavioural operations management field between 1957 and 2015. Six clusters are identified. The domain base cluster represents the hard core of the field, while five other clusters (newsvendor, bullwhip and inventory optimisation, social goals, supplier relationship, and organisational behaviour) represent its protective belt. In addition to the exploration of existing clusters, the analysis in the paper offers an excellent starting point to identify and position further research questions. A study like this is easily replicable and enables following the evolution of the field.

Keywords: behavioural operations management; BOM; research program; network analysis; co-citation analysis; cluster analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2020.106792

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2020 Vol.36 No.1, pp.42 - 71

Received: 21 Aug 2017
Accepted: 18 Feb 2018
Published online: 21 Apr 2020 *

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Title: Behavioural operations management - identification of its research program

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