Trends of puffery in advertising – a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively assess the essential trends of existing research on “puffery in advertising” through bibliometric analysis. Design/methodology/approach This study uses citation data collected through Scopus and Google Scholar for the research area “puffery in advertising” to investigate the most productive journals, top countries of affiliation and prominent years with maximum citations. The study analyses the 87 articles related to “puffery in advertising,” published during 1840 to 2018. Moreover, this study also presents graphical analysis through network maps. Findings “Puffery in advertising” has remained an under-researched area. However, records of past ten years indicate marginal growth in the number of publications. USA dominates this research area with most numbers of articles published till date. Through clustering of subject areas, it is found that majority of articles have been published under the subject area of “Business, Management and Accounting.” Interestingly, the results of the network maps slightly differ from that of citation table. Practical implications This paper is useful for any reader or researcher who wants to understand the trends of “puffery in advertising” in terms of citation analysis, authors and affiliation countries, and prominent years with maximum citations, which would further enable them to discover emerging research areas, potential research collaborations and publications. Originality/value To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first ever bilbiometric study on “puffery in advertising” providing a bird’s-eye view of the essential trends.