INNOVATION MANAGEMENT CONTROL: BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ITS EMERGENCE AND EVOLUTION AS A RESEARCH FIELD

Abstract

Innovation Management Control (IMC) supports innovation management with valuable information, thus improving innovation effectiveness and efficiency. Literature has shown that different elements of a management control system must be interdependent and that its design must form a coherent system of controls that spans the entire process under control. Accordingly, IMC covers the entire innovation process. However, IMC literature is spread over numerous journals from different disciplines, which may prevent the development of holistic IMC systems. We present a bibliometric analysis that provides insights into the development of IMC as a research field and examines the severity of knowledge dispersal. We build on a database covering 549 papers. The aim of the study is to reveal IMCs emergence and evolution as a research field, and future research directions. Our study shows that IMC combines several subfields and that dispersion is present in IMC, thus slowing knowledge transfer and hindering rapid progress.