Literature Reviews: Why it is important?

Issues related to Literature Review

Candidates unable to differentiate what to write in literature review and the chapter of theoretical framework and hypotheses development. Candidate tends to summarise article in literature review.

Issues related to Literature Review

Candidate fails to conceptualize the concepts clearly and critically. Candidate fails to relate concepts with theory underlying the study. Candidate fails to explain in detail about other concepts used in previous study.

What is Concept?
A mental image that has no meaning to someone else except for the one who conceptualize it.
It is mere what you think not something that you can describe.

What is Concept?
Why we need to know concept? Examples of concepts - house, beautiful, dark, love, - in management - commitment, organization, culture, budget, return on investment, quality etc.

Whats Concept in your research?

The variables? Independent, dependent, moderator and intervening.
The variables come from concept that you have identify from literature review, opinion, experience or observation.

Whats Concept in your research?

Why do you choose this concept? Give reasons.
How do you know you concept is something that what you would like to examine? - by definition operationalization that you can visualize or feel or perceive.

Concepts
ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY

CORPORATE STRATEGY

BUSINESS STRATEGY

OPERATIONAL STRATEGY

MARKETING

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

OPERATION STRATEGY

MANUFACTURING STRATEGY

PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION

COST LEADERSHIP

CUSTOMER FOCUS

CONCEPTS
ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY
BUSINESS STRATEGY

MANUFACTURING STRATEGY

PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION

CUSTOMER FOCUS

Relationship between Literature Review and Problem Statement

What is problem statement?

What is a review of the literature?

As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries.

What you gain from literature review?

Information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books Critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies

A literature review must do these things

be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are developing synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known a-state-of-the-art

A literature review must do these things

identify areas of controversy in the literature

formulate questions that need further research

Why do I need a literature review?

The literature review is integral to the whole thesis; it is not just a routine step taken to fulfill formal requirements. You need a good literature review because it: - demonstrates that you know the field - justifies the reason for your research - allows you to establish your theoretical framework and methodological focus

Questions to ask about your literature review.

You need to answer these questions:

What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature review helps to define? What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory? methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies)?

Questions to ask about your literature review.

What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)?

What discipline am I working in (e.g., accounting, organizational behaviour, sociology, medicine)?

Questions to ask about your literature review. How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure I've found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources I've used appropriate for the length of my paper?

Questions to ask about your literature review.

Have I critically analysed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them?

Instead of just listing and summarizing items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses?

Questions to ask about your literature review.

Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective? Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate, and useful?

What is a review of the literature?

A literature review is a review of reading materials of what has been published on a topic by previous scholars and researchers

What is a review of the literature?

The purpose is to convey to the reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

Writing the literature

It is a purposeful kind of writing which is to be well argued; well supported by evidence;