he research core of the knowledge management literature

A bibliometric analysis and a content analysis were conducted to explore the nature of the knowledge management literature. For the bibliometric analysis, three levels of Bradford analysis were used to examine the shape of the knowledge management literature based on 21,596 references from 2771 source publications. Each of the three analyses conformed to the typical curve of the Bradford distribution. ontent analysis For the content analysis, the texts of 630 knowledge management articles were analyzed to address the question of what research methodologies are used in the knowledge management literature. It was found that 27.8 percent of knowledge management-related articles in knowledge management journals used no identifiable research method. Of the remaining 455 refereed articles, 60 percent employed mainstream social sciences research methodologies. The remaining 40 percent of the articles using an identifiable methodology were characterized by the use of “provisional methods” that appeared to substitute for scien more formally defined or . Introduction: research and professions . 1. The nature of professions The nature of professions has been discussed and studied at least ince the beginning of the 19th century. One of the earliest detailed xpositions was Flexner’s discussion of social work as a profession 1915). One of the most cogent and comprehensive analyses was rovided by Pavalko (1988), who identified seven essential characeristics of a profession: . A theory of intellectual technique. Relevance to basic social values. A training period. Motivation. Autonomy. Commitment. A sense of community (pp. 20–27). The nature of professions has also been explored by Abbott 1988), Middleton (2007), and others. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel. : +1 205 348 4610. E-mail address: dwallace@slis.ua. edu (D.P. Wallace). 268-4012/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. oi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt. 2010.10. 002 tifically based research methodologies. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1.2. Knowledge management as a profession The extent to which knowledge management as a field has developed a professional identity is subject to interpretation and argument. As Wallace (2007) noted, knowledge management has to date not developed any meaningful or central sense of selfreflection suggestive of widespread concern about professionalism. Wallace suggested that knowledge management is currently very uneven in terms of compliance with Pavalko’s seven criteria. A variation on the concept of a profession is that of a professional discipline. Squires (2001) defined a professional discipline in terms of (1) its impact on society, (2) decisions and actions based on analysis of uncertain circumstances, and (3) the use of techniques and rules to guide action (p. 473). Grossman and Hooton (1993) argued that the members of a professional discipline act as the “educational custodians of the discipline,” in part by controlling the literature of the profession (p. 871). Wallace (2007) suggested that, whatever the status of knowledge management as a profession, knowledge management has not emerged as a professional discipline, particularly with regard to the scholarly status of the knowledge management literature (p. 225). 1.3. Knowledge management and scholarship One of the characteristics frequently attributed to a profession is the development of a systematic body of scholarship underpinned by research. It is unclear that any such systematic body of research-based scholarship has emerged for knowledge manage-