Prior knowledge of literature reviews, topics, and expectations

• What is your topic and research question for this seminar?
• What are your expectations for the seminar?
• Did you work on a literature review before?

Your instructor: Prof. Dr. Gerit Wagner

Sustained fascination for literature reviews for 10+ years:

• 2014-2018: Dissertation on the scientific impact of literature reviews

• 2020-2022: Postdoctoral fellowship at HEC Montréal (Canada):

  • Worked with Guy Paré, Ph.D., a frequent co-author and mentor, who serves as a Senior Editor for Literature Reviews at JAIS
  • Served as a TA for the literature review seminar for Ph.D. students at five universities in Montréal

• 2022-2024: Professor of Information Systems at Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg

  • Started offering the Literature Review Seminar

• I have published 20 papers related to literature reviews (out of 30)

• I am the lead developer of CoLRev, a Python tool for literature reviews

Why literature reviews are exciting (I)

Literature reviews are essential to respond to key trends:

• The rapid growing volume and variety of research output:

  • Over 2 million new papers per year
  • Over 600 guidelines for different research methods (see EQUATOR network)

• The need to demonstrate novelty of contributions and avoid reinventing the wheel

• The need to exercise critical judgment of prior research

In the future, the ability to synthesize, organize, and critically assess prior research will become even more essential.

Why literature reviews are exciting (II)

Literature reviews can make theoretical contributions that could never be accomplished in an individual study.

Example: Media Synchronicity Theory (Dennis et al. 2006)

Why literature reviews are exciting (III)

Meta-analyses and qualitative systematic reviews can be used to aggregate the empirical evidence across studies. They are at the top of the hierarchy of evidence. For practitioners and policy makers, meta-analyses can be an authoritative source of evidence:

• The Cochrane Reviews (public health)
• The Campbell Collaboration (social policy, and criminal justice)
• Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement (Hattie 2008)

For researchers, meta-analyses and systematic reviews may indicate areas where empirical evidence is inconclusive.

Meta-analyses are able to address common errors that cannot be eliminated in empirical studies (e.g., measurement error or publication bias).

Why literature reviews are exciting (IV)

Literature reviews can have a profound impact (e.g., Vial 2019 is cited 2,000 times per year)

Why literature reviews are exciting (V)

There are many open challenges, such as

• Considering differences and synergies between disciplines in the design of methods and tools,
• Design of LR software to manage data, AI, and collaboration,
• Coping with massive input and addressing urgent demands (e.g., COVID reviews)

Learning objectives

Acquire a broad understanding of

• the goals and types of literature reviews
• the steps of the process
• the qualities of a good review paper
• the tools available

Outcome

• A review protocol applying this understanding and a short presentation
• Criteria and resources are available online
• Dates for submission and presentation: see outline

Administration and Materials

Contact: gerit.wagner@uni-bamberg.de

Consultation hours: via Calendly

Materials are available online:

Slides

• Presentation slides will be made available for download.
• You are expected to take complementary notes and read the recommended literature.

Literature

• Literature and complementary materials are listed at the end of each lecture.
• Reading of complementary materials depends on your interest and ambition.

Acknowledgement:

• Guy Paré: the materials are largely based on his literature review seminar.

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References

Dennis, A. R., Fuller, R. M., & Valacich, J. S. (2008). Media, tasks, and communication processes: A theory of media synchronicity. MIS Quarterly, 32(3), 575-600. doi:10.2307/25148857

Petter, S., DeLone, W., & McLean, E. (2008). Measuring information systems success: models, dimensions, measures, and interrelationships. European Journal of Information Systems, 17(3), 236-263. doi:10.1057/ejis.2008.15

Rando, H. M., Greene, C. S., Robson, M. P., Boca, S. M., Wellhausen, N., Lordan, R., ... & COVID-19 Review Consortium. (2021). SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: An evolving review of diagnostics and therapeutics. Manubot. link

Vial, G. (2019). Understanding digital transformation: A review and a research agenda. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 28(2), 118-144. doi:10.1016/j.jsis.2019.01.003