Investigating current paradigms in supply chain risk management – a bibliometric study

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the intellectual structure and research fronts of discipline of supply chain risk management (SCRM), in order to identify the knowledge groups in the research area to date, as well as to reveal any relationships between these subfields and the central influential trends.

By means of a bibliometric study, the 32 most co-cited articles on SCRM published in 16 top business-related academic journals are analysed using multivariate statistical techniques, i.e. multi-dimensional scaling, cluster analysis and correspondence factor analysis.

The results demonstrate a clearly identifiable structure as a result of the performed co-citation analysis. The conducted cluster analysis and factor bring forward that the research field is arranged in five different areas of interest: explaining supply chain (SC) risk phenomena, concepts, frameworks and insights of SCRM; modelling risks for SCs; inventory risks affecting supply efficiency; SC and product design methods; and SC risk mitigating strategies.

Overall, the intellectual structure of SCRM is first examined through a bibliometric approach using quantitative techniques – for improved understanding of its origins, and to identify the state of the science – and to offer suggestions for future studies that could cover current gaps. This study represents the potential to advance the SCRM literature landscape.