Management consulting: A review of fifty years of scholarly research
Purpose – Academic research on management consulting or having management consultancy as the main
research field is huge as the sector is a strategic one for management innovation, but a systematic and
updated literature review is missing. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive
systematic review of scholarly peer reviewed journals looking at the ambivalent roles of consultants in
driving management innovation as well as management fashions.
Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review has been performed.
Findings – This paper provides a systematization of existing literature, where the state of the art is
assessed and future research paths are highlighted.
Originality/value – The proposed research fills the gap concerning a review of literature on this topic
and provides an analysis of 50 years of scholarly research, highlighting both the bright and dark sides of
management consulting.