Synthesis of forty years of brand crisis literature

Abstract

Purpose The brand crisis literature remains unilateral and scattered, necessitating academic effort to comprehend the extant body of knowledge. This study aims to provide the required comprehensive overview of the domain, by outlining its significance, progression and future research directions. Design/methodology/approach Following the PRISMA approach, journal articles for review are selected. The study uses a hybrid (structured and bibliometric) review, to provide a systematic insight and graphical visualization of the existing literature. It applies VOSviewer software to analyse bibliographic data through citation and co-occurrence analysis. Findings The hybrid review outlines most-cited articles, authors, frequently used theories, methodologies and data analysis techniques in this domain. Findings are further presented as integrative framework that distinctly highlights prior studies from a dichotomous perspective and across three stages of crisis. Finally, research opportunities and directions for future research are presented. Research limitations/implications The study is useful for scholars and practitioners to understand the brand crisis literature and to cognize the inferences drawn by distinct researchers. It provides contemporary research agendas using the theory, context and method (TCM) framework, to augment future investigations through interdisciplinary approach. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge this is the first study that synthesizes the academic work of brand crisis using a hybrid method. Also, the novelty of the work lies in presenting the future research direction in the form of multiple (macro, meso and micro) levels with inter-disciplinary theoretical underpinnings.