Knowledge-based View in the Franchising Research Literature

Abstract. This study was conducted to understand the state of research on applications of Knowledge-based View in franchise systems. First, we used SALSA (Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, and Analysis), a simple systematic data search method, to obtain 61 sample papers. Second, the citations of authors and publications were analyzed using the bibliometric method to understand the authors and the publications that had the most impact as well as the trend of current studies in the field of knowledge-based theory application in franchise systems. The results showed that the journals that had the most publications on the topic were Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and Journal of Business Research; the most cited author was S.A. Shane, who had an average rate of 1.016 citations per article, and the most cited study was a paper published by Darr, Argote, & Epple (1995), which was cited by 18 of the 61 sample papers (18/61, 29.51%). Third, we categorized the topic of knowledge-based theory application in franchise systems into six categories, i.e., knowledge transfer, knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, knowledge application, organizational learning, and knowledge exchange, to provide references for future studies.Keywords. Knowledge-based view; Franchising; Bibliometrics.JEL. L10