webster & watson - How to write a LR - MISQ How To Write A Literature Review | Page 5

Webster & Watson/Guest Editorial

Table 1. Approaches to Literature Reviews
Concept-centric

Author-centric

Concept X … [author A, author B, …]
Concept Y … [author A, author C, …]

Author A … concept X, concept Y, …
Author B … concept X, concept W, …

Table 2. Concept Matrix
Articles

Concepts
A

1

W

2

B

C

W

W

D

…

W

W
W

…

W

Table 3. Concept Matrix Augmented with Units of Analysis
Articles

Concepts
A

Unit of
analysis

O

I

O

G

C
I

O

G

W

1
2

G

B

W

W

D
I

O

G

…
I

O

G

W
W

…

I

W

W
W

W

W

Legend: O (organizational), G (group), I (individual)

To make the transition from author- to concept-centric, we recommend that you compile a concept matrix
as you read each article (Table 2), an idea we have adapted from Salipante et al. (1982). When your
reading is complete, synthesize the literature by discussing each identified concept. Before commencing
this step, take some time to develop a logical approach to grouping and presenting the key concepts you
have uncovered.
You might need to add a further dimension to the concept matrix to handle the unit of analysis (Table 3).
For example, Te'eni (2002) found that the concept “communication strategy” had different meanings when
considered from the organizational, group, individual, and cognitive utterance levels. Isolating concepts
by unit of analysis should result in a crisper review because it is easier to detect when you let a concept
stray outside the scope of its domain.

MIS Quarterly Vol. 26 No. 2/June 2002

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