This bibliometric review maps the development of organizational change literature, highlighting key themes and influential authors.
Despite the growing interest in "organizational development and change management" literature, bibliometric studies shedding light on the progression of this body of knowledge are still limited. This study provides a comprehensive review of the field. It aims to identify the intellectual framework and thematic structure of the articles on "organizational development and change management" in management discipline on the Web of Science (WoS) database up to August 28, 2025. A bibliometric analysis was employed on a total of 2,994 articles. The study conducted performance analysis and science mapping techniques including co-word, citation and co-citation analyses. Results reveal that publication volume peaked in 2020, while Smollan R.K. emerged as the most productive author with 13 articles. The Journal of Organizational Change Management was the leading journal. Co-word analyses indicated that "organizational change," "change management," "organizational development," "leadership," "innovation," "organizational culture," and "change" were the primary thematic focuses. Within the studied sample, Eisenhardt and Martin's (2000) work was the most influential article, while Smollan R.K. was identified as the most influential author. Additionally, Weick K.E. was the most frequently cited author in the field. Ultimately, the analysis highlights clear theoretical reflections of an evolving strategic and human-oriented paradigm within the extant literature.
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Tunçay et al. (2026) studied this question.
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