Frameworks for developing impactful systematic literature reviews and theory building: What, Why and How?

Abstract

With the increased momentum of knowledge generation in the field of research, systematic reviews are essential to epitomise the state of extant literature and for theory building. In this article, we discuss the advantages of synthesising and reporting findings using a more impactful type of systematic review, the framework-based review. Additionally, we list and summarise some of the popularly used frameworks, TCCM (theories-contexts-characteristics-methods; Paul & Rosado-Serrano, 2019), ADO (antecedents-decisions-outcomes; Paul & Benito, 2018), 5W+ H (who, when, where, what, why, how; Callahan, 2014) and IMO (input-mediators-outcomes; Ilgen et al., 2005). We also provide methodological guidelines for conducting such a review.