Do Academics Actually Collaborate in the Study of Interdisciplinary Phenomena? A Look at Half a Century of Research on Mergers and Acquisitions

Nicola Mirc, Audrey Rouziès and Satu Teerikangas
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Nicola Mirc: TSM - Toulouse School of Management Research - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - TSM - Toulouse School of Management - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse
Audrey Rouziès: TSM - Toulouse School of Management Research - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - TSM - Toulouse School of Management - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse

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Abstract: The role of scientific collaboration in academic research has rocketed across the natural and social sciences. While the causes, consequences, and social interaction patterns of scientific collaboration have been well-established, extant empirical work focuses on entire disciplines. In this paper, we study patterns of interdisciplinary scientific collaboration using the example of research on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), a phenomenon which calls for input from numerous disciplines. We base our findings on a social network analysis of co-authorship practices in 687 co-authored papers written by 1,158 authors, published in 30 leading journals and a book series in the 1951–2014 period. We find that scientific collaboration has increased in the M&A scholarly community since the 1990s, and that one third of co-authorships are interdisciplinary. Collaboration is however not equally spread, but led by a minority of active scholars and certain disciplines. Recently, sub-groups of authors have become mutually connected, pointing towards the emergence of an interdisciplinary meta-level community. Our findings contribute to appreciating interdisciplinary collaboration practices in academic research and document the evolution of M&A research.

Keywords: scientific collaboration; co-authorship; social network analysis; interdisciplinary; mergers and acquisitions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-09
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in European Management Review, 2017, 14 (3), pp.333 - 357. ⟨10.1111/emre.12110⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01698609

DOI: 10.1111/emre.12110

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