Grounded Theory Applications in Reviewing Knowledge Management Literature

Literature reviews are complex, time-consuming undertakings. Most research methodologies are deductive and require the researcher to commence with a review to inform the study and formulate the research question. On the other hand the grounded theory method is inductive, ending with a theory rather than beginning with a hypothesis, and literature in these studies is typically used as a comparator for the emerging theory. This paper proposes that a theory of contemporary thought in one particular subject, knowledge management, may be developed using a grounded theory method of reviewing its literature.