An Invisible Knowledge Network of Human Resources Studies:Tag Cloud Analysis

The purpose of this study is to identify the evolution of the intellectual structure of human resources studies and to propose a theory of an invisible network of knowledge. Tag cloud analysis was used to trace the development path of human resources research. By analyzing 22,487 citations of 840 articles published in SCI and SSCI journals in the human resources field from 2002 to 2011, this study maps the intellectual structure of human resources studies. This article dwells upon the wide spreading social tags of website applications. By so called “crowd wisdom,” the tag cloud analysis reveals the preliminary investigation from a social network viewpoint, provides researchers with profiles of human resources related subjects and theories, and sheds light on future directions of studies. The results profile the invisible network of knowledge production in the human resources studies. The contribution of this study is to provide important insights and implications of current and future research paradigms for both management scholars and practitioners.