Critical Literature Review

CRITICAL
LITERATURE
REVIEW
01/29/21 1
Slide 2.2
literature review
■ It is a step-by-step process that involves the identification of

published and unpublished work from secondary data sources on
the topic of interest, the evaluation of this work in relation to the
problem, and the documentation of this work.
01/29/21 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill
2 2009
Slide 2.3
Why Literature
Review??????
■ Once the problem is formulated, the researcher should
undertake extensive literature review connected with the
problem.
i. Assist in refining statement of the problem
ii. Strengthening the argument of selection of a research topic
(Justification )
iii. It helps to get familiar with various types of methodology that might
be used in the study (Design)
3 2009
Slide 2.4
Literature Review
• Finding too much? If you find so many citations that
there is no end in sight to the number of references
you could use, its time to re-evaluate your question.
It's too broad/Nothing much to explore
• Finding too little? On the other hand, if you can't find
much of anything, ask yourself if you're looking in the
right area.
• Take thorough notes. Be sure to write copious notes
on everything as you proceed through your research.
It's very frustrating when you can't find a reference
found earlier that now you want to read in full.
• Look for references to papers from which you can
identify the most useful journals.
• Identify those authors who seem to be important in
your subject area.
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
What are the whether the
major issues and research question
debate about the already has been
research answered by
problem someone else?
Questions that What is the
Are there any gaps can be chronology of the
in knowledge of answered by a development of
the subject? review of knowledge about
literature my research
problem?
What are the
How can I bridge key theories,
the gap? concept and
What directions ideas known
/methodology about the
are indicated by subject?
the work of
other
Slide 2.6
Literature Review
■Sources of Literature:
Vital statistics
■Books •Census
•Text books •Government Records
•Surveys
•Edited collections
International organization
■Journal Articles documents
•Academic journals •e.g. (WHO,UNICEF)
•Conference Proceedings
■Indexing and Abstracting Media
■journal search engines •Newspaper
•Magazine
•Google Scholar
Internet
■Past Dissertations
6 2009
Slide 2.7
Literature Review
Journals and their
IF:
Journal Name Impact
Factor
New England Journal of Medicine 53.480
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 38.65
The Lancet 33.63
Nature 31.434
JAMA - Journal of the American Medical 30

Association
Annual Review of Physiology 16.06
Indian Journal of Medical Research 2.061
Journal of Biosciences 1.82
Indian Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology 0.63 th

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.8
literature review
■ First literature review (literature survey) helps the researcher to

develop a good problem statement and to build on relevant
knowledge developed by others.
■ The functions of the second review of the literature, referred to
as the critical literature review.
■ A critical literature review ensures that no important variable
that has in the past been found repeatedly to have had an impact
on the problem is ignored in the research project.
8 2009
Slide 2.9
Examples of Literature
Review
■ COVID-19 is a coronavirus outbreak that initially appeared in

Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019, but it has
already evolved into a pandemic spreading rapidly worldwide.
As of 18 March 2020, a total number of 194909 cases of
COVID-19 have been reported, including 7876 deaths, the
majority of which have been reported in China (3242) and Italy
(2505).
9 2009
Slide 2.10
Examples of Literature Review
Among people in the United States who smoked in 1991, 71%

reported that they tried their first cigarette before the age of 19
years1. In the 1950s many more boys than girls smoked, but
adolescent girls now take up smoking at least as frequently as
boys.2 Girls and boys begin smoking at similar ages, but they
may not be at similar stages of physical maturation.
01/29/21 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian10
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.11
Examples of Literature
Review
■ Smoking may affect female and male lungs differently, and these
sex differences may relate to the caliber of air- ways or to
hormonal status at different stages of life. A higher prevalence of
airway hyperresponsiveness in women who smoke than in men
who smoke was partly explained by lower airway caliber in
women, as measured by the absolute level of forced expiratory
volume in one second (FEV1).
■ Exposure to cigarette smoke led to a greater increase in the
number of mucus-producing tracheal goblet cells in female rats
than in male rats; differences between the sexes were related to
the estrous cycle.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.12
Examples of Literature Review
■ We examined the sex- specific effects of smoking on the level

and growth of lung function in children 10 to 18 years of age.
We previously reported the associations between smoking and
chest illness, chronic cough, acute bronchitis, and wheezing in
these children.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.13
What insights can be gained

from the above example?
1. The literature review introduces the subject of study.
2. Highlights the problem (Little is known about the sex-specific
effects of cigarette smoking on the level and growth of
lung function in adolescence, when 71 percent of people in
the United States who smoke tried their first cigarette).
3. Summarizes the work done so far on the topic (by reporting
the citations in the body of the research by mentioning the
family names and the year of publication only).
4. After the literature review, the researcher is in position to
narrow down the problem from its original broad base and
define the issues of concern more clearly.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.14
In the Literature Review Section:

How to cite a research paper
• When a work is authored by one always cite the

name every time the reference occurs in the text.
(Miran; 2021)
• When a work is authored by two individuals,
always cite both names every time the reference
occurs in the text. (Miran&Sara; 2021)
• When a work has more than two authors but
fewer than six authors, cite all authors the first
time the reference occurs, and subsequently
include only the surname of the first author
followed by "et al." (Miran et al., 2021)
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.15

• Sekaran, U., Martin, T., Trafton, N., and Osborn, R.N.,
(1980)
found…….(first citation).
• Sekaran et al. (1980) found……

….(subsequent citation).
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.16

• When the same author has several works
published in the same year, cite them in the
same order as they occur in the reference
list, with the in press citations coming last.
For example:
• Research on the mental health of dual-
career family members (Sekaran, 1985a,
1985b, 1985c, 1999, in press) indicates…
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.17

• When more than one author has to be cited in the
text, the citations should be separated by
semicolons as the example below:
• In the job design literature (Alderfer, 1977; Aldag &

Brief, 1982;Beatty and eanquart, 1998).
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.18
Quotationsin Text
• The citation of the source of a direct quotation should
always
include the page number(s) as well as reference
Electronic commerce has been defined differently by a variety of
authors. E-commerce is defined as “the information sharing,
relationships maintaining and transactions conducted through
means of Internet based technology” (Zwass, 1996, p.3) cited
by (Xing, 2017).
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.19
Modes of referencing in research

■ APA. APA is an author/date based style. This means emphasis is
placed on the author and the date of a piece of work to uniquely
identify it.
■ MLA. MLA is most often applied by the arts and humanities,
particularly in the USA. It is arguably the most well used of all
of the citation styles.
■ Harvard. Harvard is very similar to APA. Where APA is
primarily used in the USA, Harvard referencing is the most well
used referencing style in the UK and Australia, and is
encouraged for use with the humanities.
■ Vancouver. The Vancouver system is mainly used in medical
and scientific papers.
■ Chicago and Turabian. These are two separate styles but are
very similar, just like Harvard and APA. These are widely used
for history and economics.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.20
Format for Citing Different

Types of References
Book by a single author
•Leshin, C.B. (1997). Management on the World Wide
Web.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Book by more than one author
•Cornett, M., Wiley, B.J., and Sankar, S. (1998). The
pleasures of
nurturing. London: McMunster Publishing.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.21

Types of References
More than one book by the same author in the
same year
• Roy, A. (1998a). Trade theory. New York: McMillian
Publishing Enterprises.
• Roy, A. (1998b). Traditional Trade. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey Bamar.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.22

Types of References
Journal Article
•Barry, H. (1996). Cross-cultural research with
matched pairs of societies. Journal of Social
Psychology, 79, 25-33.
•Jeanquart, S., & Peluchette, J. (1997).
Diversity in the workforce and management
models, Journal of Social Work Studies, 43,
72-85.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.23
Format for Citing Different Types

of References
Conference proceedings Publication
•Yeshwant, M. (1998). Revised thinking on Indian

philosophy and religion. In S. Pennathur (Ed.),
Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on
Religion, (pp. 100-107). Bihar, India: Bihar University.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.24

of References
Doctoral/Master Dissertations
•Kiren, R.S. (1997). Medical advances and quality of life.

Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Omaha State
University.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.25
Format for Citing Different Types of

References
Paper Presentation at Conference
•Bajaj, L. S. (1996, March 13). Practical tips for efficient

work management. Paper presented at the annual
meeting of Enterpreneurs, San Jose, CA.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.26

of References
Unpublished Manuscript
•Pringle, P. S. (1991). Training and development in the

90s'. Unpublished manuscript, Southern Illinois
University, Diamondale, IL.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.27

Types of References
Newspaper Article
•The new GM pact. ( 1998, July 28). Concord Tribune,

p.1.
Referencing Electronic Sources
•Author, I. (1998). Technology and immediacy of
information [On-line] Available http://www.bnet.act.com
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.28
Thornhill 2009
THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
AND
HYPOTHESIS
DEVELOPMENT
01/29/21 29
Slide 2.30
The research process
◆ Variables
◆ Theoretical Framework
◆ Hypotheses development
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.31
Variables
◆ A variable is anything that can take on differing or varying

values.
◆ The values can differ at various times for the same object or
person,
◆ The values can differ at the same time for different objects or
persons.
◆ Examples: Production Units, Absenteeism, Motivation,
Satisfaction and Performance. amounts of time, feelings, events,
or ideas.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.32
Variables
■ How people feel about different television shows.
■ How different types of fertilizer affect how tall plants grow.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.33
Types of variables
◆ The Dependent variable ( the Criterion/ core variable)

Outcome means disease.
◆ The independent variable ( the predictor variable) Exposure
means risk factors
◆ The moderating variable
◆ The intervening variable (Mediating)
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.34
The dependent variable (s)
◆ The variable of the primary interest to the researcher.

◆ The researcher’s goal is to understand and describe the
dependent variable or to explain its variability or predict it.
◆ It is the core of the research.
◆ Dependent variable is the outcome in the study which
undergoes to the effect of independent variable.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.35
An Example
◆ A manager is concerned that the sales of
a new product introduced after test
marketing, do not meet with his
expectations.
◆ The dependent variable is:
Sales……
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.36
4. A marketing manager wonders why the recent

advertisement strategy does not work.
Answer:
Dependent variable: Advertisement strategy
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.37
Independent variable (s)

◆ An independent variable is one that influence the dependent variable in
either positive or negative way.
◆ Independent variable is a variable which may cause or affect the
outcome.
◆ When the IV is present, the DV is also present,
◆ And with each unit of increase in the IV, there is an increase or decrease in
the DV also.
◆ The variance in the DV is accounted for by the IV.
◆ Example: independent variable is smoking but the outcome or
dependent variable is lung cancer.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.38
An example
◆ Research studies indicate that successful new product

development has an influence on the stock market price of the
company.
◆ The more successful the new product turns out to be, the higher
will be the stock market price of that firm.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.39
The Answer
◆ IV : the success of the new product

◆ DV: the stock market price
Stock
New product
success mark
et
price
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.40
Example:
■ Cross-cultural research indicates that managerial values govern

the power distance between superiors and subordinates.
Managerial Values Power Distance
◆IV : Managerial Values

◆DV: Power Distance
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.41
Exercises 1
■ Research in behavioral finance has shown that overconfidence
can cause investors to underreact to new information. What is
the dependent variable and independent in this case?
overconfidenc Reaction to new

e info
■ A marketing manager believes that limiting the availability of a
product increases product desirability. What is the dependent
variable and independent here?
Availability of Product
Product desirability
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.42
Exercises 2
■ An investor believes that more information increases the
accuracy of his forecasts.
More info Accuracy of

forecasts
■ A marketing manager believes that selecting physically attractive
spokespersons and models to endorse their products increases the
persuasiveness of a message.
Attractive spokesperson persuasiveness of a

message
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.43
Exercise 3
An applied researcher wants to increase the performance of

organizational members in a particular bank.
Answer:
■ Dependent Variable: Performance of organizational members
■ Why?
Because dependent variable is the variable of primary interest to the
researcher.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.44
3. A manager believes that good supervision and

training would increase the production level of the
workers.
■ Answer:
IV DV
Good supervision Production level

and training of workers
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.45
A consultant is of the opinion that much benefit would

accrue by buying and selling at the appropriate times in a
financial environment where the stocks are volatile.
Answer:
IV DV
Buying and selling

Volatility of stocks of stocks
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.46
What is the effect of diet •The type of soda you •Your blood sugar levels
and regular soda on blood drink (diet or regular)
sugar levels?
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.47
What is the effect of diet and

regular soda on blood sugar
levels?
Independent Variable: The type of soda you drink (diet or
regular)
Dependent Variable: Your blood sugar levels
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.48
The impact of a new medication on

the blood pressure of patients with
hypertension.
■ Independent Variable: new Medication
■ Dependent variable: blood pressure
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.49
Moderating variable
◆ The moderating variable is one that has a strong contingent
effect on the IV-DV relationship.
◆ This means that the presence of a third variable (MV) modifies
the original relationship between the IV and DV.
◆ It doesn’t explain why there is a relationship between IV and
DV.
◆ Example: relationship between X1 and Y is strong, especially X2
is also strong.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.50
A manager finds that off-the-job classroom training has a

great impact on the productivity of the employees in her
department. However, she also observes that employees
over 60 years of age do not seem to derive much benefit
and do not improve with such training.
Answer:
IV DV
Off-the-job class Productivity

room training of employees
MV
Unwillingness
of employees
over 60 years
of age to
pursue
training
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.51
Mediating/Intervening variable
◆ The Intervening variable is caused by the independent variable,

and is itself a cause of the dependent variable.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.52
Intervening Variable
■ There is an observed positive correlation between level of

education and level of income, such that people with higher
levels of education tend to earn higher levels of income.
■ This observable trend, however, is not directly causal in nature.
Occupation serves as the intervening variable between the two,
since education level (the independent variable) influences what
kind of occupation one will have (the dependent variable), and
therefore how much money one will earn.
■ In other words, more schooling tends to mean a higher status job,
which in turn tends to bring a higher income.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.53
Level of Occupation
Education status Income
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.54
Intervening Variable
■ For example, there is an association between being poor and

having a shorter life span. Just because someone is poor doesn’t
mean that will lead to an early death, so other hypothetical
variables are used to explain the phenomenon. These intervening
variables could include: lack of access to healthcare or poor
nutrition.
lack of access to
Poverty healthcare or poor Short
nutrition. longevity
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.55
Failure to follow accounting principles cause immense confusion, which

in turn creates a number of problems for the organization. Those with
vast experience in bookkeeping, however, are able to avert the
problems by taking timely corrective action.
Answer:
IV Int.V DV
Failure to follow
accounting Corrective No. of accounting
principles action problems
MV
Expertise
in
bookkee
ping
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.56
The manager of Haines Company observes that the morale of employees in

her company is low. She thinks that if their working conditions are improved,
pay scales raised, and the vacation benefits made attractive, the morale will be
boosted. She doubts, however , if an increase of pay scales would raise the
morale of all employees. Her conjecture is that those that have supplemental
incomes will just not be “turned on” by higher pay, and only those without side
incomes will be happy increased pay with resultant boost.
IVs DV
Working
conditions
Vacation benefits
Morale of
employees
Pay scales
Supplemental
income
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.57
There are three basic features that

should be incorporated in any
theoretical framework
1. The variables considered relevant to the study should be
clearly defined.
2. A conceptual model that describes the relationships between
the variables in the model should be given.
3. There should be a clear explanation of why we expect these
relationships to exist.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.58
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.59
Hypotheses
◆ A hypothesis is a testable statement of the relationship among

variables.
◆ It can test whether there are differences between two groups ( or

among several groups) with respect to any variable (s).
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.60
Null Hypothesis
■ The null hypothesis assumes that there is no meaningful

relationship between two variables—may be the most
valuable hypothesis for the scientific method because it is
the easiest to test using a statistical analysis.
■ Null hypothesis: H0: The world is flat.

■ Alternate hypothesis: The world is round.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.61
Null Hypothesis
• Cats show no preferences for food based on shape.

• Plant growth is not affected by light color.
• Age has no effect on musical ability
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.62
Null Hypothesis
■ A school principal claims that students in her school score an
average of 7 out of 10 in exams. The null hypothesis is that the
population mean is 7.0.
■ To test this null hypothesis, we record marks of say 30 students
(sample) from the entire student population of the school (say
300) and calculate the mean of that sample. We can then
compare the (calculated) sample mean to the (hypothesized)
population mean of 7.0 and attempt to reject the null hypothesis.
(The null hypothesis here—that the population mean is 7.0—can
not be proven using the sample data; it can only be rejected.)
H : Students score an average that is not equal to 7.

0
H1: Students score an average of 7 out of 10 in exams.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.63
Null Hypothesis
Question Null Hypothesis
Are teens better at math than adults? Age has no effect on mathematical ability.
Does taking aspirin every day reduce the Taking aspirin daily does not affect heart attack
chance of having a heart attack? risk.
Do teens use cell phones to access the internet Age has no effect on how cell phones are used
more than adults? for internet access.
Do cats care about the color of their food? Cats express no food preference based on color.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.64
Null Hypothesis
■ A medical trial is conducted to test whether or not a new

medicine reduces cholesterol by 25%. State the null and
alternative hypotheses.
■ H0 : The drug does not reduce cholesterol by 25%.
■ Ha : The drug reduces cholesterol by 25%.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.65
Hypotheses Formats
◆ If-then statements
◆ Directional
◆ Non-directional hypotheses
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.66
If-then statements
◆ If employees are more healthy,

then they will take sick leave
less frequently.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.67
Directional hypotheses
◆ The greater the stress

experienced in the job, the
lower the job satisfaction of
the employees.
Thornhill 2009
Slide 2.68
Non-directional hypotheses
◆ There is a relationship
between age and job
satisfaction.
Thornhill 2009

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CRITICAL

■ It is a step-by-step process that involves the identification of

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 38.65

The Lancet 33.63

JAMA - Journal of the American Medical 30

Indian Journal of Medical Research 2.061

Journal of Biosciences 1.82

Indian Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology 0.63 th

■ First literature review (literature survey) helps the researcher to

■ COVID-19 is a coronavirus outbreak that initially appeared in

Examples of Literature Review

Among people in the United States who smoked in 1991, 71%

Examples of Literature Review

■ We examined the sex- specific effects of smoking on the level

What insights can be gained

In the Literature Review Section:

• When a work is authored by one always cite the

In the Literature Review Section:

• Sekaran et al. (1980) found……

In the Literature Review Section:

In the Literature Review Section:

• In the job design literature (Alderfer, 1977; Aldag &

Modes of referencing in research

Format for Citing Different

Format for Citing Different

Format for Citing Different

Format for Citing Different Types

Conference proceedings Publication

•Yeshwant, M. (1998). Revised thinking on Indian

Format for Citing Different Types

•Kiren, R.S. (1997). Medical advances and quality of life.

Format for Citing Different Types of

Paper Presentation at Conference

•Bajaj, L. S. (1996, March 13). Practical tips for efficient

Format for Citing Different Types

•Pringle, P. S. (1991). Training and development in the

Format for Citing Different

•The new GM pact. ( 1998, July 28). Concord Tribune,

The research process

◆ A variable is anything that can take on differing or varying

■ How people feel about different television shows.

■ How different types of fertilizer affect how tall plants grow.

◆ The Dependent variable ( the Criterion/ core variable)

The dependent variable (s)

◆ The variable of the primary interest to the researcher.

4. A marketing manager wonders why the recent

Dependent variable: Advertisement strategy

Independent variable (s)

◆ Research studies indicate that successful new product

◆ IV : the success of the new product

■ Cross-cultural research indicates that managerial values govern

Managerial Values Power Distance

◆IV : Managerial Values

overconfidenc Reaction to new

More info Accuracy of

Attractive spokesperson persuasiveness of a

An applied researcher wants to increase the performance of

3. A manager believes that good supervision and

Good supervision Production level

A consultant is of the opinion that much benefit would

Buying and selling

What is the effect of diet and

The impact of a new medication on