| Abstrakt: |
There is no doubt that a good literature review provides a solid theoretical foundation for any type of research. However, the question of how to use literature review as a research technique has not been adequately addressed in South Africa. As a result, management students often struggle to effectively ground their research in literature. Therefore, addressing this problem requires detailed understanding of conceptual foundation and methodological underpinnings of literature review. Thus, Wotela (2016) provides a framework that empowers business and public management research students to grasp conceptual and methodological aspect of literature review. Although many students have successfully applied this framework to conceptualise and undertake different studies in the field of business and public management in South Africa, they have not shared their experiences. This means that the value of using the Wotela framework as well as others that have been developed in South Africa, remains unknown. Therefore, in advancing knowledge in this regard, this paper reflects on the author's experience of using the Wotela framework to conduct and use literature review as a technique for conceptualising public management research in a South African context. Specifically, the paper demonstrates how conceptual underpinnings of literature review allow postgraduate students to understand the purpose, function and process of conducting literature review. It also highlights the importance of the Wotela framework in providing guidance on appropriate methods, procedures and tools for deriving a conceptual framework, which is a technique for using literature review to conceptualise and undertake management research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
