A Bibliometric Analysis of the Intellectual Structure of Studies on Slavery in the 21st Century

Objective of the study: The aim of the article was to analyze the intellectual structure of publications on slavery within the scope of the Administration. To achieve this objective, the following research questions were proposed: What is the intellectual structure of recent publications on slavery in the business research area? How is the past of slavery remembered (or forgotten) in this century’s researches on business research area?

Methodology/approach: We used the quantitative method of scientific mapping that combines bibliometrics and graphic representation. In this process, we extracted publications from the Scopus database and, then, grouped the references using the Bibexcel software. To identify the subgroups and create the visualization map, we used VOSviewer.

Originality/Relevance: Slavery is generally considered to be the dark side of business practices, and for this reason, it is a topic that is still little explored in management research. The relevance of this study is to systematize the academic production of this sensitive topic and to offer scholars and practitioners in the area a detailed analysis of the theoretical foundation of studies on slavery.

Main results: Results indicate that the intellectual structure of studies related to slavery can be grouped into nine pillars that cover several themes, such as heritage tourism, Critical Accounting, Management History and the perpetuation of the legacy of slavery in the globalized world.

Theoretical/methodological contributions (mandatory): Analyzing the repressed memory of slavery in the context of management is necessary and a great opportunity for future research. It is undeniable that slavery is a part of History that cannot be overlooked and this study explores this latent gap in Management studies.