No escape from the dominant theories: The analysis of intellectual pillars of technology management in developing countries Berna Beyhan a, ⁎, Dilek Cetindamar b a Science and Technology Policy Studies Research Center, Middle East Technical University, Inonu Bulvari, 06531 Ankara, Turkey b Faculty of Management, Sabanci University, Tuzla, 34956, Istanbul, Turkey article info abstract Article history: Received 8 December 2009 Received in revised form 26 August 2010 Accepted 3 October 2010 This paper aims to identify the intellectual bases of the technology management (TM) literature generated in developing countries using citation and co-citation analyses and answer the question of whether the intellectual bases of the TM literature created by authors in developing countries diverge from those of the global TM literature. Based on a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of ten technology-innovation management (TIM) specialty journals through the period of 1998–2007, this study produces three important findings. First, the TM literature generated in developing countries is dominated by the knowledge and theories created in developed countries. Second, among these knowledge sources some authors from developing countries and focusing on the specialties of developing countries, such as Kim and Lall, come into prominence; however these authors are not even mentioned in the previous bibliometric studies covering overall TM research. Finally the researchers in developing countries tackle with the issues or topics specific to their own context through combining three major bulks of literature. These are (i) resource-based view (RBV)/core competencies and organizational learning related research; (ii) literature dealing with the evolutionary theorizing on economic change and growth and (iii) literature related to technological capabilities, technology transfer and industrialization in developing countries. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Bibliometric analysis Knowledge sources Keywords Intellectual pillars TM literature Developing countries 1. Introduction The share of the developing countries in the international technology management (TM) literature has grown rapidly in the recent period; in 2007 nearly one fourth of the literature was created with the contribution of researchers in developing countries (Table 1). However, TM literature created in developing countries mostly differs from its counterpart generated in developed world especially in terms of the research topics it focuses [1,2]. This study takes a step forward and investigates whether the researchers in developing countries utilize the same intellectual pillars with their colleagues in the developed world to understand the issues they specifically focused on. Thus the paper provides a comprehensive detailed bibliometric analysis of developing countries' TM literature covering articles published in ten technology-innovation management (TIM) specialty journals [3–6]. Considering that no study employs bibliometric techniques in the field of TM to understand the specific characteristics, knowledge maps and flows in the literature created in developing countries; this paper will contribute to the global TM literature. Furthermore, the understanding of theoretical development of TM in developing countries will contribute to the incorporation of particular issues, problems and theories of developing countries into the TM discipline. Since the commencement of IEEE Transaction on Engineering Management in 1954 much progress has been accomplished both in the field of management of technology education [7,8] and in scholarly research with the launch of a number of TIM- specialty journals. In this process the number of researches focusing on the scholarly research generated by the scientific Technological Forecasting & Social Change 78 (2011) 103–115 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 312 210 3719. E-mail addresses: berna.beyhan@gmail.com (B. Beyhan), dilek@sabanciuniv.edu, dilek@sabanci.edu.tr (D. Cetindamar). 0040-1625/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2010.10.001 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Technological Forecasting & Social Change