4. Description and classification of literature
One-hundred and twenty six articles identified through the SLR are analyzed in this section
with respect to the publication year, methodology used, journal of publication and sector
studied. It is done to understand the trends and issues in the literature relevant to WCM.
4.1 Analysis by year of publication
The analysis by year of publication confirms that the selected articles were published
quite regularly from 2007 to 2012. In the bar chart presented in Figure 4, there appear a
scarce number of publications in the 1980s and 1990s. Figure also confirms an upward
trend in the number of publications, 2007 onward. This could be attributed due to recent
economical slow down which highlighted the importance of WCM for maintaining
liquidity. Most of the research articles published are concentrated in 2011 and 2012. As
evident from Figure 4, maximum of 37 articles were published in the year 2012
4.2 Analysis by research methods and settings
Table II shows the frequencies with which different methodologies were used in the studies
reviewed. The methodology applied means the type of paper, whether it is based on
empirical work or primary survey.Thepublished articles can be broadly classified into three
categories. These include empirical, survey and conceptual work on WCM. The analysis
presented in Table II shows that empirical work has been the most popular main
methodology used in the studies analyzed (85.71 per cent), with an emphasis on the
regression and correlation analysis. On the other hand, only seven studies are based on
primary survey; this can be due to difficulty in getting responses from corporate financial
managers.
4.3 Analysis by journal of publication
The analysis by journal aims to identify the journals most involved in the conversation of
literature about WCM. In total, 88 journals contained the selected publications. Figure 5
presents those with more than one articles published on the WCM.Along list of journals
Figure 4.
Articles by year of
publication
Table II.
Articles by research
methods
Research methods Number (%)
Empirical 108 85.71
Conceptual 11 8.73
Survey 7 5.56
Total 126 100