Navigating the Scholarly Arena: Examining Disparate Research Trends and Discrepancies Across Management, Economics, Sport Management, and Sports Economics Fields

Abstract

To define the research paths in the fields of management, economics, sport management, and sports economics, this research undertook a comprehensive analysis. The research was based on profile analysis of the top five researchers in each field, with careful examination of variables including gender distribution, citation metrics, H-index, and publication volumes obtained from the Google Scholar database. Strikingly, a significant finding emerged, showing the overwhelming male predominance among the top five researchers across all studied domains. In addition, there were noticeable differences in the number of citations and H-index; management and economics had better metrics than their sports-centric counterparts, namely sport management and sports economics. This study is a significant tool for deciphering the complexities of research trends and discrepancies that exist within the management, economics, sport management, and sports economics fields. This investigation adds to the corpus of current knowledge while providing a basic comprehension necessary of these disparate but related domains.