Citation Age Distributions for Three Areas of Business.

The preface or introduction of virtually every revised text or readings book in business administration makes at least passing mention of the rapid rate of change, which is taking place within the discipline with which the book is concerned. The justification for the publication of the new edition is very often supported by listings of new chapters or readings and revisions made in material taken from the previous edition. Authors and editors typically describe their discipline as dynamic and evolving, and as characterized by accelerating growth. A complete evaluation of these and similar claims is at best a difficult task. The purpose of this paper is to examine one possible indicator of the extent to which change is occurring within an academic discipline: namely, the citation age distributions (CADs) found within its journal articles. Three of the important core areas in business administration will be examined here: finance, management, and marketing. The CADs are affected by the nature of the communication system within the discipline, since lengthy delays between submission and publication of an article disrupt the communication process. Any explanation of the differences requires an analysis of the recent history of each of the disciplines.