Business economics research in the context of COVID-19 pandemic: a crisis management perspective

The economic downturn that followed the COVID-19 pandemic is widely considered the worst since the Second World War. This study builds on past research by aiming to give an up-to-date research environment over a more extended period for business economics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The application of bibliometric and content analysis is linked to the concept of crisis management. The COVID-19 pandemic has gone through several phases, including pre-crisis, events, crisis response management, investigation, organisational learning, and implementation. From this analysis, it is found that the focus of research on the publication of business economics research so far has been in the event phase, which investigates the impacts of the pandemic on individual perceptions, inequality in work, impact on the stock market and risk, unemployment and public health, and consumption changes and consumer behaviour. The crisis response management provided by the business in dealing with the pandemic, among others, is through increasing awareness about well-being and technology adoption, locking and social distancing, and optimising information and communication management. There is still little attention given after the crisis response management phase, namely the investigation, organisational learning, and implementation phases which are essential to building resilience when facing similar crises in the future.