Mapping the conceptual and intellectual structure of the consumer vulnerability field: A bibliometric analysis

Consumer vulnerability (CV) has evolved into an important management research field over the past two decades. The CV field (hereafter, the field) merits evaluation of its present state and prospects, as it incorporates many subthemes. This study used bibliometric analysis to map and make sense of the field. The sample, retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database, consisted of 291 documents published between 2001 and 2021. This study used citation analysis to identify prolific authors, key documents, and sources in the field. Importantly, this article reveals two aspects of the knowledge structure of the field: intellectual structure and conceptual structure. Co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling were used to explain the intellectual structure of the field, consisting of the field's knowledge foundations and research fronts. A thematic analysis of the field was performed using a bi-dimensional thematic map to uncover the conceptual structure of the field. This article identifies the field’s basic, motor, niche, and emerging/declining themes. A more nuanced view of the conceptual structure was provided by tracing the chronological thematic evolution of the field. Finally, we discuss future research directions in this field.