Science Research Management ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (4): 165-176.

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The dominant logic: Connotations, research topics and future prospects

Zhang Lu1, Han Yuqi1, Yan Zichun2, Cui Minjie1,3, Zhang Qiang1, Wu Yujie4   

  1. 1. School of Economics and Management, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, Inner Mongolia, China; 
    2. School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China; 
    3. Graduate School of Business, Mongolian University of Science and Technology, Ulaanbaatar 13381, Mongolia;
    4. College of Public Security Law,China People′s Police University,Langfang 065000,Hebei,China
  • Received:2021-09-14 Revised:2022-02-25 Online:2022-04-20 Published:2022-04-19

Abstract:    Dominant logic theory, as a methodology to guide enterprises to construct organizational cognition and generate action practices to shape competitive advantages, has attracted academic attention. At present, the research of dominant logic is mainly about the combination of service-oriented logic, innovation management, marketing and so on, the evolution from commodity dominant logic to service dominant logic, and the interpretation of the relationship between service-oriented dominant logic and value co-creation. Although this provides a rich theoretical basis for Chinese scholars to carry out relevant research, the existing research lacks the basic knowledge of the dominant logic theory from the perspective of the whole process of theoretical development, fails to systematically sort out its theoretical development context and hot issues, and lacks common theoretical basis to build knowledge framework. As a result, it is difficult for the academic circle to summarize and explore the local extension application of the dominant logic theory based on the existing literature, and the practice circle cannot accurately refine the core management ideas to guide the enterprise innovation practice based on the existing research. Therefore, it′s very necessary for the dominant logic theory literature systematically comb, further clarify the basic knowledge of content, and the research category of overall development, is advantageous for the related academics dominate the logical theory knowledge architecture and hotspot issues and development process to carry out academic research and boosting development and perfection of the dominant logic theory system. 
    Based on WOS database and CNKI database, this paper conducts retrieval in both Chinese and English to obtain sample data, adopts the research method combining bibliometrics and induction, systematically combs sample literature from the perspective of the whole process of theoretical development, and clarifies the development context and research hotspots of the dominant logic theory.
    In order to systematically understand the research status of dominant logic, this paper firstly conducts descriptive statistics on the sample literature, discovers that: the research on dominant logic in China started late, but its annual publication fluctuation trajectory is generally similar to that of international research; the research hotspots of dominant logic involve the research directions represented by high-frequency keywords such as service-dominant logic, co-creation, management, performance, innovation and strategy; the research on dominant logic has evolved from exploring "the internal relationship between enterprise multiple strategies and performance", to "responding to market demand to improve service capacity", and then to "attaching importance to create value with consumers to gain competitive advantage".
   Secondly, this paper clarifies the origin of dominant logic and finds that this concept has been applied from psychology and philosophy to the field of strategic management. It refers to a potential rule of internal operation of an organization. At the same time, this paper gives a clear definition of the concept of dominant logic. In addition, this paper differentiates the concept of dominant logic from similar concepts such as manager cognition, organization cognition and organization practice.
   Finally, this paper explores the application and expansion of dominant logic theory, summarizes its formation mechanism, action mechanism and characteristics, and then constructs the knowledge framework. On this basis, this paper puts forward the future development direction, guides scholars to enrich the localization research of shared cognition of senior management team and the coexistence operation mechanism of multi dominant logic within enterprises, and further deepen the internal mechanism of dominant logic, in order to provide theoretical reference for Chinese scholars to deepen the theoretical research of dominant logic from the theoretical level, from the practical level, it provides a reference for enriching the management experience of enterprise executives in making strategic decisions and changing the internal dominant logic.

Key words: logic, dominant logic, cognitive sharing, organization behavior