Foundations of knowledge management: intellectual structure and citation drivers of the Journal of Knowledge Management

Purpose Journal of Knowledge Management (JKM) is the foremost academic source of knowledge management research. Therefore, to understand the intellectual structure of knowledge management research, this study aims to examine the thematic patterns and evolution of research in JKM. Design/methodology/approach Using bibliographic coupling analysis, this study analyzes and maps the intellectual structure of the research published in JKM from 1977 to 2021. It also presents the trends among methodological choices of JKM authors. The study also explores the major components of JKM ’s impact, wherein a negative binomial regression analysis is used to uncover the major factors influencing the journal’s citations. Findings The findings suggest that the intellectual structure of JKM broadly consists of four major themes: antecedents and consequences of knowledge management, innovation and knowledge management, complexities in knowledge management and firm performance, and knowledge sharing in knowledge management. The findings also reveal the drivers of citations for JKM through the universalism (article order, open access), social constructivism (European and FT100 institution affiliation, references, funding) and presentation (tables, models, appendices, article age) perspectives. Practical implications This inclusive overview of JKM will provide useful insights for its editorial board, readers and scholars to chart the ways forward for JKM and the future of knowledge management. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to identify the factors that contribute to JKM's impact from a citation perspective.