Content analysis of data envelopment analysis literature and its comparison with that of other OR/MS fields

Abstract

Content analysis was performed on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) literature appearing in refereed journals. The extant DEA literature, reported in Gattoufi et al was subdivided into two ways. The first considers all articles appearing during the life cycle of 22 selected major DEA publishing journals. The second considers all post-1995 DEA articles. Content was judged on the basis of a two-point scale representing advancements in theory; a five-point scale indicating contributions to practice; and on seven distinguishable strategies applied by the authors in pursuing their research. Lastly, DEA was compared with similarly obtained results describing the life cycle literatures of flow shop scheduling and of cell manufacturing. This analysis has proven the vitality, robustness, and real-world grounding of DEA on its own and vis-à-vis other OR/MS sub-disciplines. Moreover, the breadth of its diffusion into other disciplines and professions has been shown to be extraordinary.

Keywords:

• Data envelopment analysis
• DEA
• efficiency analysis
• content analysis
• classification
• philosophy of OR
• practice of OR
• meta-review
• research on research