Exploring Fuzzy-Set Analysis: Impacts on Business Strategy and Management

The article titled “Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) in business and management research: A contemporary overview” by Kumar et al. (2022), published in Technological Forecasting and Social Change, offers a comprehensive and state-of-the-art bibliometric review of the application of fsQCA and complexity theory in business and management studies. The article identifies trends, influential contributors, and thematic clusters through a systematic literature review (SLR) of 1,155 articles from the Scopus database.

The authors begin by highlighting the limitations of symmetrical statistical methods—such as regression and structural equation modeling—for understanding the complexities of real-world business phenomena. In contrast, fsQCA, grounded in set theory and Boolean algebra, offers an asymmetrical, configurational approach better suited for addressing the multifactorial and context-dependent nature of managerial realities. The growing dissatisfaction with null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) further supports the rise of fsQCA.

Methodologically, the study is structured in three stages: assembling, arranging, and assessing. It employs a technologically enhanced SLR using Bibliometrix-R and Gephi software. The authors filtered for peer-reviewed journal articles indexed by both the ABDC and CABS quality lists, ensuring methodological rigor.

Key findings from the performance analysis include:

1. Publication Trends: There has been an exponential increase in fsQCA-related publications since 2016, particularly in journals like the Journal of Business Research, which alone published 336 articles.
2. Top Contributors: Notable authors include Arch G. Woodside (30 articles), Hossein G.T. Olya, and Sascha Kraus. Influential articles, such as Fiss (2011) with 1,529 global citations, have shaped the field.
3. Institutional and Country Contributions: Universidade de Lisboa and Universitat de València are leading institutions, while the UK and USA dominate in publication volume and citation impact.
4. Collaboration Networks: The study maps eight significant author collaboration clusters and seven institutional collaboration clusters, identifying cross-country partnerships primarily between Europe and Asia.

The science mapping section identifies three main thematic clusters through keyword co-occurrence and PageRank analysis:

• Cluster 1: Leadership and Strategic Management – Focused on emergent leadership, self-organization, and knowledge management, rooted in complexity theory.
• Cluster 2: Corporate Social Responsibility and Culture – Emphasizing values, ethics, and qualitative comparative logic in organizational behavior.
• Cluster 3: Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Concentrated on fsQCA applications in entrepreneurial orientation, firm performance, and sustainability.

The authors conclude with a call for future research to further utilize fsQCA in underexplored areas, revisit traditional linear results using asymmetric logic, and apply configurational methods to more dynamic, complex business environments (DVUCA: disruptive, volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous).

Why fsQCA Differs From Regression

Kumar and colleagues frame fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) as an asymmetric, configurational alternative to symmetric methods such as regression and SEM. Rooted in complexity theory and set-theoretic Boolean logic, fsQCA shows three things regression tends to hide: asymmetry (a condition can help in one configuration and be irrelevant or harmful in another), equifinality (several different combinations can lead to the same outcome), and conjunctural causation (what matters is how conditions combine, not the size of each one alone).

Scope and Research Questions

The review covers 1,155 business and management articles from Scopus and asks who the most influential contributors are, which knowledge clusters have emerged, and how future research can advance. Journal of Business Research dominates with 336 articles, followed by Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Management Decision and Industrial Marketing Management.

Three Knowledge Clusters

Cluster 1 links complexity theory with leadership, knowledge management, learning, change management and emergence. Cluster 2, the smallest with 138 articles, connects fsQCA with corporate social responsibility and culture. Cluster 3 centres on innovation, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance.

Relevance for Health Management

For health services researchers, the paper is a useful entry point to configurational thinking, for example asking which combinations of staffing, leadership and resources produce high performance in hospitals. The evidence base reviewed is from business and management, and the paper maps the literature rather than testing fsQCA against other methods.

Full Citation (APA Style):
Kumar, S., Sahoo, S., Lim, W. M., Kraus, S., & Bamel, U. (2022). Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) in business and management research: A contemporary overview. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 178, 121599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121599