Week 4

Instructions

Literature review

In consultation with your instructor, choose a specific business research topic and complete a full literature review on the topic. The topic for this assignment should be different than your topic in the W3 project.

In your review:

• Synthesize relevant and relatively current (last 10 years) literature in a focused field or topic. Although the review should focus on recent literature, include any historical development that clarifies the topic. Grading assessment of this item will consider the thoroughness of the reviewed literature for covering your topic. For example, if you are doing a literature review on some area of transformational leadership but do not include works by James MacGregor Burns or Bernard Bass, then you have not appropriately reviewed the literature on the topic.
• Assess the primary concepts, theories of interests, and methodologies within the literature on this topic. Grading assessment of this item will consider the depth of your review. For example, if you are doing a literature review on transformational leadership but do not note aspects such as inspirational motivation, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration, then you have not adequately reviewed the literature on the topic.
• Appraise the current state of research (where are we now according to the literature) and the opportunities for new research that would further the field. Your appraisal might propose supported relationships between concepts or factors in the written research that have not yet been tested. Or, your appraisal might defend the existence of apparent gaps or contradictions in the existing research. Grading assessment of this item will consider the clarity of your arguments and strength of your documented support for the proposed relationship or apparent gaps and contradictions. For example, if you propose that no one has clarified whether transformational leadership is inherently ethical, then you need to make that connection (support) from each piece of literature that you review.
• Propose the next step(s) to address identified problems or opportunities. Building from the currently un-researched relationships or gap you defended in the literature review of your topic, articulate a general framework for how you might address the gap or test the relationships. Include possible benefits to both the academic discipline and professional practice that your proposed research or next steps would provide. Grading assessment of this item will consider the persuasiveness of your proposed framework and benefits.

Submission Details:

• Complete your response to this assignment in an 8- to 10-page Microsoft Word document, using APA style.