This study provides an exploratory bibliometric analysis of the emerging literature on Industry 5.0, which is a new visionary concept on the future of industry. Industry 5.0 has in recent years begun to attract the interest of both practitioners and academics, but this new field can still be considered embryonic and not well documented. Therefore, this study aims to map the field and provide a preliminary picture of the emergence and status of the scientific literature on Industry 5.0. Bibliometric data covering the period from 2015 to 2021 were extracted from the Scopus database. Bibliometric analyses of overall publication volume and growth trajectory, influential documents, authors, sources and countries are performed. The exploratory analysis provides a preliminary overview of the birth and emergence of this new research area. The results are discussed in relation to theories on the emergence and evolution of new management concepts. The article closes with some speculations about the future trajectory of Industry 5.0.

The emergence of Industry 5.0 took place in the mid-2010s, presenting a novel vision for the future of an industry that places emphasis on human involvement in the production process. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a substantial surge in the popularity of this concept, gaining traction not only in the business realm but also within academic circles. This increased attention can be attributed to a heightened focus on crucial aspects such as sustainability and resilience. The objective of this study is to present an updated overview of key bibliometric trends in Industry 5.0 research. The findings indicate a remarkable expansion of research activities in the field of Industry 5.0, as evidenced by a substantial increase in the number of publications and citations. Concurrently, the growth of Industry 5.0 research has led to the emergence of diverse perspectives and the exploration of related research themes such as artificial intelligence, big data, and human factors. In summary, this study enhances our understanding of the Industry 5.0 concept by providing an updated overview of the current state of research in this area and suggesting potential avenues for future investigations.

This paper explores which journals publish management accounting research and which sources are most cited in these journals. We apply bibliometric methods based on citation data from Web of Science and Scopus. Quantitatively, we examined the boundaries of management accounting by analysing 506,753 and 1,075,838 cited references from each respective database in the timespans 1945–2018 and 1960–2018 and found that the five most cited journals represent 6.5% and 4.7% of the total citations. The most cited journal in both Web of Science and Scopus is AOS, followed by MAR. The findings are discussed in light of diversity, and the article will claim that the boundaries of management accounting research are not subject to severe constraints. Google Scholar was initially chosen alongside Web of Science and Scopus, but, among other challenges, Google Scholar does not provide comparable citation data. Therefore, issues concerning using citation data and databases are also thoroughly discussed.

The industrial landscape has undergone rapid conceptual evolution in recent years, marked by the successive emergence of Industry 4.0, Industry 5.0, and the nascent Industry 6.0. This study explores the emergence of Industry 6.0 as a prospective industrial paradigm, characterized by intelligent, autonomous, and sustainable systems, which builds upon the digital foundations of its predecessors. Using management fashion theory as a theoretical lens, we analyze how these industrial concepts arise, diffuse, and potentially become institutionalized within management discourse. The study reveals that the adoption and dissemination of these paradigms are influenced not only by technological advancements but also by the discursive efforts of a fashion-setting community comprising academics, policymakers, consultants, and media actors. Industry 6.0, while still largely speculative, continues a broader trend of using numbered industrial revolutions to frame ongoing innovation. The findings suggest that such paradigms serve both practical and rhetorical purposes, driving organizational change while also reflecting shifting societal and managerial values. The study concludes with reflections on the implications for managers and policymakers as they navigate the evolving industrial landscape.

The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate the potential association between a firm’s cost behavior, characterized as cost stickiness or anti-stickiness, and working capital management (WCM), as measured by the working capital to total assets ratio and the trade cycle measures net trade cycle and cash conversion cycle. We measure cost stickiness using four widely accepted models and a sample of non-financial firms sourced from Compustat. Our findings highlight the significant influence of WCM on cost behavior. Specifically, we observe an inverse relationship between a firm’s WCM aggressiveness and both its cost stickiness and degree of cost adjustment. These relationships are consistent for both operating costs and the costs of goods sold.

Even though Lean is a management concept with roots stretching back several decades, it did not take off on a large scale in Norway until around 2010. Since then, Lean has received frequent attention in the Norwegian media, and recent surveys indicate that the diffusion and popularity of Lean can be considered relatively high in both the private and public sectors. This article focuses on the sustainability of Lean as a management practice in Norway. The Google dictionary defines the term “sustainability” as “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” The article therefore seeks to examine the evolution in the diffusion and use of the Lean concept in Norway in the period 2015–2017. For this purpose, we draw on data from two surveys administered in 2015 and 2017, as well as a small number of follow-up interviews carried out in 2017. The results generally show that the diffusion rate in Norway appears to be relatively stable, and Lean users appear to have a very positive perception of the concept, which indicates that the Lean concept currently has an institutionalised position as a management practice in Norway. Therefore, the evolution pattern of Lean in Norway differs from what has been observed in other countries where the concept appears to be on a downward trajectory in terms of its popularity. Moreover, the results reveal considerable variation in terms of how Lean is interpreted, understood and used in practice, for instance, when it comes to abstraction levels and the use of different Lean-related principles and tools. Overall, the results have several theoretical and methodological implications for future studies on the diffusion, use and long-term sustainability of popular management concepts such as Lean.