Management consulting: A review of fifty years of scholarly research

Purpose – Academic research on management consulting or having management consultancy as the main research field is huge as the sector is a strategic one for management innovation, but a systematic and updated literature review is missing. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive systematic review of scholarly peer reviewed journals looking at the ambivalent roles of consultants in driving management innovation as well as management fashions. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review has been performed. Findings – This paper provides a systematization of existing literature, where the state of the art is assessed and future research paths are highlighted. Originality/value – The proposed research fills the gap concerning a review of literature on this topic and provides an analysis of 50 years of scholarly research, highlighting both the bright and dark sides of management consulting.