Frontiers of Business Intelligence and Analytics

To classify all articles, we develop a taxonomy and apply the well-established taxonomy development process suggested by Nickerson et al. We iterate through a subset of articles to build and refine a taxonomy, which we then apply to classify all 75 articles, resulted from the literature search. We decide to apply this taxonomy development process because it aims at creating a useful taxonomy that "seeks utility, not truth", which is in line with Webster and Watson and Vom Brocke et al. who recommend using a meaningful concept matrix for a structured literature review.

The iterative method of Nickerson et al. consists of seven steps, which we depict in Fig. 6. In a first step, the meta-characteristics of the taxonomy need to be defined (1) and the ending conditions that have to be met to end the process must be determined (2). The creation of the taxonomy can be carried out as empirical-to-conceptual or as conceptual-to-empirical approach depending on the choice of approach (3). In case of a conceptual-to-empirical approach, dimensions and characteristics are conceptualized based on domain knowledge without examining the objects of interest (4c). In a next step, the evaluation for a sample set of the objects is done (5c). At the end of the process, an initial (revised) taxonomy is created (6c) and checked for fulfilling the ending conditions (7). In case of an empirical-to-conceptual approach, a relevant subset of objects is identified (4e) and common characteristics are identified to group the objects (5e). The next step comprises the derivation of dimensions from the group characteristics followed by the creation of an initial (revised) taxonomy (6e) and the check, if the ending conditions are met (7). A next iteration starts again with step 3, if the ending conditions have not been met.

Fig. 6

Taxonomy development process