Best Selling Books by Thomas Frank

The literature on downward spirals first emerged in the 1980s when some of the first articles were published regarding the research of reinforcing negative cycles. This thesis critically examines relevant downward spiral literature in order to synthesize the comprehensive base of knowledge and to systematically develop an integrative framework around the antecedents and consequences of such spirals. While the range of possible antecedent and consequence factors of negative cycles is wide, the appreciation of the topic among the leading academic business and management journals, especially in recent years, has been unsatisfactory and no longer reflects the status quo of the research field. For this reason, the research on downward spirals has continued to be incomplete concerning its content. Building on these deficits, the present thesis outlines a future research agenda that proposes additional knowledge gaps to be examined as well as major theoretical and methodological improvements to be considered by interested scholars in the future.