Content Analysis of Strategic Issue Research 1980-2006

Building on the achievements of the previous research on strategic issue management practices, this paper provides a systematization of the main body of strategic issue management research into three main research streams. These include research on individual issue perception, intra-organizational actions in the strategic issue management context, and organizational responses to strategic issues. Our paper also provides a detailed analysis of linkages between perception research and research on organizational responses to strategic issues. Based on this analysis, we find that direct linkages can be drawn between the two research areas due to the commonly accepted categorization of strategic issues as opportunities and threats. As a synthesis of our review, we put forward a conceptual model of the linkages between the research on issue perception and organizational responses.