Coming of age, seeking legitimacy: The historical trajectory of African management research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the historical trajectory of African management research and managerial thinking. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws from a review and synthesis of the literature from 1960–2012. Findings – The analysis led to the identification of three distinct phases which reflect the difficult and uncertain beginning to a promising future. Our historical pathway model also allows us to account for the evolution of management philosophies and thoughts, and current state of knowledge. Originality/value – Although there is a burgeoning stream of African management research, lack of comprehensive review and synthesis have obscured the enormous strides made. We advance a “novel” approach towards theory application and theory creation building on the “convergence hypothesis” and “divergence hypothesis”. Our analysis yielded a number of promising avenues for future research.