Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

  • We're Hiring!
  • Help Center

paper cover thumbnail

The Management of a Business Strategic Plan: A Systematic Literature Review

Profile image of Robbson Manda

2022, Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

Related Papers

International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences

literature review management strategy

Canadian Public Administration-administration Publique Du Canada

Glenn Bloodworth

Saudi Journal of Business and Management Studies

victor Biodun

The Journal of Social Sciences Research

ahmad areiqat

This study aims to shed light on the role of strategic planning by utilizing the resource-based view (RBV) model to achieve an organization’s success. Through reviewing related literature it becomes necessary for organizations to prepare their financial or non-financial resources as success instigators. This applies mainly to tangible assets that can produce high-quality products and human resources and can attract potential customers to achieve competitive advantage. Hence, the ultimate finding articulates that using strategic planning through a resource-based view is the key to success. For future study there is a need to include more resources in a resource-based view like a relationship with key stakeholders that is also considered an essential asset.

MUSTAFA T E V F İ K KARTAL

Companies have a variety of aims. Among them, the most important one is to survive. However, survival is not an easy subject in the global environment. Even surviving becomes harder while competition increases. So, companies have to deal with both globalization and competition at the same time. Although it is possible to mention about lots of tools, one of the most important innovative management tool is strategic planning in terms of the financial success perspectives. The strategic plan (SP) is a tool that can be used to shape their future and to survive by companies. It is concluded that SPs have important benefits. Firstly, SPs make the contribution to the survival. Secondly, SPs are helpful to plan future. Thirdly, SPs are used as a guide. Fourthly, SPs trigger good management practices and innovation culture because of requiring transformation processes. Fifthly, due to triggering internal transformation works, SPs make the contribution to gain the comparative competitive advantage. Sixthly, by implementing SPs well, it is inevitable to reach good financial results.

transport dept

I.E.R. Flambeau

Firdissa Jebessa

Open Journal of Applied Sciences

Federico De Andreis

Alexander Decker

Austin Journal of Business Administration and Management

Muhammad A D A M U Ahmad

The paper reviewed relevant literatures on strategic management practice. Being a conceptual paper, we start by highlighting the origin and meaning of strategy and strategy planning. This was followed by discussions on factors that affect strategy formulation, strategy implementation as well as factors bedeviling strategy implementation. Essentiality of strategic management practices as a radical improvement method was equally highlighted.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Székely Csaba

European Scientific Journal ESJ

Industrial Marketing Management

Frank Harrington

Benjamin Musumali

Wilfred Ukpere

Rushami Yusoff

Humanities and Social Sciences

Nikolaus Salo

International Journal of Business and Applied Social Science

patrick arkoh

odufeso tajudeen

Kiyoung Kim

Marius Bota

Journal of Travel Research

Luiz Moutinho

DBA-Africa Management Review

Kenn Ogollah

papers.ssrn.com

Tim Lowder, PhD

Management Research News

Omer Dincer

Academy of Management Proceedings

Kenneth Hatten

hygeia-design.com

June Kaminski

RELATED TOPICS

  •   We're Hiring!
  •   Help Center
  • Find new research papers in:
  • Health Sciences
  • Earth Sciences
  • Cognitive Science
  • Mathematics
  • Computer Science
  • Academia ©2024

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

  • Knowledge Base

Methodology

  • How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

Published on January 2, 2023 by Shona McCombes . Revised on September 11, 2023.

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic .

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

  • Search for relevant literature
  • Evaluate sources
  • Identify themes, debates, and gaps
  • Outline the structure
  • Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources—it analyzes, synthesizes , and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

upload-your-document-ai-proofreader

Table of contents

What is the purpose of a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1 – search for relevant literature, step 2 – evaluate and select sources, step 3 – identify themes, debates, and gaps, step 4 – outline your literature review’s structure, step 5 – write your literature review, free lecture slides, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions, introduction.

  • Quick Run-through
  • Step 1 & 2

When you write a thesis , dissertation , or research paper , you will likely have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

  • Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and its scholarly context
  • Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
  • Position your work in relation to other researchers and theorists
  • Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate
  • Evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of the scholarly debates around your topic.

Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

Literature review guide

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

  • Academic style
  • Vague sentences
  • Style consistency

See an example

literature review management strategy

Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

  • Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
  • Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
  • Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
  • Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions .

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list as you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

  • Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
  • Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
  • Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include:

  • Your university’s library catalogue
  • Google Scholar
  • Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
  • Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
  • EconLit (economics)
  • Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can also use boolean operators to help narrow down your search.

Make sure to read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

You likely won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on your topic, so it will be necessary to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your research question.

For each publication, ask yourself:

  • What question or problem is the author addressing?
  • What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
  • What are the key theories, models, and methods?
  • Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
  • What are the results and conclusions of the study?
  • How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible , and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can use our template to summarize and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using. Click on either button below to download.

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography , where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

Don't submit your assignments before you do this

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students. Free citation check included.

literature review management strategy

Try for free

To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, be sure you understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

  • Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
  • Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
  • Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
  • Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
  • Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

  • Most research has focused on young women.
  • There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
  • But there is still a lack of robust research on highly visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat—this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

  • Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
  • Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
  • Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text , your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, you can follow these tips:

  • Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
  • Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers — add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
  • Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
  • Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts

In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.

When you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting. Not a language expert? Check out Scribbr’s professional proofreading services !

This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review.

Scribbr slides are free to use, customize, and distribute for educational purposes.

Open Google Slides Download PowerPoint

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

  • Sampling methods
  • Simple random sampling
  • Stratified sampling
  • Cluster sampling
  • Likert scales
  • Reproducibility

 Statistics

  • Null hypothesis
  • Statistical power
  • Probability distribution
  • Effect size
  • Poisson distribution

Research bias

  • Optimism bias
  • Cognitive bias
  • Implicit bias
  • Hawthorne effect
  • Anchoring bias
  • Explicit bias

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

  • To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
  • To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
  • To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
  • To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
  • To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other  academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .

An  annotated bibliography is a list of  source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a  paper .  

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. (2023, September 11). How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved September 3, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/literature-review/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, what is a theoretical framework | guide to organizing, what is a research methodology | steps & tips, how to write a research proposal | examples & templates, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”

Strategic management accounting practices: a literature review and opportunity for future research

Asian Journal of Accounting Research

ISSN : 2459-9700

Article publication date: 9 November 2020

Issue publication date: 18 February 2021

The purpose of this study is to review the empirical studies that have focused on the adoption, benefits and contingencies of strategic management accounting (SMA) practices and the effects of adoption on firm performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The study has highlighted empirical studies conducted on SMA practices in the context of both developed [1] and developing economies. In reviewing the literature, the study focuses on the findings of developed economy separately from that of developing economy to get more insight into the differences in the practices of the two set of economies. Based on the review, avenues for future research studies are outlined.

The review of extant literature reveals that several SMA techniques such as competitor accounting, strategic pricing, benchmarking and customer accounting have been highly or moderately adopted in several developed countries while majority of other techniques remained at the bottom line of the adoption status. However, the review demonstrates substantial differences in the SMA practices between the two set of economies in terms of the level of adoption, contingent factors and the effects of adoption.

Originality/value

The study attempts to focus on empirical studies that have concentrated exclusively on SMA practices. The adoption status, benefits derived, contingent factors affecting the adoption decision and the effect of adopting a package of SMA techniques on several aspects of firm performance are presented in the context of both developed and developing economies.

  • Strategic management accounting
  • Contingent factors
  • Effect of adoption
  • Literature review

Rashid, M.M. , Ali, M.M. and Hossain, D.M. (2021), "Strategic management accounting practices: a literature review and opportunity for future research", Asian Journal of Accounting Research , Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 109-132. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJAR-06-2019-0051

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Md. Mamunur Rashid, Md. Mohobbot Ali and Dewan Mahboob Hossain

Published in Asian Journal of Accounting Research . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

In the late 1980s, management accounting (MAC) faced considerable challenges when Johnson and Kaplan (1987) claimed that MAC has lost its relevance in the changed business environment. Rapid advancement in technology and its use in operations and the use of personal computers in information processing ( Ashton et al. , 1995 ) left the MAC tools obsolete in meeting the information needs of management specifically in firms that were using computerized and innovative manufacturing processes ( Kaplan, 1984 ; Johnson and Kaplan, 1987 ). This fostered the revolution of MAC in 1980s ( Kaplan, 1984 ; Johnson and Kaplan, 1987 ). This revolution took place on both sides of the Atlantic (USA and UK) and resulted in the emergence of a number of new MAC techniques ( Langfield-Smith, 2008 ). These new innovations in the field of MAC were termed as “strategic management accounting (SMA)” in the UK and “strategic cost management (SCM)” in the USA (( Langfield-Smith, 2008 ).

Simmonds (1981) was the first to use the term “strategic management accounting” in an influential paper published in the UK professional magazine “Management Accounting” which includes the provision of analyzing competitors data in developing and monitoring business strategy. Surprisingly, it took 19 years to investigate the adoption status of SMA techniques since its inception. Guilding et al. (2000) were the first to provide an empirical evidence on the usage of (12) SMA techniques in the context of New Zealand, USA and UK. Their work was followed by several other researchers (e.g. Cravens and Guilding, 2001 ; Guilding and McManus, 2002 ; Cadez and Guilding, 2007 ; Chinquini and Tenucci, 2010 ; Cescon et al. , 2019 ) who examined the extent of adoption and/or benefits and/or contingent factors, and/or the effects of adoption of such innovative practices on firm performance. However, as Coad (1996 , p. 392) holds that “SMA is an emerging field whose boundaries are loose and, as yet, there is no unified view of what it is or how it might develop. The existing literature in the field is both disparate and disjointed”. Therefore, it is necessary to organize the extant literature of SMA practices to learn about the current status and opportunities for future research. Moreover, as several prior studies (e.g. Cadez and Guilding, 2008 ; Aykan and Aksoylu, 2013 ; Turner et al. , 2017 ; Amanollah Nejad Kalkhouran et al. , 2017 ; Alamri, 2019 ) documented a positive direct and/or mediating effect of SMA usage on several aspects of firm performance, the identification of the adoption status and factors influencing the adoption decision of SMA techniques noticed by the extant literature can be of particular importance to the decision-makers. More importantly, the directions for further research in this field in the face of fourth industrial revolution and climate change can contribute positively to the further development of this emerging field of research.

The review method employed in this study is, in essence, a mixed method. We reviewed articles published on SMA as a package in 22 influential accounting journals ( Zawawi and Hoque, 2010 ) between 1981 and 2019 (both years inclusive). We analyzed the findings of those articles using the analytical method adopted by Shields (1997) and Zawawi and Hoque (2010) and conventional tabulation. The findings revealed a comparatively lower usage of SMA techniques across the globe with moderate and higher usage of competitor- and customer-focused techniques, benchmarking and strategic pricing in several developed countries. Whereas the status of such practices in the context of developing economies remain unexplored. The variations in the contingencies affecting the adoption decision and effect on firm performance were also noticeable.

Our study contributes to the extant literature in several ways. First, the study provides an overview of the present status of adoption of SMA practices across the globe. Second, considering the differences in the two types of economies (developed and developing economies); our study has highlighted the factors affecting the decision to adopt SMA techniques separately in the context of each set of economy. Finally, the study outlines opportunities for future research on the practicality of SMA including its way forward in relation to the new development such as cloud-based solutions, big data and analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), new business development, the role of management accountant as a business partner and in the face of climate change.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the review method followed in this study. Section 3 presents and analyzes the findings followed by Section 4 which provides a summary of the findings and suggestions for further research. Section 5 presents the conclusion and limitations of the study.

2. Review method

The present review, indeed, employed a mixed method approach. The journals and articles have been selected following the analytical framework of Shields (1997) and Zawawi and Hoque (2010) . We searched for any article published on SMA techniques from 1981 to 2019 using search engines like Google, Google Scholar, etc. Moreover, we also visited all the issues of 22 influential accounting journals studied by Zawawi and Hoque (2010) . We used the “Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC)” ranked journal list as a minimum criterion to be included to the list of articles reviewed in the present study. Table 1 reports the results of the above searches. As can be seen in Table 1 , 19 articles have been published on the adoption, benefits, contingencies and effect of SMA practices between 1981 and 2019, both years inclusive. Of these 19 articles, Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change has published the highest number (six) of articles on SMA practices, followed by Accounting, Organization and Society (three) and Asian Review of Accounting (two) (see Table 1 ).

Each of the remaining journals published only a single article on SMA practices during the period of the study. Accordingly, it can be held that the adoption, benefits and contingencies of SMA practices and their effects on firm performance remained unexplored in many countries of the world. To analyze the findings of these articles, we employed conventional methodology on several grounds. First, the volume of articles focusing on the factors contingent to the adoption of SMA techniques is extremely low (only 13). Of these articles, two have focused merely on a particular group of techniques (e.g. competitor or customer). Second, many (four) of these articles did not employ regression analysis which motivates us not to employ more scientific method such as meta-analysis. Accordingly, drawing conclusion from those studies employing more advanced method like meta-analysis seems to be hardly possible. Third, the variables used in these studies are also diversified except for the strategy type which further stimulates not to employ advanced methodology. Despite the use of conventional methodology, we present the findings of the extant SMA literature separately for the firms in developed and developing economy on the ground that they differ in terms of political, cultural and economic factors that influence the understanding of management accounting practices (MAPs) ( Hopper et al. , 2009 ) (see Figure 1 ).

3. Findings

3.1 adoption status and perceived benefits, 3.1.1 in the context of developed economy.

Table 2 presents the adoption status of SMA techniques between 1981 and 2019, both years inclusive. As can be seen in Table 2 , all of the studies have been conducted in the context of developed economies (e.g. US, UK, New Zealand, Slovenia and Italy). While several of these studies (e.g. Cravens and Guilding, 2001 ; Cadez and Guilding 2008 ; Chinquini and Tenucci, 2010 ; Cadez and Guilding, 2012 ) have focused solely on the SMA practices of a specific country, others (e.g. Guilding et al. , 2000 ; Cadez and Guilding, 2007 ) have focused on the SMA practices of multiple countries.

Guilding et al. (2000) were the first to provide empirical evidence on the use of SMA techniques internationally (US, UK and New Zealand). The study was conducted on the adoption and perceived merit of 12 SMA techniques among the largest companies in New Zealand, USA and UK. They separated SMA techniques from traditional MAC based on the criteria of having some strategic orientations including environmental orientation, competitors focused, long-term and forward-looking orientation ( Guilding et al. , 2000 ). The findings revealed fairly similar level of SMA usage among the surveyed countries. Competitor-focused accounting and strategic pricing were the most widely used SMA techniques in all the sample countries (see Table 2 ).

The study also confirmed that most of the SMA techniques were not widely used in the sample companies. Despite this lower usage, the sample companies demonstrate positive perception with respect to the perceived benefits derived from the use of SMA techniques. This positive perception is reflected in the scores assigned by the sample companies. The perceived merit scores of SMA usage are substantially greater than the usage scores. Moreover, the above average scores of perceived benefits of “lower usage SMA techniques” signify their potential usage in the sample countries in the foreseeable future ( Guilding et al. , 2000 ) (see Table 3 ).

One year later, Cravens and Guilding (2001) conducted another survey in the USA by adding three more techniques [activity-based costing (ABC), benchmarking and integrated performance measurement (IPM)] to the list of SMA techniques studied by Guilding et al. (2000) . Their study documented that competitive position monitoring (CPM), competitor performance appraisal based on published financial statements (CPAFS) and benchmarking are the most widely used SMA techniques in the USA. This finding confirmed the popularity of competitor-focused SMA techniques in the USA.

Cadez and Guilding (2007) added three more techniques [customer profitability analysis (CPA), lifetime customer profitability analysis (LTCPA) and valuation of customers as assets (VCA)] to the list of 15 SMA techniques studied by Cravens and Guilding (2001) . They surveyed the adoption of these SMA techniques in the largest (in terms of total revenue) manufacturing firms in Slovenia and Australia. Akin to the findings of Guilding et al. (2000) and Cravens and Guilding (2001) , competitor-focused techniques, benchmarking and strategic pricing were found at the top of the list of SMA techniques in both the countries. However, costing-oriented SMA techniques were highly adopted in the Slovenian companies as compared to their counterparts in Australia.

In the same year, Chinquini and Tenucci (2007) conducted a survey which focused on the SMA usage of the largest Italian manufacturing firms. They merged three customer-focused SMA techniques (CPA, LTCPA and VCA) into a single technique under the head of “customer accounting”, which trimmed down the list to 14 techniques from that of 16 of Cadez and Guilding (2007) . Their findings revealed that SMA techniques are extensively used in the sample firms. Attribute costing and customer accounting were found to be the most widely adopted SMA techniques among the sample firms. However, akin to the findings of Guilding et al. (2000) , Cravens and Guilding (2001) and Cadez and Guilding (2007) , CPM and strategic pricing were also found to be highly adopted by the Italian manufacturing firms.

Cinquini and Tenucci (2010) conducted another survey among the 92 largest Italian manufacturing firms. They excluded three techniques (attribute costing, strategic costing and strategic pricing) from the list of their 2007 study. The remaining 11 SMA techniques were grouped under four different categories (costing, customer, competitor and performance). Consistent with the previous results, this study also documented greater usage of customer accounting, CPM and CPAFS in the Italian manufacturing firms.

Nuhu et al. (2017) surveyed 127 public sector organizations in Australia and documented greater use of benchmarking, target costing and ABC among the eight SMA techniques studied. Cescon et al. (2019) executed another survey on the use of 11 SMA techniques in 55 large Italian manufacturing firms. While the usage rate of CPM (ranked 2nd) was consistent with the findings of Chinquini and Tenucci (2010) , the usage rate of VCC (ranked 8th in Chinquini and Tenucci study and 4th in Cescon et al. study) and BSC (ranked 13th in Chinquini and Tenucci study and 3th Cescon et al. study) displayed different level of usage.

The findings of the empirical studies conducted on the adoption and perceived benefits of SMA techniques as a package in the developed countries revealed diversified results. SMA usage in USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand demonstrated comparatively lower usage as compared to Italy and Slovenia. However, competitor-based SMA techniques are found as the most widely used techniques in all the countries. Additionally, benchmarking and strategic pricing are reported as highly used techniques in the USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand, whereas customer accounting is the most popular SMA technique in Italy and Slovenia. More importantly, the above average score on perceived benefits signifies their greater usage in the upcoming days.

3.1.2 In the context of developing economy

Surprisingly, no single study has been conducted (to the best of our knowledge) in the context of developing economy that focused exclusively on the adoption or benefits of SMA techniques (as a package or as a particular group of technique). However, a small number of studies have focused on the adoption of a particular SMA technique. With respect to the rate of adoption, majority of the prior studies revealed low adoption rate. For example, Sartorius et al. (2007) revealed that only 12% (21 of 181 companies) of the surveyed listed companies in South Africa has adopted ABC in their organizations. Abdul Majid and Sulaiman (2008) also reported that ABC has not been widely adopted in Malaysian companies.

With respect to the use of BSC, Anand et al. (2005) revealed that 45.28% of companies in India adopted BSC with greater emphasizes on financial perspective. Khan et al. (2011) conducted a survey among 60 Bangladeshi listed companies and found that only 10% of the sample companies used BSC in full fledges. Thus, the extant literature failed to expose the picture of the adoption and benefits of SMA techniques as a package in the context of developing economy.

The substantial difference in the extent of adoption and benefits of SMA techniques demonstrated in the foregoing section can be attributed to cultural, legal and institutional factors. Firms in the developed economies are operated in a strong legal and institutional environment where opportunities to conceal income and escape tax is hardly possible and subject to substantial penalty. This motivates firms to pay more attention on formulating strategy to control cost and allocate resources optimally through the extensive use of innovative management and operational tools. In contrast, there exist considerable loopholes in the legal and institutional systems in the developing countries which stimulate firms to devote more time and effort to earning management and tax avoidance activities. Placing extensive weight on compliance issues to manage earnings and tax and overlooking the adoption of innovative and strategic oriented cost management tools by top management team (TMT) becomes the customary practices in the firms in these countries. Moreover, Hopper et al. (2009) argued that excessive dependency for external finance, ideologies and structural reforms; with lower institutional capacity to deliver changes affect a lot the status of MAC system in less developed economies. Accordingly, the use of strategic-oriented SMA techniques appears to be much higher in the developed economies as compared to their counterparts.

3.2 Factors influencing the adoption decision

3.2.1 in the context of developed economy.

Identical to the scenario of adoption of SMA techniques, majority of the prior studies focusing on the identification of factors contingent to their adoption have been conducted in the context of developed countries. For example, Guilding (1999) identified company size, competitive strategy and strategic mission as the most influential contingent factors affecting the decision to use competitor-focused SMA techniques in New Zealand. In USA, Cravens and Guilding (2001) investigated the effect of eight sub-dimensions of competitive strategy on the adoption of SMA techniques and documented that SMA usage rate is higher in companies pursuing “research and development” and “broad market coverage” strategies (see Table 4 ).

Guilding and McManus (2002) also employed contingency theory and used the intensity of competition, company size and market orientation as the contingency factors in examining their effect on the use of customer-focused SMA techniques in Australia. Their findings revealed a positive association between different forms of customer accounting techniques and market orientation strategy. Additionally, a positive association between the intensity of competition and customer segment profitability analysis, and customer accounting and company size were also evident. In contrast, Chinquini and Tenucci (2007) documented contrary results in terms of the effect of strategic orientation and reported an insignificant effect of company size, type of industry, strategic pattern and strategic mission on the adoption of SMA techniques in the Italian manufacturing firms.

Cadez and Guilding (2008) employed an integrated contingency model and applied structured equation model to examine the effect of strategic choices, market orientation and company size on SMA usage in the context of Slovenia. The findings revealed that SMA usage is positively associated with adopting prospector strategy, deliberate strategy formulation, company size and accountant's participation in strategic decision-making. Their findings are contradictory with Chinquini and Tenucci (2007) which documented that SMA usage are not strategy driven in the Italian manufacturing firms.

Chinquini and Tenucci (2010) extended their previous study ( Chinquini and Tenucci, 2007 ) and examined the effect of strategy followed and firm size on the adoption of SMA techniques in the largest Italian manufacturing firms. They showed that companies following “defenders” (strategic pattern) and cost leadership (strategic positioning) strategies make greater usage of costing-based SMA techniques, while “build” companies (strategic mission) are intended to use customer-oriented SMA techniques. These findings are not consistent with that of their previous studies conducted in 2007 which revealed weak association between SMA usage and strategy pursued.

Apart from the effect of strategy type on SMA usage, Lachmann et al. (2013) investigated the effect of structural characteristics (size, ownership and legal form) and reported a significant positive effect of several structural characteristics on the usage of SMA techniques in the German hospitals. Nuhu et al. (2017) , on the other hand, concentrated their focus on Australian public sector organization and investigated whether the interactive and diagnostic use of management control systems (MCS) affect the adoption of SMA techniques. Their findings revealed that SMA usage in the surveyed organizations is positively and significantly affected by the interactive and diagnostic use of MCS.

While majority of the prior studies employed contingency theory in identifying the influential factors, Pavlatos and Kostakis (2018) used upper echelons theory and role theory in examining the effect of TMT characteristics and historical financial performance on the extent of SMA usage in Greek manufacturing companies. The findings revealed that companies that have experienced low profitability in the past adopted and used SMA techniques more extensively to improve performance. With respect to the TMT characteristics, the study showed that educational background, tenure and creativity of TMT were found to be significantly associated with the usage of SMA techniques.

Patch (2019) conducted an international study (Austria, Germany and Switzerland) to investigate the effect of organizational life cycle on the usage of SMA techniques. Their findings revealed a significant positive influence of maturity, revival and growth stages on the SMA usage. Cescon et al. (2019) conducted another study in the Italian manufacturing firm and documented significant positive effect of environmental uncertainty and competitive forces on the adoption of SMA techniques. Their study also documented greater usage of brand valuation in the local firms pursing differentiation strategy.

The findings on the factors influencing the adoption of SMA techniques in the developed economies are rather inconclusive. The effects of several dimension of business strategy adopted appear to be controversial, while the effects of company size, prospector-type strategy, accountants' participation in strategy formulation, TMT education and creativity, and market orientation appears to be mostly positive. The underlying reason for such differences can be attributed to the nature of the context used and techniques applied. The dominance of contingency theory (as depicted in Table 4 ) is also noticeable which is consistent with the findings of Rashid et al. (2020) .

3.2.2 In the context of developing economy

Studies focusing exclusively on the identification of influential factors in the context of developing countries are apparently low. We found only two studies that have addressed the issue. Amanollah Nejad Kalkhouran et al. (2017) surveyed 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia (121 useable responses were received) to examine the effect of CEO characteristics (represented by education and experience) and their involvement in networks on SMA usage. The study employed contingency theory and upper echelons theory in examining the hypothesized relationships. A significant positive effect of CEO education and involvement in networks on SMA usage was documented by the study.

In the same year, Arunruangsirilert and Chonglerttham (2017) conducted another study to investigate the influence of corporate governance (CG) characteristics on SMA practices in the Thai listed firms. Employing the arguments of agency, resource dependency and stewardship theory, they reported a significant positive influence of several CG characteristics (separations of CEO role from chairman, board independence and frequency of audit committee meetings) on the level of SMA usage. However, the effect of board size and board chairman from outsider was significantly negative on the extent of SMA usage.

Identical to the scenario of adoption status, the factors contingent to the adoption of SMA techniques in firms in the developing economies remained unexplored with few exceptions. More importantly, the contingent factors considered in the studies conducted in the context of developed economies are not studied in the extant literature of developing countries. This can be attributed to the apparently low adoption rate of SMA techniques which stimulate researchers not to devote efforts in exploring the effect of those factors. Nevertheless, the positive effects of CEO education and involvement in networks, and proportion of board independence and separation of CEO role from chairmen on the adoption of SMA techniques have been evident in the developing countries.

3.3 Effect of SMA usage on firm's performance

3.3.1 in the context of developed economy.

Studies exploring the effect of SMA usage on firm's performance are extremely rare in the context of both developed and developing economies. Cadez and Guilding (2008) applied structured equation model to examine the mediating effect of SMA usage and accountant's participation in strategic decision-making process on firm's performance. Strategy type, market orientation and company size were used as the dependent variables, whereas perceived firm performance was used as the independent variable. The findings revealed a significant positive association between SMA usage and firm's performance (see Table 5 ).

Four years later, Cadez and Guilding (2012) conducted another survey among the largest manufacturing companies in Slovenia using the configuration approach to examine the relationship between strategy, SMA and performance. The findings revealed that different strategic and structural alternatives can lead to similar performance level. However, only limited support is confirmed with respect to the Configurational proposition that internally consistent configurations can provide better performance.

One year later, Aykan and Aksoylu (2013) examined the effect of SMA usage on perceived qualitative and quantitative performance in 229 Turkish large- and medium-sized firms. Using the premise of strategic management theory, they documented a significant positive influence of competitor- and customer-focused SMA techniques on the perceived qualitative performance. In a later study, Turner et al. (2017) used the contingency theory premise in investigating the mediating effect of SMA usage on the performance of 95 hotel properties in the USA. Hotel property performance was measured using two measurers: customer performance and financial performance. Their findings confirmed a mediating role of SMA usage between hotel property market orientation business strategy and hotel property financial performance.

3.3.2 In the context of developing economy

To a very limited extent, the effects of SMA usage on firm's performance have been addressed in the context of developing economy. Amanollah Nejad Kalkhouran et al. (2017) examined the indirect effect of SMA usage on firm performance using the context of Malaysia. The study confirmed the mediating effect of SMA usage on firm's performance through CEO education and involvement in networks. Alamri (2019) conducted a survey among 435 accounting managers working in Saudi listed companies with respect to the effect of SMA practices on organizational performance. The study developed five facets of SMA practices in analyzing their effects on both financial and nonfinancial firm's performance. The findings revealed that SMA facets significantly (and positively) affect both financial and nonfinancial performance.

The above discussion revealed that the effects of adopting SMA techniques as a package on several aspects of firm performance have not been well addressed in the extant SMA literature in the context of both developed and developing economies. More specifically, the direct and indirect effect of adopting SMA techniques on accounting-based performance such return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE), and market-based performance such as market-to-book ratio and Tobin's Q ratio remained unexplored in the context of both set of economies.

4. Summary and future research opportunities

4.1 summary of the findings.

The review of extant literature on SMA practices revealed several critical facts. First, the volume of studies focusing on the adoption, factors influencing the adoption and the effect of adoption of SMA techniques on firm performance is considerably low. We found only 19 articles ( Table 1 ) published between 1981 and 2019 (both years inclusive), of which only seven articles focused on the extent of adoption ( Table 2 ), three articles on perceived benefits ( Table 3 ), 13 articles on contingent factor ( Table 4 ) and only six articles ( Table 5 ) on the effect of adoption on firm performance. Second, the adoption rate of SMA techniques in majority of the countries is comparatively low, with few exceptions. Surprisingly, the adoption status of SMA techniques remained unexplored in the context of developing countries. Third, among the studied SMA techniques, competitor-based accounting techniques were the most widely used in all the countries, with high and moderate use of benchmarking, strategic pricing and customer accounting in specific countries (see Table 6 ).

Fourth, among the influencing factors studied, strategic positioning ( Cinquini and Tenucci, 2007 ), prospector type strategy, deliberate strategy formulation, company size, accountant's participation in strategic decision-making ( Cadez and Guilding, 2008 ), strategic pattern ( Chinquini and Tenucci, 2010 ), educational background, tenure and creativity of TMT ( Pavlatos and Kostakis, 2018 ), structural characteristics ( Lachmann et al. , 2013 ), the use of MCS ( Nuhu et al. , 2017 ), the firm's life cycle stages ( Pasch, 2019 ) and the environmental uncertainty, competitive forces and the location of firm ( Cescon et al. , 2019 ) were reported as the most influential factors in the adoption decision of SMA techniques. And finally, with respect to the effect of adoption of SMA techniques, a positive direct ( Aykan and Aksoylu, 2013 ; Alamri, 2019 ) and indirect or mediating effect ( Cadez and Guilding, 2008 ; Amanollah Nejad Kalkhouran et al. , 2017 ; Turner et al. , 2017 ) on several aspects of firm performance have been evident in the context of developed and developing economies.

4.2 Future research opportunities

Surprisingly, the nature and extent of the use of SMA techniques in the face of Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) and global climate change remain unexplored in the context of both developed and developing economies. Moreover, the role of management accountant (or strategic management accountant) as a business partner or in the face of changed business model also remain unexplored. Accordingly, with respect to the future research in this field, we suggest researchers to look at the following areas.

4.2.1 SMA in the fourth industrial revolution

The Fourth Industrial Revolution that has been underway over the past half a century ( Kotler et al. , 2017 ) has brought exponential changes to the way we live, work and relate to one another due to the adoption of smart technologies in our factories and workplaces ( Marr, 2018 ). More specifically, the Internet and related information technologies (e.g. cloud services, big data, blockchain, AI), combined with web-based business models are rapidly transforming the digital economy and industry ( Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ). These technological advancement and disruption have also led substantial changes in the underlying infrastructure of management accounting and control practices (MACPS) ( Heinzelmann, 2019 ). In particular, how the innovative MAC techniques (such as SMA) can be used in the changed business situations may be of particular interest to the MAC researchers. Initially, case study of large and multinational enterprises adopting several of these techniques can provide useful insights on the role of management accountants in the context of developing economy. However, in the developed economy where the use of big data, AI, blockchain, cloud computing already received considerable momentum, both case study and survey research can provide more profound picture of SMA practices, specifically researching what affect their adoption, implementation and effect of implementation in the technology-driven environment can be of particular importance.

4.2.1.1 Cloud computing

Cloud-based solutions are used in a range of accounting functions; including analytics, control reporting, monitoring and data governance ( Heinzelmann, 2019 ; Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ). Of the four possible cloud deployment models (private, public, community and hybrid cloud), public cloud has received the vast attention of firms. In the field of MAC, cloud-based solutions are beneficial to improve planning and control via enhanced forecasting and benchmarking functionalities ( Heinzelmann, 2019 ), and provide real-time access to data from any (mobile) device ( Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ). However, empirical evidence on the utility of cloud-based solutions in a real-life setting remains limited ( Heinzelmann, 2019 ; Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ), and therefore future research may focus on this issue, specifically how SMA techniques are being applied in cloud-based solutions environment.

4.2.1.2 Big data

Big data, arising from a wider configuration of information pools (past and present, structured and unstructured, social and economic, formal and informal), poses challenges to enterprises, multiplies the potential organizational data engagement and shape the firm's strategy processes ( Bhimani, 2015 ). Big data is used in combination with established data sources to improve managerial decisions and actions ( Bhimani, 2015 ), and have substantial impact on MACPS ( Bhimani and Willcocks, 2014 ). Big data and analytics may be beneficial ( Bhimani, 2015 ) if they can be organized and used in a meaningful way to helps organizations make better decision which requires management accountant to have business insights and data skills ( Heinzelmann, 2019 ). Accordingly, future research may focus on how the use of innovative SMA techniques is allied in the big data environment. Specifically, the case study research may portray the changing role and skills required for management accountants in such environment in developing countries, while both case study and survey research in the context of developed economy may convey what factors affect the adoption, implementation and effect of SMA in big data environment.

4.2.1.3 Blockchain

Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology where the members (known as “nodes”) of a large network share multiple copies of the same ledger ( Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ). It involves triple entry bookkeeping in which every transaction requires three entries to record a debit, a credit and a cryptographic signature to check the validity of a transaction ( Heinzelmann, 2019 ; Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ). The core advantage of this technology is that once a transaction is approved by the nodes in the network, it cannot be reversed or resequenced, which, in turn, ensures the transparency of the transactions and any change to it to all the members of that network ( Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ). The impact of blockchain on accounting profession is obvious specifically for the design of accounting information system, audit and assurance ( Brandon, 2016 ; Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ). However, its impact on MACPS is not clear yet ( Heinzelmann, 2019 ), and accordingly future research may focus on the changing role of management accountant in firm (using case study approach) implementing or implemented blockchain technology.

4.2.1.4 Artificial intelligence (AI)

AI includes innovations (e.g. machine learning and natural language processing), as well as statistical techniques in which the system learns by example without any human intervention ( Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ). In MAC, it seems that despite having a broader understanding of AI, skills required to address AI requirements to add value to work in this area are still inadequate ( Krumwiede, 2017 ; Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ). Future research should investigate the business value of AI in terms of better decision-making, control and organizational performance ( Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019 ). Explorative studies may help uncover improvements in MACPS in general, and SMA in particular, to the adoption of AI.

4.2.2 Role of management accountant as business partner

The notion of “business partner” is seen as a popular template for practicing management accountants ( Rieg, 2018 ) and refers to more than the tasks of scorekeeping and delivering aggregated financial information to top management ( Karlsson et al. , 2019 ). To hold the status in true sense, management accountant have to move beyond traditional MAC functions and have to become a capable provider of rich, forward-looking information for strategic decisions ( Granlund and Lukka, 1998 ; Karlsson et al. , 2019 ). Granlund and Lukka (1998) and Karlsson et al. (2019) provided evidence in support of hybrid accountant whereby management accountant performs the role of traditional scorekeeping tasks with some business partner characteristics. Future research may focus on how the implementation of SMA techniques (as a package or a specific technique) assists management accountants to step forward the role of a business partner.

4.2.3 SMA in the new business model

Business models denote the underlying structures of how companies create, deliver and capture value ( Clinton and Whisnant, 2019 ). The embeddedness of digital technologies (e.g. Internet of things) stimulates many firms to change their business models ( Bouwman et al. , 2017 ) to adapt to their environment ( Rachinger et al. , 2019 ). The influence of this digitalization on business model seems to be fuzzy and challenging ( Bouwman et al. , 2017 ), and people are uncertain about how to face the rapid technological change, changing customer preferences and legal requirements, and how to capitalize the new technological opportunities ( Lerch and Gotsch, 2015 ; Rachinger et al. , 2019 ). Future research (exploratory) may focus on how the application of innovative SMA techniques in a particular organization assists in achieving competitive advantage in the changed business model.

4.2.4 SMA in addressing climate change

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are considered as the major cause of global climate change ( Karl and Trenberth, 2003 ; Cadez et al. , 2019 ), and accordingly GHG-intensive firms from the energy and industry sectors are found to be the major contributors in this respect ( Cadez and Czerny, 2016 ). Despite the notable corporate action to control the GHG emission worldwide, the volume of GHG emissions from those sectors continue to rise globally ( Cadez et al. , 2019 ). Future research may focus on this issue by exploring how management accountant respond to control GHG emission through including the environmental costs of emissions to a number of innovative MAC (specifically SMA) techniques. Case study research seems to be more appealing in addressing the issue in energy and industry sector firms.

5. Conclusion

The aim of this paper was to present a review of literature between 1981 and 2019 (both years inclusive) on the adoption status, benefits, factors influencing to the adoption of SMA techniques and their effects on firm performance in the context of developed and developing economies. The findings revealed a low volume (only 19 papers) of articles published on the subject during the period. Majority of the 17 SMA techniques studied experienced a low adoption rate with few exceptions where competitor- and customer-focused techniques, strategic pricing and benchmarking are moderately and highly adopted in several developed countries. This finding implies that SMA techniques could not replace the traditional MAPs; rather they are used as complementary tools to traditional MAPs. However, we are in the dark with respect to the status of SMA practices in the developing economies. The effects of several contingent factors (e.g. type of strategy adopted, company size) are rather controversial and inconclusive. However, despite the low volume of papers published and variables studied, a significant positive effect SMA usage on several aspects of firm performance is obvious in the context of both developed and developing economies.

The findings of the present review can have implications from a theoretical, policymaking and practitioner perspectives. From a theoretical perspective, the dominance of using “contingency theory” in identifying the factors influencing the adoption decision signifies the acceptability of this theory in the empirical-based SMA research. Additionally, the arguments of other theories such as upper echelons theory, role theory, agency theory and stewardship theory are also complementary with the findings of few studies. From the policymakers' perspective, the significant positive influence of SMA adoption on firm performance documented by several studies urges the need for policies that would induce firms to adopt and implement innovative MAC (SMA) techniques. Specifically, policymakers in developing economies have to initiate measures to change the focus of corporations from earnings management and tax avoidance to the attainment of competitive advantages through adopting and exercising innovative management and operational tools. From practitioners view, top management may take initiative to introduce strategic-oriented MAC techniques in organizations to improve efficiency in resource allocation and to facilitate more accurate and timely strategic decision.

The present study has some limitations. First, there exist variations in terms of sample size, firm size and measurement scale of extent of adoption among several studies that are compared. Therefore, the results must be interpreted considering such limitations. Second, most of the studies considered in the paper are based on questionnaire survey. We did not consider studies based on other methods as they rarely focused on the adoption or effect of adoption of SMA techniques. Finally, the study considered a list of 17 SMA techniques based on prior studies. As there exists no universally agreed definition of SMA and its conceptual framework ( Tomkins and Carr, 1996 ; Langfield-Smith, 2008 ), the list of SMA techniques considered are bound to be subjective ( Cadez and Guilding, 2007 ).

Despite these limitations, the review of extant literature and future research opportunities presented above are expected to contribute to the development of future SMA research.

Structure of literature review on SMA practices

Distribution of journals

JournalsCoverageArticles on SMA*
1981–20193
1981–20191
1981–20191
1981–20192
1981–20191
1981–20196
1981–20191
1981–20191
1981–20191
1981–20191
1981–20191
Total 19
: * Articles focused on the adoption, benefits, contingent factors to adoption and effects of adoption on performance

CountryDeveloped countries*
USAUKAustraliaNew ZealandItalySlovenia
Study (2000) (2000) (2017) (2000) (2019)
Sample size1271206326127124929255134
Scale used1–71–71–71–71–71–71–7**1–7**1–71–7
MeanRankMeanRankMeanRankMeanRankMeanRankMeanRankMeanRankMeanRankMeanRankMeanRank
ABC/M**NA 3.546NA NA 4.023NA 3.51123.279NA NA
Attribute costing2.3710NA 1.91101.7115NA 2.5495.281NA 4.03113.609
LCC**2.7392.73102.6082.2112NA 2.43103.19142.92114.29102.9012
Quality costing3.0783.0793.1161.6716NA 3.4654.3174.1244.6084.312
Strategic costing3.435NA 3.7253.337NA 3.4464.426NA NA 4.134
Target costing3.1963.1972.9072.00144.1623.1673.8493.6264.9253.648
VCC**3.1573.1582.6082.6392.4053.1583.67113.4385.0343.907
CCA**4.0944.0944.3743.964NA 3.9144.1483.9554.5493.3810
CPM**4.9314.9315.2014.401NA 4.9514.8444.6925.5624.312
CPAFS**4.5024.5034.7824.043NA 4.1734.6154.4434.6374.471
CPA**NA NA NA 3.506NA NA 4.9924.861NA 3.907
LTCPA**NA NA NA 2.3511NA NA NA NA NA 2.7013
VCA**NA NA NA 2.1713NA NA NA NA NA 2.0814
BenchmarkingNA 4.592NA 4.3624.531NA 3.82103.617NA 3.926
Brand valuation2.35*11NA 2.5092.529NA 2.1611NA NA 4.7463.3411
IPM/BSC**NA 4.005NA 2.8383.164NA 3.43133.17105.3433.945
Strategic pricing4.363NA 4.7333.885NA 4.6324.913NA 5.7214.293
: *No prior studies available in the context of developing economies. **ABC/M = Activity-based costing/management, LCC = Life cycle costing, VCC = Value chain costing, CCA = Competitor cost assessment, CPM = Competitive position monitoring, CPAFS = Competitor performance appraisal based on financial statements, CPA = Customer profitability analysis, LTCPA = Lifetime customer profitability analysis, VCA= Valuation of customers as assets, IPM = Integrated performance measurement, BSC = Balanced scorecard

CountryDeveloped countries
USAUKNew ZealandAustralia
Study (2000) (2000) (2000)
Sample size (Final)12763112124124
Scale used1–71–71–71–71–7
MeanRankMeanRankMeanRankMeanRankMeanRank
ABC/M**NA NA NA NA NA
Attribute costing3.5693.1311NA 3.659NA
LCC**3.7683.588NA 3.3810NA
Quality costing4.1073.986NA 4.656NA
Strategic costing4.9354.9454.8654.865NA
Target costing4.3563.409NA 3.838NA
VCC**4.3563.967NA 4.377NA
CCA**5.2645.4935.1635.163NA
CPM**5.7015.8515.6915.691NA
CPAFS**5.3635.7225.0545.054NA
CPA**NA NA NA NA 5.081
LTCPA**NA NA NA NA 4.382
VCA**NA NA NA NA 4.193
BenchmarkingNA NA NA NA NA
Brand valuation3.45103.2110NA 3.2811NA
IPM/BSC**NA NA NA NA NA
Strategic pricing5.6225.3845.3225.322NA
: *No prior studies available in the context of developing economies. **ABC/M = Activity-based costing/management, LCC = Life-cycle costing, VCC = Value chain costing, CCA = Competitor cost assessment, CPM = Competitive position monitoring, CPAFS = Competitor performance appraisal based on financial statements, CPA = Customer profitability analysis, LTCPA = Lifetime customer profitability analysis, VCA = Valuation of customers as assets, IPM = Integrated performance measurement, BSC = Balanced scorecard

StudyCountry (sample size)Theory appliedSMA techniques consideredFactors consideredFindings
New Zealand (112 largest public and private companies)Contingency theoryCompetitor cost assessment
Competitive position monitoring
Competitor performance appraisal
Strategic costing
Strategic pricing
Strategic mission
Competitive strategy
Company size
Industry
Companies pursuing “build” strategic mission adopts strategic pricing and strategic costing techniques
The usage rates of competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring and competitor performance appraisal are higher in “prospector” companies
The usage rates of all the SMA techniques, except strategic pricing, are higher in larger companies
Industry variations do not affect the usage rates except for competitor cost assessment in Oil, gas, mineral and electricity industry
USA (120)Contingency theory15 SMA techniques (ABC, attribute costing, brand valuation, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, life cycle costing, quality costing, strategic costing, strategic pricing, target costing and value chain costing, benchmarking and IPM)Eight subdimensions of competitive strategy (R&D, product quality, product technology, product range, service quality, price level, adverting expenditure level and market coverage)SMA usage rate is higher in companies pursuing “Research and Development” and “Broad market coverage” strategy
Australia (124 top listed companies, measured in terms of market capitalization)Contingency theoryCustomer accounting
Customer segment profitability analysis
Customer profitability analysis
Lifetime customer profitability analysis
Valuation of customers as asset
Intensity of competition
Market orientation
Company size
Customer accounting, lifetime customer profitability analysis and valuation of customers as asset are positively associated with market orientation
Intensity of competition is positively associated only with customer segment profitability analysis
Company size is positively associated only with customer accounting
Italy (92 largest manufacturing companies)Contingency theory14 SMA techniques (ABC/M, attribute costing, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, customer accounting, life cycle costing, quality costing, target costing, value chain costing, strategic costing, strategic pricing,benchmarking and IPM/BSC)Strategic pattern
Strategic mission
Strategic positioning
Company size
Industry
The usage of target costing is positively associated with strategic mission (build)
The usage of life cycle costing, strategic costing, ABC/M and value chain costing is greater in companies pursuing “cost leaders” strategy
The usage of competitor cost assessment and strategic pricing is negatively associated with company size
The association between SMA usage and types of industry is diversified
Slovenia (193 largest companies, in terms of total revenue)Contingency theory16 SMA techniques (attribute costing, brand valuation, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, life cycle costing, quality costing, strategic costing, strategic pricing, target costing and value chain costing, benchmarking and IPM, customer profitability analysis, lifetime customer profitability analysis and valuation of customers as assets)Business strategy (prospector/defender)
Deliberate strategy formulation
Market orientation
Company size
SMA usage is positively associated with adopting a prospector strategy, deliberate strategy formulation, company size and accountants' participation in strategic decision-making
Italy (92 largest manufacturing companies)Contingency theory11 SMA techniques (ABC/M, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, customer accounting, life cycle costing, quality costing, target costing and value chain costing, benchmarking and IPM/BSC)Strategic pattern
Strategic mission
Strategic positioning
Company size
Costing-oriented SMA usage rates are higher in “defenders” than in “prospectors”
Customer-oriented SMA usage rate is higher in companies pursuing “build” strategic mission
Costing-oriented SMA usage rates are higher in “cost leaders” than in “differentiators”
Weak association between company size and SMA usage
(2013)Germany (116 hospitals)Strategic management11 SMA techniques based on (2000)Structural characteristics (size, ownership and legal form)The use of SMA techniques varies among hospitals based on their structural characteristics
(2017)Australia (127 public sector organizations)Contingency theory8 (of which 5 are SMA techniques as per the scope of this study) (ABC, benchmarking, BSC, value chain analysis, strategic cost management)Interactive use and diagnostic use of MCSSMA usage is positively associated with interactive and diagnostic use of MCS
Greece (94 manufacturing companies)Upper echelons theory and role theory8 SMA techniques (Attribute costing, competitor cost assessment, competitor performance appraisal, customer profitability analysis, strategic pricing, brand valuation, value analysis and benchmarking)Historical financial performance
Top management team (TMT) age
TMT tenure
TMT educational background
TMT creativity
Economic crisis' perception
Perceived environmental uncertainty
Firms with low profitability in the past (arising due to economic crisis) use SMA techniques more extensively
SMA usage is positively associated with TMT educational background and creativity
SMA usage is negatively associated with TMT tenure of service
Austria (72) Germany (283) Switzerland (22)
Total (377)
Contingency theory10 SMA techniques (ABC, brand valuation, CPM, target costing, LCC, value chain costing, benchmarking, IPM, CPA, LTCPA)Stages of firm life cycle, firm size, interdependence, degree of centralization and product qualityFirms in the maturity, revival and growth stages are more likely to use SMA techniques. Firm size, product quality and interdependence are also positively associated with SMA usage
(2019)Italy (55 large manufacturing companies)Contingency theory11 SMA techniques (attribute costing, brand valuation, CCA, CPM, CPAFS, target costing, LCC, value chain costing, benchmarking, BSC, strategic pricing)Strategy type, geographic orientation, and environmental uncertainty and competitive forcesNational firms adopting differentiation strategy make greater use of brand valuation. SMA usage is also positively associated with environmental uncertainty and competitive forces
(2017)Malaysia (121 SMEs)Contingency theory and upper echelons theory16 SMA techniques of plus value stream costing and customer segment profitability analysisCEO education
CEO experience
Involvement in networks
SMA usage is positively associated with CEO education and involvement in network
Thailand (103)Agency, resource dependency, and stewardship theory16 SMA techniques based on CEO duality, board independence, board size, board meeting, audit committee independence and meeting, size, leverage, strategy typeSeparation of CEO role from chairman, board independence, and frequency of audit committee meetings are positively associated with SMA usage, whereas independent chairmen and board size negatively associated with SMA usage

Effects of the adoption of SMA techniques on firm performance

StudyCountry (sample size)Theory appliedSMA techniques consideredPerformance measures usedFindings
Slovenia (193 largest companies, in terms of total revenue)Contingency theory16 SMA techniques under 5 categories (costing, competitor, customer, strategic-decision-making, planning, control and performance measurement)Perception of respondent (1–7 scale) on: ROI, margin on sales, capacity utilization, customer satisfaction, product quality, development of new product and market shareSMA usage is positively (significantly) associated with firm's performance
Slovenia (109 largest manufacturing companies)Configurational theory16 SMA techniques identical to abovePerception of respondent (1–7 scale) on: Return on investment, development of new product and market shareLimited support is found for the configurational proposition that internally consistent strategy and SMA system configurations are associated with higher firm's performance
Consistent with equifinality proposition, different strategic and structural alternatives are associated with similar performance levels
Turkey (229 medium- and large-size business)Strategic management16 SMA techniques based on Perceived qualitative and quantitative performanceCompetitors and customer-oriented SMA techniques displayed significant positive effect on the perceived qualitative performance
(2017)USA (95 hotel properties)Contingency theory9 SMA techniques (CPA, benchmarking, CCA, strategic pricing, VCC, IPM, CPAPFS, attribute costing, strategic costing)Hotel property customer performance and financial performanceHotel property SMA use mediates the relationship between hotel property market orientation business strategy and hotel property financial performance
(2017)Malaysia (121 SMEs)Contingency theory and upper echelons theory16 SMA techniques of plus value stream costing and customer segment profitability analysis SMA usage has indirect positive effect on company performance in relation of CEO education and involvement in networks
Saudi Arabia (435 accounting managers from 124 listed companies)Contingency theoryFive facets of SMA practicesFinancial performance (market share, sales growth, profit growth, return on equity, cash-flow and return on assets)
Nonfinancial performance (customer satisfaction, adaptive ability to a changing environment, innovative performance, employee satisfaction, product quality and new product/service offers)
SMA facets significantly (and positively) affect both financial and nonfinancial performance

Summary of findings

Issues of SMA practicesDeveloped economiesDeveloping economies
Adoption statusCompetitor-focused SMA techniques and strategic pricing have been highly and moderately adopted in most of the developed countries (e.g. USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand)
Benchmarking is highly adopted in USA and Australia
Customer accounting is considerably popular among the Italian manufacturing companies
No prior studies have focused on the adoption status of SMA practices (as a package) in the context of developing countries
ABC, BSC and target costing have been moderately and lowly adopted in several developing countries
Perceived benefitsCompetitive position monitoring, strategic pricing and competitor performance appraisal are perceived highly beneficial by the adopting companies
Several customer-oriented SMA practices are also perceived beneficial to Australian companies
Akin to the adoption status, no prior studies have focused on the perceived benefits from the use of SMA practices (as a package) in the context of developing countries
Influencing factorsStrategic mission, positioning and pattern have mixed effect on SMA usage; positive association between SMA usage and “build”, “prospector” and “cost leader” strategy followers are more apparent
R&D, broad market coverage strategy and deliberate strategy formulation are also positively associated with SMA usage
The effect of firm size and industry on SMA usage is mixed with mostly positive in nature
Market orientation and intensity of competition, TMT education and creativity also have positive influence on SMA usage
Positive association between SMA usage and CEO education and involvement in network
Effects of SMA usagePositive association between SMA usage and firm's performancePositive effect of SMA usage on firm's performance in relation to CEO education and network is apparent

The study uses the World Factbook (of Central Intelligence Agency) to isolate developed countries from that of developing countries ( The World Factbook, 2020 ).

Abdul Majid , J. and Sulaiman , M. ( 2008 ), “ Implementation of activity based costing in Malaysia: a case study of two companies ”, Asian Review of Accounting , Vol. 16 No. 1 , pp. 39 - 55 .

Alamri , A.M. ( 2019 ), “ Association between strategic management accounting facets and organizational performance ”, Baltic Journal of Management , Vol. 14 No. 2 , pp. 212 - 234 .

Amanollah Nejad Kalkhouran , A. , Hossein Nezhad Nedaei , B. and Abdul Rasid , S.Z. ( 2017 ), “ The indirect effect of strategic management accounting in the relationship between CEO characteristics and their networking activities, and company performance ”, Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change , Vol. 13 No. 4 , pp. 471 - 491 .

Anand , M. , Sahay , B.S. and Saha , S. ( 2005 ), “ Activity-based cost management practices in India: an empirical study ”, Decision , Vol. 32 No. 1 , pp. 123 - 152 .

Arunruangsirilert , T. and Chonglerttham , S. ( 2017 ), “ Effect of corporate governance characteristics on strategic management accounting in Thailand ”, Asian Review of Accounting , Vol. 25 No. 1 , pp. 85 - 105 .

Ashton , D. , Hopper , T. and Scapens , R. ( 1995 ), “ The changing nature of issues in management accounting ”, in Ashton , D. , Hopper , T. and Scapens , R. (Eds), Issues in Management Accounting , Prentice Hall , Hertfordshire .

Aykan , E. and Aksoylu , S. ( 2013 ), “ Effects of competitive strategies and strategic management accounting techniques on perceived performance of businesses ”, Australian Journal of Business and Management Research , Vol. 3 No. 7 , pp. 30 - 39 .

Bhimani , A. ( 2015 ), “ Exploring big data's strategic consequences ”, Journal of Information Technology , Vol. 30 No. 1 , pp. 66 - 69 .

Bhimani , A. and Willcocks , L. ( 2014 ), “ Digitisation, ‘big data’ and the transformation of accounting information ”, Accounting and Business Research , Vol. 44 No. 4 , pp. 469 - 490 .

Bouwman , H. , de Reuver , M. and Shahrokh , N. ( 2017 ), “ The impact of digitalization on business models: how IT artefacts, social media, and big data force firms to innovate their business model ”, 14th International Telecommunications Society (ITS) Asia-Pacific Regional Conference , Kyoto , June 24–27 .

Brandon , D. ( 2016 ), “ The blockchain: the future of business information systems ”, International Journal of the Academic Business World , Vol. 10 No. 2 , pp. 33 - 40 .

Cadez , S. and Czerny , A. ( 2016 ), “ Climate change mitigation strategies in carbon-intensive firms ”, Journal of Cleaner Production , Vol. 112 , pp. 4132 - 4143 .

Cadez , S. and Guilding , C. ( 2007 ), “ Benchmarking the incidence of strategic management accounting in Slovenia ”, Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change , Vol. 3 No. 2 , pp. 126 - 146 .

Cadez , S. and Guilding , C. ( 2008 ), “ An exploratory investigation of an integrated contingency model of strategic management accounting ”, Accounting, Organizations and Society , Vol. 33 Nos 7-8 , pp. 836 - 863 .

Cadez , S. and Guilding , C. ( 2012 ), “ Strategy, strategic management accounting and performance: a configurational analysis ”, Industrial Management and Data Systems , Vol. 112 No. 3 , pp. 484 - 501 .

Cadez , S. , Czerny , A. and Letmathe , P. ( 2019 ), “ Stakeholder pressures and corporate climate change mitigation strategies ”, Business Strategy and the Environment , Vol. 28 No. 1 , pp. 1 - 14 .

Cescon , F. , Costantini , A. and Grassetti , L. ( 2019 ), “ Strategic choices and strategic management accounting in large manufacturing firms ”, Journal of Management and Governance , Vol. 23 No. 3 , pp. 605 - 636 .

Cinquini , L. and Tenucci , A. ( 2007 ), “ Is the adoption of strategic management accounting techniques really ‘strategy-driven’? Evidence from a survey ”, available at: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/11819/1/MPRA_paper_11819.pdf ( accessed 5 October 2018 ).

Cinquini , L. and Tenucci , A. ( 2010 ), “ Strategic management accounting and business strategy: a loose coupling? ”, Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change , Vol. 6 No. 2 , pp. 228 - 259 .

Clinton , L. and Whisnant , R. ( 2019 ), “ Business model innovations for sustainability ”, Managing Sustainable Business , Springer , Dordrecht , pp. 463 - 503 .

Coad , A. ( 1996 ), “ Smart work and hard work: explicating a learning orientation in strategic management accounting ”, Management Accounting Research , Vol. 7 No. 4 , pp. 387 - 408 .

Cravens , K.S. and Guilding , C. ( 2001 ), “ An empirical study of the application of strategic management accounting techniques ”, Advances in Management Accounting , Vol. 10 , pp. 95 - 124 .

Granlund , M. and Lukka , K. ( 1998 ), “ Towards increasing business orientation: Finnish management accountants in a changing cultural context ”, Management Accounting Research , Vol. 9 No. 2 , pp. 185 - 211 .

Guilding , C. ( 1999 ), “ Competitor-focused accounting: an exploratory note ”, Accounting, Organizations and Society , Vol. 24 No. 7 , pp. 583 - 595 .

Guilding , C. and McManus , L. ( 2002 ), “ The incidence, perceived merit and antecedents of customer accounting: an exploratory note ”, Accounting, Organizations and Society , Vol. 27 Nos 1-2 , pp. 45 - 59 .

Guilding , C. , Cravens , K.S. and Tayles , M. ( 2000 ), “ An international comparison of strategic management accounting practices ”, Management Accounting Research , Vol. 11 No. 1 , pp. 113 - 135 .

Heinzelmann , R. ( 2019 ), “ Digitalizing management accounting ”, Controlling–Aktuelle Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen , Springer Gabler , Wiesbaden , pp. 207 - 226 .

Hopper , T. , Tsamenyi , M. , Uddin , S. and Wickramasinghe , D. ( 2009 ), “ Management accounting in less developed countries: what is known and needs knowing ”, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal , Vol. 22 No. 3 , pp. 469 - 514 .

Johnson , H. and Kaplan , R. ( 1987 ), Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting , Harvard Business School Press , Boston .

Kaplan , R.S. ( 1984 ), “ Yesterdays accounting undermines production ”, Harvard Business Review , Vol. 62 No. 4 , pp. 95 - 101 .

Karl , T.R. and Trenberth , K.E. ( 2003 ), “ Modern global climate change ”, Science , Vol. 302 No. 5651 , pp. 1719 - 1723 .

Karlsson , B. , Hersinger , A. and Kurkkio , M. ( 2019 ), “ Hybrid accountants in the age of the business partner: exploring institutional drivers in a mining company ”, Journal of Management Control , Vol. 30 No. 2 , pp. 185 - 211 .

Khan , H.U.Z. , Halabi , A.K. and Sartorius , K. ( 2011 ), “ The use of multiple performance measures and the balanced scorecard (BSC) in Bangladeshi firms: an empirical investigation ”, Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies , Vol. 1 No. 2 , pp. 160 - 190 .

Kotler , P. , Kartajaya , H. and Huan , H.D. ( 2017 ), Marketing for Competitiveness: Asia to the World! in the Age of Digital Consumers , World Scientific , Singapore .

Krumwiede , K. ( 2017 ), “ How to keep your job ”, available at: https://sfmagazine.com/technotes/september-2017-how-to-keep-your-job/ ( accessed 1 March 2020 ).

Lachmann , M. , Knauer , T. and Trapp , R. ( 2013 ), “ Strategic management accounting practices in hospitals: empirical evidence on their dissemination under competitive market environments ”, Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change , Vol. 9 No. 3 , pp. 336 - 369 .

Langfield-Smith , K. ( 2008 ), “ Strategic management accounting: how far have we come in 25 years? ”, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal , Vol. 21 No. 2 , pp. 204 - 228 .

Lerch , C. and Gotsch , M. ( 2015 ), “ Digitalized product-service systems in manufacturing firms: a case study analysis ”, Research-Technology Management , Vol. 58 No. 5 , pp. 45 - 52 .

Marr , B. ( 2018 ), “ The 4th industrial revolution is here - are you ready? ”, available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/08/13/the-4th-industrial-revolution-is-here-are-you-ready/#40c624cf628b ( accessed 29 February 2020 ).

Moll , J. and Yigitbasioglu , O. ( 2019 ), “ The role of internet-related technologies in shaping the work of accountants: new directions for accounting research ”, The British Accounting Review , Vol. 51 No. 6 , 100833 , doi: 10.1016/j.bar.2019.04.002 .

Nuhu , N. , Baird , K. and Bala Appuhamilage , A. ( 2017 ), “ The adoption and success of contemporary management accounting practices in the public sector ”, Asian Review of Accounting , Vol. 25 No. 1 , pp. 106 - 126 .

Pasch , T. ( 2019 ), “ Organizational lifecycle and strategic management accounting ”, Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change , Vol. 15 No. 4 , pp. 580 - 604 .

Pavlatos , O. and Kostakis , X. ( 2018 ), “ The impact of top management team characteristics and historical financial performance on strategic management accounting ”, Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change , Vol. 14 No. 4 , pp. 455 - 472 .

Rachinger , M. , Rauter , R. , Müller , C. , Vorraber , W. and Schirgi , E. ( 2019 ), “ Digitalization and its influence on business model innovation ”, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management , Vol. 30 No. 8 , pp. 1143 - 1160 .

Rashid , M.M. , Ali , M.M. and Hossain , D.M. ( 2020 ), “ Revisiting the relevance of strategic management accounting research ”, PSU Research Review , Vol. 4 No. 2 , pp. 129 - 148 .

Rieg , R. ( 2018 ), “ Tasks, interaction and role perception of management accountants: evidence from Germany ”, Journal of Management Control , Vol. 29 No. 2 , pp. 183 - 220 .

Sartorius , K. , Eitzen , C. and Kamala , P. ( 2007 ), “ The design and implementation of activity based costing (ABC): a South African survey ”, Meditari Accountancy Research , Vol. 15 No. 2 , pp. 1 - 21 .

Shields , M.D. ( 1997 ), “ Research in management accounting by North Americans in the 1990s ”, Journal of Management Accounting Research , Vol. 9 , pp. 3 - 61 .

Simmonds , K. ( 1981 ), “ Strategic management accounting ”, Management Accounting , Vol. 59 , pp. 9 - 26 .

The World Factbook ( 2020 ), The World Factbook , Central Intelligence Agency , available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-b.html ( accessed 11 September 2020 ).

Tomkins , C. and Carr , C. ( 1996 ), “ Editorial in special issue of management accounting research: strategic management accounting ”, Management Accounting Research , Vol. 7 No. 2 , pp. 165 - 167 .

Turner , M.J. , Way , S.A. , Hodari , D. and Witteman , W. ( 2017 ), “ Hotel property performance: the role of strategic management accounting ”, International Journal of Hospitality Management , Vol. 63 , pp. 33 - 43 .

Zawawi , N.H.M. and Hoque , Z. ( 2010 ), “ Research in management accounting innovations ”, Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management , Vol. 7 No. 4 , pp. 505 - 568 .

Corresponding author

Related articles, all feedback is valuable.

Please share your general feedback

Report an issue or find answers to frequently asked questions

Contact Customer Support

University of Texas

Literature Reviews

Steps in the literature review process.

Note: The first four steps are the best points at which to contact a librarian. Your librarian can help you determine the best databases to use for your topic, assess scope, and formulate a search strategy.

Videos Tutorials about Literature Reviews

This 4.5 minute video from Academic Education Materials has a Creative Commons License and a British narrator.

Recommended Reading

Cover Art

Creative Commons License

Ask a Librarian

Decorative bookshelf

Does your assignment or publication require that you write a literature review? This guide is intended to help you understand what a literature is, why it is worth doing, and some quick tips composing one.

Understanding Literature Reviews

What is a literature review  .

Typically, a literature review is a written discussion that examines publications about  a particular subject area or topic. Depending on disciplines, publications, or authors a literature review may be: 

A summary of sources An organized presentation of sources A synthesis or interpretation of sources An evaluative analysis of sources

A Literature Review may be part of a process or a product. It may be:

A part of your research process A part of your final research publication An independent publication

Why do a literature review?

The Literature Review will place your research in context. It will help you and your readers:  

Locate patterns, relationships, connections, agreements, disagreements, & gaps in understanding Identify methodological and theoretical foundations Identify landmark and exemplary works Situate your voice in a broader conversation with other writers, thinkers, and scholars

The Literature Review will aid your research process. It will help you to:

Establish your knowledge Understand what has been said Define your questions Establish a relevant methodology Refine your voice Situate your voice in the conversation

What does a literature review look like?

The Literature Review structure and organization may include sections such as:  

An introduction or overview A body or organizational sub-divisions A conclusion or an explanation of significance

The body of a literature review may be organized in several ways, including:

Chronologically: organized by date of publication Methodologically: organized by type of research method used Thematically: organized by concept, trend, or theme Ideologically: organized by belief, ideology, or school of thought

Mountain Top By Alice Noir for the Noun Project

Additional Sources

literature review management strategy

Library Homepage

Literature Reviews

Developing a Literature Review

1. Purpose and Scope

To help you develop a literature review, gather information on existing research, sub-topics, relevant research, and overlaps. Note initial thoughts on the topic - a mind map or list might be helpful - and avoid unfocused reading, collecting irrelevant content.  A literature review serves to place your research within the context of existing knowledge. It demonstrates your understanding of the field and identifies gaps that your research aims to fill. This helps in justifying the relevance and necessity of your study.

To avoid over-reading, set a target word count for each section and limit reading time. Plan backwards from the deadline and move on to other parts of the investigation. Read major texts and explore up-to-date research. Check reference lists and citation indexes for common standard texts. Be guided by research questions and refocus on your topic when needed. Stop reading if you find similar viewpoints or if you're going off topic.

You can use a "Synthesis Matrix" to keep track of your reading notes. This concept map helps you to provide a summary of the literature and its connections is produced as a result of this study. Utilizing referencing software like RefWorks to obtain citations, you can construct the framework for composing your literature evaluation.

2. Source Selection

Focus on searching for academically authoritative texts such as academic books, journals, research reports, and government publications. These sources are critical for ensuring the credibility and reliability of your review. 

3. Thematic Analysis

Instead of merely summarizing sources, identify and discuss key themes that emerge from the literature. This involves interpreting and evaluating how different authors have tackled similar issues and how their findings relate to your research.

4. Critical Evaluation

Adopt a critical attitude towards the sources you review. Scrutinize, question, and dissect the material to ensure that your review is not just descriptive but analytical. This helps in highlighting the significance of various sources and their relevance to your research.

Each work's critical assessment should take into account:

Provenance:  What qualifications does the author have? Are the author's claims backed up by proof, such as first-hand accounts from history, case studies, stories, statistics, and current scientific discoveries? Methodology:  Were the strategies employed to locate, collect, and evaluate the data suitable for tackling the study question? Was the sample size suitable? Were the findings properly reported and interpreted? Objectivity : Is the author's viewpoint impartial or biased? Does the author's thesis get supported by evidence that refutes it, or does it ignore certain important facts? Persuasiveness:  Which of the author's arguments is the strongest or weakest in terms of persuasiveness? Value:  Are the author's claims and deductions believable? Does the study ultimately advance our understanding of the issue in any meaningful way?

5. Categorization

Organize your literature review by grouping sources into categories based on themes, relevance to research questions, theoretical paradigms, or chronology. This helps in presenting your findings in a structured manner.

6. Source Validity

Ensure that the sources you include are valid and reliable. Classic texts may retain their authority over time, but for fields that evolve rapidly, prioritize the most recent research. Always check the credibility of the authors and the impact of their work in the field.

7. Synthesis and Findings

Synthesize the information from various sources to draw conclusions about the current state of knowledge. Identify trends, controversies, and gaps in the literature. Relate your findings to your research questions and suggest future directions for research.

Practical Tips

Brown University Library (2024) Organizing and Creating Information. Available at: https://libguides.brown.edu/organize/litreview (Accessed: 30 July 2024).

Pacheco-Vega, R. (2016) Synthesizing different bodies of work in your literature review: The Conceptual Synthesis Excel Dump (CSED) technique . Available at: http://www.raulpacheco.org/2016/06/synthesizing-different-bodies-of-work-in-your-literature-review-the-conceptual-synthesis-excel-dump-technique/ (Accessed: 30 July 2024).

Study Advice at the University of Reading (2024) Literature reviews . Available at: https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/literaturereview/developing (Accessed: 31 July 2024).

Further Reading

Frameworks for creating answerable (re)search questions  How to Guide

Literature Searching How to Guide

We Trust in Human Precision

20,000+ Professional Language Experts Ready to Help. Expertise in a variety of Niches.

API Solutions

Value-Driven Pricing

Unmatched expertise at affordable rates tailored for your needs. Our services empower you to boost your productivity.

PC editors choice

Trusted by Global Leaders

GoTranscript is the chosen service for top media organizations, universities, and Fortune 50 companies.

GoTranscript

One of the Largest Online Transcription and Translation Agencies in the World. Founded in 2005.

Speaker 1: A literature review is a summary of the existing research on a particular topic. It's typically done at the beginning of a research project and I did one for my undergraduate thesis, for my master's thesis and for my PhD thesis. And in this video I'm going to answer all of your literature review related questions. The first thing is how do you start a literature review? Well, to start a literature review, surprisingly or not surprisingly, you need literature. Where do you find that literature? Well, there's a ton of places. The first place I would go to is illicit.com. This is a new AI tool which allows you to ask a research question and get all of the papers related to that question. For example, here I can say how effective are conditional cash transfer programs? It will go away and search more than 125 million academic papers and here are the first four abstracts here. And here are all of the different researched peer-reviewed papers and that means that experts in the field have looked at these papers and said, yes, they are true. They are something that is a valuable contribution to the research field. So that's why you should be reading them. And we can go through and see that we've got a little summary and we just click through all of these and we can go and read them individually. That's one way, semantic searching. The next thing you can do is use Litmaps. Litmaps creates a map of literature for you to search. We can go in and create a map. Here I've created a map from one of my peer-reviewed papers that I wrote during my PhD and you can see I get a nice map of all of the other stuff that I need to read. You can do this with a single seed paper or you can put in a load of different papers in this tab in Discover to find out a load of different papers that you need to read about. Then you can also use something like Google Scholar. This is old school. This is like OG science and research. You'd go in, you just type keywords. For example, charge transport in OPV. So I'll click here and then here are all of the different papers that I should consider reading. Clearly, you don't need to read all of them but we'll get into that in a minute. But this is where you start. You start by searching the literature. You can have a look since 2024, since 2023 and this is the foundational activity for any literature review. Get comfortable searching the literature and you'll become a power user of all of the literature that you're about to write about. Before you start reading any literature, you need to have a literature review outline to work with. So this is the general structure of nearly every literature review for any field. It goes like this. First of all, we start with an introduction at the top. This introduction gives background information about the research field that you are investigating. It's in a reverse pyramid shape because this is the very, very broad step. This is where we're just sort of like looking at the overarching umbrella of our research field. Then optionally, we can talk about background and methods that are used to look for the research that we're going to talk about in the literature review. For example, you may want to say we looked at these databases, we looked at these sort of questions and background is the background of the field that you're specifically interested in. So we're going a little bit deeper, which is why it's the next step down on the inverse pyramid. Then we need all of the main text and this is all of the literature that you found searched by either theme. So you sort of group it together as like, this is a group of research that I can talk about because it's under one theme. Here's another theme or here's another theme and you've put research under that. So in here, you may have one, two, three plus themes under which you will talk about literature or, which is very uncommon I think these days, but you may be lucky that you may be able to sort this based on time, which means initially these people did this and then they did this and then they did this and that's how you structure your literature review. So you say they did this first, here's all the literature in the initial stages of that research, then they did this, here's the next stage of research, the evolution of that research field, here's the next stage. So it may be theme or time, it's completely up to you which one you use, but most people use theme. Once you've outlined all of the main themes and you've talked about the literature under that theme, then you need to have a discussion to bring it all together. This is where you're looking at all of the research themes and you're talking about your specific research question. Why are you doing this research into this literature and how does it help you sort of like answer the research question or the interest you have in a particular research field and why you're looking at the literature in the first place. And then you're looking at conclusions. Based on all of the stuff that you've read, all of the individual themes, all of the chronological studies, all of the papers you've included in this literature review, what conclusions can you make specifically about the current state of the field? And that is the general structure of nearly every literature review ever produced. Now, there's an easier way to do it obviously. What I like to do is go to ChatGPT and I just say, create a literature review outline for a study about and then whatever I'm interested in. Here I've got an example where it says, the effect of climate change on plants. And as you can see, it says introduction, background and here it says I want basic concepts of climate change. Then it says general impacts of climate change. Then we want direct effects of climate change on plants. So you can see we've started broad and we're getting narrower and narrower as the literature review goes on. And then we've got different themes. So we've got indirect effect of climate change on plants. So altered pests and disease dynamics, that's a theme. Changes in land use and habitat, that's a theme. And then we've got other themes underneath. So this is how you can easily structure and get a first kind of draft of the structure of any literature review that you're writing for nearly any subject. It's just amazing. And as you can see down here, the last one is conclusion, summary of key findings and then final thoughts on the importance of further research. So this is how we can use ChatGPT to structure our literature review outline. Nice stuff. Once you've got all of the literature you need to read and you've got a structure under which to put that literature, then you need to just write. You type out all of the stuff in your literature review. Before you do that, you may want to have a look at something like explainpaper.com that allows you to quickly understand peer-reviewed papers. Peer-reviewed papers are notoriously hard to read. They're dense, they're thick in academic language. And here, it's a really nice way to just get the simple summary. And I think this is one of the most powerful ones, explainpaper.com. All you need to do is highlight a certain area and over here, it will say, okay, explain your explanation. As a middle schooler, we can move this up and down and then we just click explain. And underneath, it will tell you the undergrad explanation of what you've just highlighted. A really great way, particularly if you're early on in your academic career, if you're undergraduate, if you're in high school, this is a great way to unlock all of the power that's behind the horrible language found in peer-reviewed academic papers. Once you understand what's actually in all of this, you've collected them into themes, you need to write it. There are a few tools that you can use. So you can use jenny.ai, that's an auto-writer for research papers and literature reviews. You can use yomoo.ai. And that is another sort of like auto-writer for peer-reviewed and papers. But to be honest with you, the best thing you can do is sit there with a Word document, with a Google document, Google, what do you even call that? Google Docs? Google Word? I completely forgot. Anyway, you know what I mean. You sit there with a word processor and you start typing. You put in your structured headlines and then you say under each one, what literature you're going to mention and you start fleshing it out. It takes ages and ages and many, many revisions. Make sure that you get someone you trust or your supervisor to look over it as you're writing it. Maybe each chapter or each theme that you write, you get someone to look over it and then at the end they look over everything all together. It's a really, really long process. It takes such a long time. For my thesis, it probably took a good few weeks to get all of the information into a sensible structure and literature review. So here we are, here's one of the themes. Overview of photocurrent generation in organic photovoltaic devices. So that's just one of many, many themes in this thesis and depending on what stage of study you're at, it could be long, it could be short but let's talk about that next. Okay, how long should a literature review be? Well, there are no hard and fast rules but I like to think about it like this. Is there enough in your literature review to provide enough context to what you're doing and what you're researching? Is there enough context for you to understand the problem that your literature review is looking at and addressing and also, is there enough data in there to talk about the up-to-date research and where the current state of the field is? That's really what we're looking at but here's some rules of thumb. So if you're doing it for an assignment, one thing I recommend that you look at is about 3,000 to 10,000 words. That's normally good enough to get an overview. For example, in my undergraduate thesis, it's only about seven pages. There's not much in there. There's some fancy diagrams, there's lots of references but ultimately, it's about seven pages. So it's not much. So 3,000 to 10,000 words is all you need for a small assignment or an undergraduate thesis whereas for master's and master's theses and PhD dissertations, one thing I recommend is you look at what's normal for your field. In some fields, it's like 10 pages. In other fields, it can be up to 40 pages but ultimately, as long as you have enough information and literature to be able to provide context to your problem and you provide an up-to-date representation of that research field, then you've got enough in there. Like I said, I like to use just the guide of what is normal for my research field before I start writing my thesis so I can say, okay, normally it's about 20 pages and therefore, I need to fill 20 pages worth of stuff and that is a good starting point for almost any literature review. So there we have it. That's the introduction to literature reviews. I'd love to know what you think and also, I have got so many videos on this very channel about literature reviews with AI, how to find literature using AI tools, how to write it in seconds using tools that are available online. I'll put all of the links below in the description so you can sort of build on the knowledge that we've gained in this video but if you really want to go look at a powerful video, go check out this one where I talk about how to write an exceptional literature review using AI. You won't be disappointed. Go check it out.

techradar

Information

Initiatives

You are accessing a machine-readable page. In order to be human-readable, please install an RSS reader.

All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess .

Feature papers represent the most advanced research with significant potential for high impact in the field. A Feature Paper should be a substantial original Article that involves several techniques or approaches, provides an outlook for future research directions and describes possible research applications.

Feature papers are submitted upon individual invitation or recommendation by the scientific editors and must receive positive feedback from the reviewers.

Editor’s Choice articles are based on recommendations by the scientific editors of MDPI journals from around the world. Editors select a small number of articles recently published in the journal that they believe will be particularly interesting to readers, or important in the respective research area. The aim is to provide a snapshot of some of the most exciting work published in the various research areas of the journal.

Original Submission Date Received: .

reports-logo

Article Menu

literature review management strategy

Find support for a specific problem in the support section of our website.

Please let us know what you think of our products and services.

Visit our dedicated information section to learn more about MDPI.

JSmol Viewer

Wandering spleen complicated by thrombocytopenia, acute appendicitis, and sepsis: a case report and literature review.

literature review management strategy

1. Introduction

3. case presentation, 4. discussion, 5. conclusions, supplementary materials, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

Click here to enlarge figure

Author (Year)Sex and Age (Year)Associated ComorbiditiesSurgeryOutcome
Dangen (2020) [ ]F, 17CDH and splenic torsionClosure of hernia and splenectomyPost-operative pneumothorax but recovered well
Mirkes (2011) [ ]F. 21 (16 weeks pregnant)ThrombocytopeniaNoneLow platelet even after delivery
Zhao (2022) [ ]M, 18Appendicitis and splenic torsionLaparoscopic removal of spleen and appendixDischarged seven days after surgery
Pelizzo (2001) [ ]F, 12CDHDiaphragmatic repair with simple medial dislocation of the spleenRecovered well
Moll (1996) [ ]F, 30ThrombocytopeniaSplenectomyRecovered well and no longer has thrombocytopenia
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

Share and Cite

Inggriani, S.; Sulay, C.B.H.; Octavius, G.S. Wandering Spleen Complicated by Thrombocytopenia, Acute Appendicitis, and Sepsis: A Case Report and Literature Review. Reports 2024 , 7 , 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/reports7030073

Inggriani S, Sulay CBH, Octavius GS. Wandering Spleen Complicated by Thrombocytopenia, Acute Appendicitis, and Sepsis: A Case Report and Literature Review. Reports . 2024; 7(3):73. https://doi.org/10.3390/reports7030073

Inggriani, Sri, Callistus Bruce Henfry Sulay, and Gilbert Sterling Octavius. 2024. "Wandering Spleen Complicated by Thrombocytopenia, Acute Appendicitis, and Sepsis: A Case Report and Literature Review" Reports 7, no. 3: 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/reports7030073

Article Metrics

Article access statistics, supplementary material.

ZIP-Document (ZIP, 143 KiB)

Further Information

Mdpi initiatives, follow mdpi.

MDPI

Subscribe to receive issue release notifications and newsletters from MDPI journals

Electrolyte disorders related emergencies in children

BMC Nephrology volume  25 , Article number:  282 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

6 Altmetric

Metrics details

This article provides a comprehensive overview of electrolyte and water homeostasis in pediatric patients, focusing on some of the common serum electrolyte abnormalities encountered in clinical practice. Understanding pathophysiology, taking a detailed history, performing comprehensive physical examinations, and ordering basic laboratory investigations are essential for the timely proper management of these conditions. We will discuss the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, diagnostic approaches, and treatment strategies for each electrolyte disorder. This article aims to enhance the clinical approach to pediatric patients with electrolyte imbalance-related emergencies, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

Trial registration This manuscript does not include a clinical trial; instead, it provides an updated review of literature.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

Homeostasis is a process by which an organism can preserve internal stability while adjusting to changing external conditions which involves complex interactions of multiple mechanisms and reactions in the body [ 1 ]. Electrolytes play a pivotal role in essential body functions. Electrolyte abnormalities are associated with prolonged hospital stays and higher in-hospital mortality among acutely ill children [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. A comprehensive understanding of electrolyte pathophysiology is imperative for the effective management of these pediatric cases. Anticipating changes in plasma electrolyte concentration is crucial for preventing life-threatening emergencies. Anticipation can be achieved through continuous clinical assessment, recognizing symptoms of imbalance, understanding patient history, and appropriate laboratory tests. Additionally, cautious laboratory monitoring and early intervention can decrease the risk of severe complications. This article offers a comprehensive overview of electrolyte and water homeostasis, while also exploring the treatment strategies linked to electrolyte imbalance-related emergencies.

Sodium (Na +) plays a crucial role as the primary extracellular cation, contributing to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis, regulation of ion and water metabolism, and the control of blood pressure. Plasma sodium concentration is maintained within narrow limits despite variable dietary intake and physical activity. Sodium and water balance are tightly linked. Children have higher total body water content compared to adults. In premature newborns, water makes up to 80% of body weight. Total body weight (TBW) decreases to 70% in term newborns, however, once children reach the age of 1 they have 60% of TBW which is similar to adults. About two-thirds of TBW is in the intracellular compartment and the remaining one-third is extracellular fluid, which consists of interstitial, intravascular, and transcellular fluid (cerebrospinal, ocular, synovial, and peritoneal fluid) [ 6 ]. These various fluid compartments are depicted in Fig.  1 .

figure 1

Body fluid compartments. Illustration of the fluid compartments within the body. ECF-extracellular fluid, ICF-intracellular fluid, ISF-interstitial fluid, IVF-intravascular fluid, TCF-transcellular fluid

Abnormalities of plasma sodium are one of the most common electrolyte disorders. Complex neurohumoral mechanisms play a crucial role in maintaining sodium and water balance. Renin is released from juxtaglomerular cells in response to hypovolemia, sympathetic nerve activation, or decreased renal perfusion or delivery of sodium chloride to the distal tubule. Renin functions to enhance reabsorption of sodium and water in the proximal convoluted tubule (PCT) [ 7 ]. The synthesis of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) is conducted within the hypothalamus. ADH is secreted from the neurohypophysis and plays a role in water regulation. ADH acts on V2 receptors in the distal nephron to facilitate water reabsorption. Increased effective plasma osmolality stimulates cerebral osmoreceptors, leading to ADH release and inducing thirst. Hypotension is associated with a significant reduction of effective intravascular volume and is a strong stimulus for ADH release that may even supersede osmotic stimuli [ 8 ]. Additionally, hypotension decreases the baroreceptor firing rate leading to an increased heart rate, vasoconstriction, and activation of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) along with decreased production of natriuretic peptides. Collectively, these changes can enhance tubular sodium and water reabsorption [ 9 ]. Additionally, fluid and water intake can impact sodium concentration, therefore managing fluid intake is important in maintaining sodium balance.

Hyponatremia in children is defined as plasma sodium concentration < 135 mmol/L. In pediatric patients younger than 4 years of age, hyponatremia is considered the most common serum electrolyte abnormality (SEA). However, in patients older than 4 years, hypokalemia is the most common SEA. Gastrointestinal, renal, and endocrine diseases are the predominant causes of SEAs in children [ 10 ]. Hyponatremia is typically encountered in patients with excessive intake of free water paired with an inability of the kidney to excrete free water. The majority of cases of hyponatremia are associated with decreased osmolality. The various etiologies and differential diagnoses of hyponatremia are summarized in Table  1 and Fig.  2 . Severe hyponatremia may lead to cerebral edema and hyponatremic encephalopathy. Early symptoms of hyponatremia include headache, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, and confusion. In more severe cases, altered consciousness, seizures, coma, respiratory arrest, and myocardial ischemia can develop [ 11 ]. Brain edema secondary to increased intracranial pressure may cause noncardiogenic pulmonary edema which can lead to hypoxia and impairment of brain volume regulation, known as Ayus-Arieff syndrome [ 12 ]. Children with cerebral edema are at an increased risk for developing herniation given a higher ratio of brain volume to skull size compared to adults.

figure 2

Algorithm for differential diagnosis of hyponatremia, modified according to Zieg, J [ 13 ]. Low plasma osmolality is diagnostic for hypotonic hyponatremia, therefore pseudohyponatremia and translational hyponatremia must be excluded first. The next step is to assess the current volume status. The diagnostic workup should include basic measurement of plasma and urinary sodium and creatinine to calculate FENa. Both volume status and value of FENa are used to determine the cause of hyponatremia. SIADH- syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone, AKI- acute kidney injury, CKD- chronic kidney disease, FENa- fractional excretion of sodium (urinary sodium × serum creatinine)/(urinary creatinine × serum sodium) × 100

Hyponatremic encephalopathy is a medical emergency that requires early recognition and treatment with hypertonic saline 3% NaCl bolus 2 ml/kg with a maximum of 100 mL. If symptoms persist, the bolus should be repeated no more than two times [ 14 ]. Before pursuing additional diagnostic evaluations, it is essential to administer appropriate therapy to avoid potential harm to the patient due to treatment delays. In cases of symptomatic hyponatremia, it is recommended to aim for a safe increase of approximately 5–6 mmol/L in serum sodium concentration within the first one or two hours. However, it is crucial to avoid correcting serum sodium levels by more than 10 mmol/L within the first 24 h of therapy and by more than 20 mmol/L within 48 h to prevent potential complications [ 11 ]. Overcorrection of hyponatremia can lead to cerebral demyelination with severe neurologic symptoms. However, this complication primarily manifests in cases of chronic hyponatremia as there have been no reported instances of cerebral demyelination in children treated with hypertonic saline for hyponatremia [ 11 ]. For patients with subacute or chronic hyponatremia, cerebral edema is prevented by the adaptive mechanism of the brain. Therefore, rapid correction of sodium is not necessary in chronic hyponatremia.

The approach for the management of hyponatremia depends on the patient’s volume status. Hypervolemic hyponatremia is typically attributed to an excess of total body water due to conditions such as nephrotic syndrome or heart, liver, and kidney failure. Euvolemic hyponatremia is caused by various conditions including Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuretic Hormone Secretion (SIADH), polydipsia, or hypothyroidism as there is a stable total body sodium level alongside an increase in total body water. Various risk factors for SIADH include central nervous system disturbances, lower respiratory tract infections, drugs, and certain malignancies [ 15 ]. Hypovolemic hyponatremia is due to a depletion of total body sodium, often caused by gastrointestinal losses, the use of diuretics, and mineralocorticoid insufficiencies. Patients experiencing hypovolemic hyponatremia with shock require fluid resuscitation using 0.9% saline, Ringers, Plasmalyte, or other isotonic solutions to restore hemodynamic stability. Treatment for hypervolemic hyponatremia varies depending on the etiology. For example, heart failure may be treated with diuretics whereas dialysis can be used to treat patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) [ 16 ]. Patients presenting with euvolemic hyponatremia, such as in the instance of SIADH or psychogenic polydipsia must undergo fluid restriction. However, in cases of hypothyroidism, the underlying condition should be addressed for treatment. Iatrogenic hyponatremia is another concern in pediatric patients undergoing treatment with intravenous fluids. The 2018 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines recommend using isotonic fluids, such as 0.9% saline or Ringer’s lactate, to maintain proper sodium levels and prevent the development of iatrogenic hyponatremia [ 17 ].

Hypernatremia is characterized by a plasma sodium concentration greater than 145 mmol/L. Hypernatremia is a less common SEA and generally affects children less than 4 years old [ 10 ]. This condition typically arises from decreased free water intake or increased loss of solute-free water and viral gastroenteritis is the leading cause. Additionally, a less common cause is salt poisoning. Importantly, hypernatremic dehydration can result from excessive water loss due to conditions including osmotic diuresis or urinary concentration defects. Determining the cause of the hypernatremic state is crucial for effective management and is depicted in Fig.  3 . When the FENa is less than 1% and the patient demonstrates weight loss, this can be either attributed to free water loss or insufficient water intake. Free water loss in a hypernatremic state is attributed to extrarenal causes such as vomiting and diarrhea or renal losses such as antidiuretic hormone (ADH) resistance or osmotic diuresis. Furthermore, if a patient demonstrates a FENa of greater than 2% with weight gain, this is typically attributed to salt excess. Additionally, Table  2 demonstrates the various causes of hypernatremia in children.

figure 3

Algorithm for differential diagnosis of hypernatremia, modified according to Bockenhauer et al. and Zieg, J [ 18 , 19 ]. After excluding pseudohypernatremia, early management is tailored to the volume status and weight of the patient. While free water loss and insufficient water intake are associated with weight loss and low urine sodium, children with salt intoxication gain weight and their urine sodium is high. Measurement of plasma and urine osmolality is important in determining the cause of hypernatremia

Hypernatremia may lead to neurologic symptoms due to the shift of water from the intracellular compartment, resulting in cellular shrinkage. These symptoms include irritability, fever, and weakness. Severe cases may present with lethargy, focal neurologic deficits, altered mental status, coma, seizures, and death [ 20 , 21 ]. Children with hypernatremic dehydration should first receive intravenous isotonic solutions to restore intravascular volume and tissue perfusion, followed by solutions containing higher free water content to correct hypernatremia. The free water deficit can be estimated using the formula: 4 ml x weight (kg) x desired change in serum sodium (mmol/L). This formula can be applied for patient management in situations where children are experiencing hypernatremia dehydration and require fluid supplements. It is essential to correct hypernatremia gradually with a recommended correction rate of below 1 mmol/L/h and 15 mmol/24 h to prevent the development of cerebral edema. Some experts recommend administering solutions with slightly higher sodium content (10–15 mmol/L lower) in children with severe hypernatremia (greater than 175 mmol/L) to avoid the risk of rapid decline in serum sodium due to excessive free water intake [ 22 ]. Regular monitoring of serum sodium is necessary to avoid a rapid drop in serum sodium levels [ 19 ]. Following fluid replacement for losses, hypotonic solutions with lower sodium content (Na 75 mmol/L) are recommended for severe hypernatremia and (Na 30 mmol/L) for mild cases to help control and gradually adjust the sodium concentration [ 22 ]. Rehydration strategies are different in children with renal concentration defects to control sodium levels according to specific needs. Individuals with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus should be given hypotonic solutions (dextrose), whereas those with central diabetes insipidus require replacement of water loss with hypotonic fluids alongside desmopressin administration. However, caution is exercised with these treatments as they potentially lead to hyponatremia in cases of renal impairment affecting electrolyte balance. Therefore, careful monitoring of electrolyte levels is essential when administering desmopressin and hypotonic fluids to prevent the development of hyponatremia. In hemodynamically unstable patients, rapid correction of intravascular volume with isotonic saline should be initially used to stabilize the patient. Once stability is achieved, transitioning to hypotonic solutions may be considered [ 23 , 24 ].

Potassium (K) plays a pivotal role as the primary intracellular cation, contributing significantly to maintaining membrane voltage, nerve excitation, and acid–base balance. The normal plasma concentration is regulated within the range of 3.5 to 5 mmol/L. The potassium concentration gradient across cell membranes is essential for establishing resting cell potential and ensuring the normal function of excitable cells [ 25 ]. Potassium homeostasis is maintained by a balance between intake and excretion. Both excessively high and low potassium plasma concentrations increase the risk for life-threatening complications, including cardiac arrhythmias, cardiopulmonary arrest, and neuromuscular dysfunctions [ 26 ]. The kidney assumes a central role in regulating external potassium balance and is responsible for excreting almost 90% of this electrolyte into urine daily [ 27 ]. In individuals with significantly reduced kidney function, enhanced potassium elimination through the colon becomes a significant contributor to overall potassium elimination. Interestingly, increased plasma potassium concentrations can stimulate elevated potassium excretion which indicates the existence of direct gastrointestinal-renal kaliuretic signaling [ 28 ]. Evidence from animal models demonstrates the concept of feedforward mechanisms which suggest the presence of potassium receptors in the gastrointestinal tract [ 29 ]. Potassium excretion follows a cyclic pattern directed by the circadian oscillator in the hypothalamus. Internal potassium balance hinges on maintaining a functional Na/K ATP pump and a constant difference between intracellular and extracellular potassium levels. Additionally, hormones including insulin, catecholamines, and mineralocorticoids, as well as drugs such as loop diuretics, thiazide diuretics, and beta-adrenergic agonists can stimulate tissue uptake of potassium, resulting in a decrease in plasma potassium levels [ 30 ]. Furthermore, the balance of potassium concentration is linked to acid–base equilibrium. For example, alkalosis results in hypokalemia due to increased potassium secretion and diminished potassium reabsorption in the collecting duct, whereas acidosis produces the opposite effect [ 31 ].

Hypokalemia in children may be categorized based on the severity: mild (3–3.5 mmol/L), moderate (2.5–3 mmol/L), and severe (< 2.5 mmol/L). In a retrospective study of pediatric patients with SEAs, hypokalemia was the most common in those older than 4 years old, accounting for 38.4% of patients [ 10 ]. The etiology of hypokalemia is diverse, with common causes stemming from extrarenal conditions such as diarrhea, malabsorption, protracted gastric suction, vomiting, refeeding syndrome, drug side effects, and excessive sweating. Other additional causes include endocrine disorders and tubulopathies which are demonstrated in Table  3 . Comprehensive medical history and basic laboratory examinations play a crucial role in the differential diagnosis of hypokalemic states. The urinary K/creatinine ratio and transtubular potassium gradient (TTKG) are useful tools to assess potassium urinary wasting. Importantly, TTKG is valid only if urinary osmolality exceeds plasma osmolality [ 18 ]. Mild hypokalemia may manifest with nonspecific symptoms such as weakness, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, confusion, and diarrhea. Severe hypokalemia can lead to more serious consequences including paralysis, respiratory failure, and arrhythmias. ECG changes associated with hypokalemia include ST depression along with PR and QT prolongation. Prominent U waves recognized as positive deflections after T-wave and T-wave inversions are typical for severe hypokalemia. Both tachyarrhythmias and bradyarrhythmias- atrioventricular block or cardiac arrest may occur [ 32 ].

The primary goal of managing severe hypokalemia involves the reduction of further potassium wasting by addressing the identified cause (e.g. medication), treating the underlying disease, and administration of potassium to prevent further episodes of hypokalemia [ 34 ]. Administering oral potassium therapy is the safest approach and should be utilized when possible. The recommended dosage is 1–2 mEq/kg orally every few hours, with periodic serum potassium checks every 4 h. In situations where oral potassium therapy is not feasible due to patient status, in children with severe hypokalemia (< 2.5 mmol/L), and/or in the presence of arrhythmias, intravenous correction is a necessary option [ 18 ].

A recent study indicates that infusing 1 mmol/kg of potassium chloride over 1–2 h is likely safe for young children in intensive care units with mild to moderate hypokalemia, however, those with severe hypokalemia may require additional supplementation [ 35 ]. When administering potassium via peripheral veins, the concentration should not exceed 40 mmol/L to prevent phlebitis and pain. For higher concentrations, central venous lines are recommended, however, this does not apply to life-threatening conditions. Importantly, potassium dextrose-containing solutions must be avoided, as dextrose stimulates insulin secretion and can potentially worsen hypokalemia [ 26 ]. Additionally, it is important when removing dextrose from intravenous fluids in ill children not eating as this can also increase the risk of hypoglycemia. Regular monitoring of blood glucose levels is necessary to manage potential hypoglycemia in these patients. Potassium replacement should be scaled back when the serum potassium concentration exceeds 3.5 mmol/L. During this replacement approach, serum potassium checks are recommended every 1–2 h. Continuous ECG monitoring is essential, along with regular monitoring of blood gases and potassium levels. Additionally, concurrent hypomagnesemia in children with hypokalemia requires attention as it contributes to potassium wasting and lowers tubular potassium reabsorption. Management should focus on correcting low magnesium levels since hypokalemia is refractory until magnesium levels are within the range of 0.7–1 mmol/L. In specific conditions such as correcting electrolyte imbalances or acid–base disorders, alternative forms of potassium supplementation may be considered. These scenarios include potassium phosphate in diabetic ketoacidosis or potassium citrate in renal tubular acidosis [ 36 ].

Hyperkalemia in children is defined as plasma potassium greater than 5.5 mmol/L. A retrospective study demonstrated that hyperkalemia constitutes nearly 22.4% of SEA cases in children [ 10 ]. While plasma K > 7 mmol/L is found in severe hyperkalemia, children with moderate hyperkalemia have plasma potassium within a range of 6–7 mmol/L [ 32 ]. Notably, normal potassium levels are higher in newborns and infants due to their lower glomerular filtration rates and partial aldosterone resistance [ 37 ]. Pseudohyperkalemia arises from hemolysis and potassium leakage during or after capillary or venous blood collection. This phenomenon is more prevalent in small children, where the use of smaller needles and surrounding tissue squeezing during blood sample collection can contribute to its occurrence. Pseudohyperkalemia also occurs in patients with leukocytosis or blood clotting or may be a consequence of preanalytical errors including improper blood sample storage, delayed analysis, and specimen contamination [ 38 ]. It is recommended to repeat hemolyzed hyperkalemia samples to ensure accurate results [ 39 ].

Hyperkalemia most commonly occurs in children with acute kidney injury or ESKD. It can be attributed to various factors including excessive potassium intake, potassium redistribution, tissue injury (mainly skeletal and cardiac muscle), and massive cell lysis (as seen in tumor lysis syndrome). Additionally, it can be caused by decreased potassium excretion due to kidney dysfunction, mineralocorticoid deficiency, aldosterone resistance (such as in renal tubular acidosis type 4), or hyporeninemic hypoaldosteronism. The various etiologies of hyperkalemia are demonstrated in Table  4 . Differential diagnosis of hyperkalemia is shown in Fig.  4 using a TTGK threshold of greater or less than 6, as evidenced by Choi et al. [ 40 ] While hyperkalemia is often asymptomatic, individuals may manifest symptoms such as weakness, muscular paralysis, and respiratory failure. Additional symptoms may be associated with the underlying disease, such as polydipsia and polyuria in diabetic ketoacidosis or failure to thrive in tubular disorders [ 32 , 41 ]. Early ECG signs of hyperkalemia include peaked T waves, progressing to flattened broad P waves, and QRS complex prolongation with increasing potassium concentrations. In severe cases, hyperkalemia may lead to heart block, asystole, and ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation [ 42 ].

figure 4

Algorithm for differential diagnosis of hyperkalemia, modified according to Yang et al. [ 43 ]. After excluding pseudohyperkalemia, urinary potassium wasting using TTKG and urine output volume are assessed to divide hyperkalemic children into three groups. Plasma aldosterone level is used to further discriminate individuals with reduced potassium wasting and adequate urine output. K- potassium, AKI- acute kidney injury, CKD- chronic kidney disease, PHA- pseudohypoaldosteronism, RTA- renal tubular acidosis, COX- cyclooxygenase, RAAS- renin–angiotensin–aldosterone-system, RBC- red blood cells, IV-intravenous, Osm-osmolality, TTGK- trans-tubular potassium gradient

The treatment of hyperkalemia involves a stepwise approach to stabilize the myocardium, drive potassium into cells, and remove excess potassium from the patient. Initially, to stabilize the myocardium, calcium chloride or gluconate is administered slowly as an intravenous push in severe hyperkalemia. Monitoring serum calcium levels after each dose is crucial to avoid potential hypercalcemia, with preference given to assessing serum ionized calcium levels alongside cardiac monitoring. Due to the short-lived effect, repeated doses may be necessary. To drive potassium into cells, a combination of dextrose plus insulin infusion is utilized and is considered one of the most potent treatments for hyperkalemia short of hemodialysis. This approach facilitates the intracellular shift of potassium in exchange for sodium, and careful insulin dosing is essential to prevent hypoglycemia [ 44 ]. In the presence of acidosis, the pH is increased through methods such as hyperventilation, NaHCO3 administration, or a combination of both. However, caution is exercised and bicarbonate should not be administered to patients with a pH exceeding 7.4. Repeated sodium bicarbonate administration may be complicated by hypernatremia, volume overload, and hypocalcemia [ 41 ]. Additionally, beta-2 agonists (salbutamol, albuterol) and sodium bicarbonate contribute to decreasing potassium levels by promoting the movement of potassium into cells [ 45 , 46 ].

To reduce the potassium load within the patient, it is advised to discontinue all dietary sources of exogenous potassium in meals, drinks, formulas, and potassium-raising medications. For the elimination of excess potassium, diuretics can increase potassium urinary excretion in children with preserved diuresis. Loop diuretics have the highest kaliuretic effect. The utilization of sodium polystyrene sulfonate (SPS), a sodium/potassium exchange resin, is also recommended. This can be administered either as an enema in 20% sorbitol or orally as a powder mixed with liquid. Enema administration is preferred for its higher effectiveness in inducing potassium losses through diarrhea. The typical dose of SPS is approximately 1 g/kg, resulting in a reduction of serum potassium by around 0.8 meq/L. To ensure efficacy, it is essential to retain the resin in place for at least half an hour. Potential complications of SPS administration include hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, sodium overload, and hypokalemia [ 47 ]. Therefore, when administering SPS orally, it is important to avoid concurrent use of laxatives and antacids. An additional cation exchange resin that can be used to eliminate potassium includes sodium polystyrene sulfonate and calcium polystyrene sulfonate. These exchange sodium or calcium for potassium within the large intestine. These resins are administered orally or rectally and can be used preferentially for patients with chronic hyperkalemia. Although they can bind up to 1 mmol of potassium per 1 g of resin, their administration may lead to electrolyte abnormalities and gastrointestinal disturbances as side effects. Currently, their use in acute hyperkalemia cases is not supported by high-quality evidence [ 48 ]. Various medical therapies for acute hyperkalemia are shown in Table  5 . In cases of persistent hyperkalemia despite conservative measures, renal replacement therapy is utilized, with hemodialysis being the preferred modality due to its rapid and immediate effectiveness.

Magnesium (Mg) is the second most prevalent intracellular cation within the human body. Nearly 60% of total magnesium is found in bones predominantly as surface substituents of hydroxyapatite. The majority of the remaining magnesium is distributed in skeletal muscle and soft tissue, with only about 1% residing in the extracellular compartment. Magnesium is an essential cofactor for more than 300 enzymatic reactions, especially those involving energy metabolism (ATP generation), DNA, and protein synthesis. Additionally, magnesium also maintains neuromuscular excitability, cardiac function, and regulates potassium and calcium homeostasis While most of the magnesium (55–70%) is in ionized form, 20–30% of magnesium is protein bound and the remaining magnesium (5–15%) is complexed with anions [ 49 ]. Gut absorption and kidney reabsorption/excretion are the main determinants of serum magnesium levels. Due to the binding of extracellular magnesium to serum albumin, measuring magnesium levels does not accurately represent the total magnesium stores in the body. Magnesium is vital for facilitating the movement of potassium, sodium, and calcium in and out of cells. The normal range of plasma magnesium concentration is around 0.62 to 1.1 mmol/L. The interplay between these ions is significant and abnormalities in the levels of these ions, such as low potassium and magnesium, can cause severe arrhythmias. Maintaining a balance of magnesium is intricately linked to achieving a balance in levels of sodium, calcium, and potassium [ 50 ].

Hypomagnesemia

Hypomagnesemia is characterized by a serum magnesium concentration below 0.62 mmol/L and is typically more common than hypermagnesemia. The condition typically arises from diminished magnesium absorption or heightened loss via the kidneys or diarrhea. Changes in thyroid hormone activity and the use of specific medications such as pentamidine, diuretics, and alcohol can also contribute to the development of hypomagnesemia. Table 6 shows the etiology of hypomagnesemia. Notably, hypomagnesemia can disrupt the impact of PTH and lead to hypocalcemia and hypokalemia. The manifestations of hypomagnesemia include muscle tremors, tetany, changes in mental state, ocular nystagmus, and cardiac arrhythmias like torsades de pointes. Additional symptoms may encompass seizures, dysphagia, vertigo, and ataxia [ 51 ]. A very useful tool to aid in the differential diagnosis of hypomagnesemia is a calculation of the fraction excretion of magnesium (FEMg). The formula for FEMg is (urine Mg x serum creatinine)/(serum Mg x urine creatinine) × 100 [ 52 ]. While values of < 2% indicate extrarenal losses, FEMg of > 2% points to the renal cause of Mg wasting [ 53 ]. The interpretation of magnesium levels and corresponding clinical symptoms is demonstrated in Table  7 . The management approach for hypomagnesemia depends on the severity and the patient’s clinical condition. Mild cases can be treated with oral replacement therapy, starting with doses of 400–800 mg of elemental magnesium daily, divided into multiple doses to reduce adverse effects and improve tolerance. However, in instances of severe or symptomatic hypomagnesemia, or if malabsorption is suspected as the underlying cause, parenteral therapy or intravenous magnesium replacement can be indicated. Intravenous administration of magnesium sulfate is typically employed with a dosage range of 25–50 mg/kg/dose (max. 2 g) every 4–6 h (or every 8 h in neonates) over a 2–4 h period, ensuring that the rate does not exceed 125 mg/kg/hr [ 54 ]. Notably, 10 ml of 10% magnesium sulfate solution contains 1 g of magnesium sulfate and 98.6 mg of elemental magnesium equivalent to 4.06 mmol. In patients with torsades de pointes and cardiac arrest, 50 mg/kg/dose (max. 2 g/dose) of IV push magnesium sulfate should be given over 10 min [ 55 ]. The maximum concentration of elementary magnesium should not exceed 60 mg/ml for peripheral line administration and 200 mg/ml overall. Dosing should be reduced in children with renal impairment to avoid magnesium accumulation. Additionally, calcium supplementation is often necessary because individuals with hypomagnesemia often exhibit hypocalcemia as well [ 51 , 53 , 54 ].

Hypermagnesemia

Hypermagnesemia is characterized by a serum magnesium concentration exceeding 1.1 mmol/L with renal failure being the most common cause. Other etiologies are associated with excessive oral or parenteral magnesium intake in cases of post-magnesium infusion for hypomagnesemia and parenteral nutrition. Additional causes can include tumor lysis syndrome and magnesium containing medication such as antacids and magnesium supplements. Neurological manifestations of hypermagnesemia encompass paralysis, drowsiness, ataxia, muscle weakness, and confusion. A moderate increase in magnesium levels can lead to vasodilation, however severe hypermagnesemia may result in hypotension. Excessively elevated serum magnesium levels can manifest as lowered levels of consciousness, hypoventilation, cardiac arrhythmias, bradycardia, and ultimately cardiopulmonary arrest [ 56 ]. Addressing hypermagnesemia involves using calcium administration to counteract elevated magnesium levels in the bloodstream as it can remove magnesium from serum. Additionally, it is crucial to identify and decrease the sources of magnesium intake. In severe cases, cardiorespiratory support may be required until magnesium levels are under control. The administration of intravenous calcium, such as calcium gluconate (100 mg/kg/dose, max. 3 g) or calcium chloride (20 mg/kg/dose, max. 1 g), is recommended [ 54 ]. This dosage can be repeated as necessary to correct life-threatening arrhythmias. For severe cases of hypermagnesemia, dialysis is the preferred treatment. In situations where renal and cardiovascular functions are normal, intravenous saline diuresis involving the administration of normal saline and furosemide can enhance renal magnesium excretion until dialysis is feasible. However, it is important to note that diuresis may enhance the excretion of calcium which can lead to hypocalcemia and exacerbation of the signs and symptoms of hypermagnesemia [ 50 ].

Calcium (Ca) is the most prevalent mineral in the body, playing crucial roles in various processes that rely on intracellular calcium concentration. These include enzymatic reactions, the contraction of muscles, cardiac function, aggregation of platelets, and receptor activation. The normal serum calcium levels vary with age and are depicted in Table  8 . Calcium is crucial for processes such as neuromuscular junction and bone strength. Most of the total calcium (99%) is in the bone tissue and the remaining less than 1% is in the extracellular fluid (ECF). Half of the ECF calcium is bound to albumin and the other half exists in its ionized, biologically active form. The regulation of calcium concentration is managed through vitamin D and PTH. A decrease in plasma calcium levels stimulates PTH secretion from the parathyroid glands, leading to increased bone resorption and subsequent release of calcium into the bloodstream. PTH additionally enhances calcium reabsorption in the kidneys by facilitating the production of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. This active form of vitamin D enhances calcium and phosphate intestinal absorption and decreases renal excretion of these ions. Notably, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D also inhibits PTH synthesis. Calcitonin counteracts the action of vitamin D and PTH by inhibiting bone resorption and increasing renal calcium excretion, thus resulting in a reduction of calcium plasma levels. On the other hand, hypercalcemia causes decreased PTH secretion and inhibition of calcium release from bone tissue. Additionally, the total serum calcium level is directly linked to serum albumin concentration, with every 1 g/dL increase in serum albumin associated with a rise of 0.25 mmol/L in total serum calcium [ 57 ]. Conversely, with a decrease of 1 g/dL in serum albumin the total serum calcium will decrease by about 0.25 mmol/L. While total serum albumin is directly correlated to total serum calcium, there is an inverse relationship between ionized calcium and serum albumin. Clinically, a formula for adjusting total calcium for albumin is used: Adjusted Ca (mmol/L) = total Ca (mmol/L) + ({40—albumin (g/L)} × 0.02).

A decrease in serum albumin results in a higher proportion of total calcium existing in the ionized form. In instances of low albumin levels, despite a potential decrease in total calcium levels, the ionized calcium level may remain within the normal range. Additionally, calcium counteracts the actions of magnesium and potassium at the cell membrane. This ability allows it to be highly effective in addressing the consequences of both hypermagnesemia and hyperkalemia [ 50 ].

Hypocalcemia is caused by decreased gastrointestinal absorption, decreased bone resorption, or increased kidney Ca excretion. It can occur in various conditions such as disturbances in serum magnesium levels, toxic shock syndrome, tumor lysis syndrome, post-thyroid surgery, and fluoride poisoning. Hypocalcemia can be divided into four main categories: neonatal, with high PTH, with low PTH, and miscellaneous. These various categories are demonstrated in Table  9 . The main determinant of hypocalcemia is ionized calcium concentration. The onset of symptoms in hypocalcemia typically occurs when ionized levels drop to around a level of 0.63 mmol/L and present as tingling sensations in the extremities and face, carpopedal spasm, stridor, tetany, muscle cramps, and seizures. Patients may also exhibit hyperreflexia with positive Chvostek and Trousseau signs. Cardiac implications include reduced contractility and an increased risk of heart failure, while hypocalcemia can exacerbate digitalis toxicity. Prompt treatment of hypocalcemia involves administration of calcium, typically 10% calcium gluconate or calcium chloride. 1 ml of 10% calcium gluconate contains 100 mg of calcium gluconate, which is equivalent to 9.3 mg of elementary calcium [ 58 ]. Contrastingly, 1 ml of 10% calcium chloride contains 100 mg of calcium chloride which is equal to 27 mg of elementary calcium per milliliter. For acute symptomatic cases, give 20 mg/kg of elemental calcium IV over a 10–20 min period, which is approximately 2 ml/kg of 10% calcium gluconate or 0.7 ml/kg of 10% calcium chloride [ 58 ]. Follow this with an IV infusion of 200 mg/kg (or 500 mg/kg in neonates) of 10% calcium gluconate over 24 h [ 58 ]. Monitor serum calcium levels at intervals of 4 to 6 h to maintain a total serum calcium concentration within the range of 1.75 to 2.25 mmol/L. Any irregularities in magnesium, potassium, and pH should be addressed as well. One thing to note is that untreated hypomagnesemia can render hypocalcemia resistant to treatment. Hence, it is crucial to assess serum magnesium levels when dealing with hypocalcemia, especially if the condition does not respond adequately to the initial calcium therapy [ 50 ].

Hypercalcemia can be divided based on severity (serum total Ca levels) to mild (< 3 mmol/L), moderate (3—3.5 mmol/L) and severe (> 3.5 mmol/L) [ 59 ]. It may be caused by increased bone resorption, increased gastrointestinal Ca absorption, or decreased renal Ca excretion. Approximately 90% of reported cases stem from primary hyperparathyroidism and malignancy. In these instances, there is an increased release of calcium from the bones and intestines, typically accompanied by potential impairment in renal clearance [ 60 ]. Generally, the causes of hypercalcemia may be divided into two categories- PTH-mediated and non-PTH-mediated. The various causes of hypercalcemia are depicted in Table  10 . The onset of hypercalcemia related symptoms typically occurs when the total serum calcium concentration ranges from 3 to 3.75 mmol/L. At lower levels, individuals may experience neurologic symptoms such as depression, fatigue, and confusion. Higher levels can lead to more severe manifestations, including hallucinations, seizures, disorientation, and hypotonicity. Hypercalcemia also disrupts the kidney’s ability to concentrate urine, potentially resulting in diuresis and subsequent dehydration [ 61 ]. The cardiovascular symptoms associated with hypercalcemia can be variable. Initially, there may be an increase in myocardial contractility until the calcium levels reach around 3.75 mmol/L. Beyond this threshold, myocardial depression occurs which can lead to decreased automaticity and shortened ventricular systole. Arrhythmias may result from a shortened refractory period. Additionally, hypercalcemia has the potential to exacerbate digitalis toxicity and contribute to hypertension. A significant number of individuals with hypercalcemia experience hypokalemia, and these conditions can collectively cause cardiac arrhythmias [ 62 ]. As the serum calcium surpasses 3.25 mmol/L, there is a typical shortening of the QT interval, accompanied by prolonged QRS and PR intervals as well. The progression of these abnormalities may lead to the development of atrioventricular block, which can lead to complete heart block. In severe instances, cardiac arrest can occur when the total serum calcium reaches 3.75 to 5 mmol/L. Additionally, hypercalcemia manifests gastrointestinal symptoms such as pancreatitis, constipation, dysphagia, and peptic ulcers. Renal effects involve a reduced capacity to concentrate urine which can result in diuresis and subsequent loss of crucial ions [ 60 ]. The clinical manifestations and interpretation of hypercalcemia levels are summarized in Table  11 .

For symptomatic hypercalcemia, typically when the total serum concentration is around 3 mmol/L or when the calcium level exceeds 3.74 mmol/L, immediate treatment is necessary. The primary focus is on restoring intravascular volume and facilitating calcium urine excretion. In patients with sufficient renal and cardiovascular function, this is achieved by administering 0.9% saline allowing for serum calcium dilution and urinary calcium excretion [ 63 ]. The infusion continues until any fluid deficit is addressed and adequate diuresis is established. Throughout this treatment, closely monitor and sustain appropriate levels of potassium and magnesium due to the diuresis potentially causing deficiencies. Loop diuretics also increase calcium excretion, but should be used with caution because they may contribute to intravascular dehydration. Calcitonin may be used transiently (max. 48–72 h) due to the risk of tachyphylaxis [ 64 ]. Intravenous bisphosphonates are potent inhibitors of bone resorption, effectively lowering serum calcium levels. Denosumab can be used in patients with contraindications for bisphosphonates (e.g. chronic kidney disease). Glucocorticoids are also effective in reducing calcium levels, particularly in granulomatous disease [ 63 ]. In cases where there is a need for a rapid reduction in serum calcium, especially in patients with renal or cardiac dysfunction, hemodialysis is the preferred treatment. For severe conditions, chelating agents like 50 mmol of phosphate administered orally over 8 to 12 h or EDTA at a dose of 10 to 50 mg/kg over 4 h may be employed [ 63 ].

Phosphorous regulation

Following calcium, phosphorous is the most abundant essential mineral in the human body. Phosphate has various functions for the body including endochondral ossification, teeth, cellular functions, and bone mineralization. Nearly 80 to 90% of phosphorous is found in bones and teeth as hydroxyapatite and the rest is distributed across the extracellular fluid (ECF), soft tissues, and red blood cells [ 65 ]. Phosphate is freely filtered by the glomerulus at a rate of about 13 mg/kg/day in a healthy individual and approximately 60% to 70% of the filtered phosphate is reabsorbed in the proximal tubule [ 65 ]. This reabsorption process relies on a sodium-gradient dependent mechanism and involves various cotransporters. Serum phosphate levels are influenced by various factors such as the release of phosphate from bones, excretion by kidneys, and dietary intake. Three key hormones regulate phosphate homeostasis within the body: Vitamin D (1,25- dihydroxycholecalciferol), PTH, and fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF-23) [ 66 ]. In the intestines, 1,25-dihyroxy vitamin D boosts phosphate uptake by increasing the expression of sodium phosphate cotransporters. On the other hand, FGF-23 is secreted by osteoblasts and osteocytes in response to elevated serum phosphate levels, ultimately reducing intestinal phosphate absorption by inhibiting the production of active vitamin D. In states of high serum phosphate levels, PTH is released to promote phosphate excretion by causing the internalization of various sodium phosphate cotransporters. Additionally, FGF-23 can reduce phosphate reabsorption within the proximal tubules by inhibiting transport proteins [ 66 ]. Hyperphosphatemia is defined as serum phosphate levels exceeding 1.45 mmol/L and can have various etiologies including external sources such as laxatives containing phosphate, vitamin D toxicity, endogenous sources including rhabdomyolysis and tumor lysis syndrome. Reduced phosphate excretion, most commonly due to kidney failure, or other conditions such as hypoparathyroidism and pseudohypoparathyroidism can also contribute to elevated phosphate levels [ 65 ]. Hyperphosphatemia can lead to symptoms associated with hypocalcemia due to the excessive binding of phosphate ions with calcium which results in decreased serum calcium levels. This can manifest as tetany, neurological symptoms, and muscle cramps [ 66 ]. Management of hyperphosphatemia focuses on identifying and treating the underlying cause. For patients with kidney failure, decreasing phosphate intake through phosphate binders is important to reduce the absorption of phosphate within the gastrointestinal tract. In patients with normal renal function, enhancing phosphate excretion can be accomplished by administering saline along with loop diuretics [ 67 ]. Hypophosphatemia is characterized by serum phosphate levels below 0.81 mmol/L and can arise from various causes such as reduced dietary intake due to malabsorption, malnutrition, and vitamin D deficiency. Additionally, it can be caused by increased phosphate excretion in cases of hyperparathyroidism, forced saline diuresis or genetic disorders affecting the proximal tubules [ 66 ]. Refeeding syndrome is another cause of hypophosphatemia that can lead to symptoms such as arrhythmias, muscle weakness, and seizures. Managing hypophosphatemia requires treating the root cause of the condition and providing phosphate supplementation [ 66 ].

Clinical considerations

Electrolyte abnormalities in children can present diverse challenges in clinical management and various factors must be understood for effective management. Distinguishing between acute and chronic electrolyte abnormalities is important in the approach for treatment. Acute imbalances may require immediate correction to prevent complications whereas chronic imbalances may need a more gradual correction, especially in cases to prevent osmotic demyelination syndrome [ 68 ]. Additionally, when a SEA is detected, physicians must be aware for potential errors in sampling or processing by considering the clinical context. This can be achieved through repeating tests to confirm the imbalance and once detected, the treatment should depend on the severity of the SEA. To ensure the detection of SEAs, physicians should have a high index of suspicion in cases involving high risk groups such as critically ill patients or those receiving intravenous fluids. Addressing these various factors can help improve overall patient management and outcomes.

Electrolyte imbalances are common in children and may cause life-threatening emergencies. Early identification of SEA and understanding of their pathophysiology is essential for adequate treatment. Adhering to safe correction limits and appropriate electrolyte monitoring is vital to prevent damage to the patient. The diagnosis is based on the history, physical examination, and laboratory tests. Medications are often responsible for changes in serum electrolytes. Therapy algorithms and treatment protocols should be available for clinicians to avoid inappropriate therapeutic measures.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable

Data availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Billman GE. Homeostasis: the underappreciated and far too often ignored central organizing principle of physiology. Front Physiol. 2020;11:200. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.00200 .

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Lin J, Zhang Y, Chen M, et al. The association between variability in electrolytes and the in-hospital mortality in critically Ill children in pediatric intensive care units. Front Pediatr. 2021;9:692894. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2021.692894 .

Naseem F, Saleem A, Mahar IA, Arif F. Electrolyte imbalance in critically ill paediatric patients: Electrolyte imbalance in critically ill paediatric patients. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(4). https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.4.286

Singhi S, Prasad SV, Chugh KS. Hyponatremia in sick children: a marker of serious illness. Indian Pediatr. 1994;31(1):19–25.

CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Singhi S, Marudkar A. Hypokalemia in a pediatric intensive care unit. Indian Pediatr. 1996;33(1):9–14.

Jain A. Body fluid composition. Pediatr Rev. 2015;36(4):141–52. https://doi.org/10.1542/pir.36-4-141 .

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Osborn JW, Tyshynsky R, Vulchanova L. Function of renal nerves in kidney physiology and pathophysiology. Annu Rev Physiol. 2021;83(1):429–50. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-physiol-031620-091656 .

Article   CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Demiselle J, Fage N, Radermacher P, Asfar P. Vasopressin and its analogues in shock states: a review. Ann Intensive Care. 2020;10(1):9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13613-020-0628-2 .

Navar LG. Physiology: hemodynamics, endothelial function, renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system, sympathetic nervous system. J Am Soc Hypertens. 2014;8(7):519–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jash.2014.05.014 .

Yen CW, Yu MC, Lee J. Serum electrolyte abnormalities in pediatric patients presenting to an emergency department with various diseases: age-related differences. Pediatr Neonatol. 2022;63(6):575–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedneo.2022.04.008 .

Moritz ML, Ayus JC. New aspects in the pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment of hyponatremic encephalopathy in children. Pediatr Nephrol. 2010;25(7):1225–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-009-1323-6 .

Achinger SG, Ayus JC. Treatment of Hyponatremic Encephalopathy in the Critically Ill. Crit Care Med. 2017;45(10):1762–71. https://doi.org/10.1097/CCM.0000000000002595 .

Zieg J. Pathophysiology of hyponatremia in children. Front Pediatr. 2017;5:213. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2017.00213 .

Moritz ML, Ayus JC. Hospital-Acquired Hyponatremia: Why Are There Still Deaths? Pediatrics. 2004;113(5):1395–6. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.113.5.1395 .

Yasir M, Mechanic OJ. Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuretic Hormone Secretion. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2024. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507777/ . Accessed 24 June 2024.

Adrogué HJ, Madias NE. Hyponatremia. N Engl J Med. 2000;342(21):1581–9. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM200005253422107 .

Feld LG, Neuspiel DR, Foster BA, et al. Clinical practice guideline: maintenance intravenous fluids in children. Pediatrics. 2018;142(6):e20183083. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-3083 .

Bockenhauer D, Zieg J. Electrolyte Disorders. Clin Perinatol. 2014;41(3):575–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clp.2014.05.007 .

Zieg J. Diagnosis and management of hypernatraemia in children. Acta Paediatr. 2022;111(3):505–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.16170 .

Durrani NUR, Imam AA, Soni N. Hypernatremia in Newborns: a practical approach to management. Biomed Hub. 2022;7(2):55–69. https://doi.org/10.1159/000524637 .

Moritz ML, Ayus JC. Disorders of water metabolism in children: hyponatremia and hypernatremia. Pediatr Rev. 2002;23(11):371–80.

Schwaderer AL, Schwartz GJ. Treating hypernatremic dehydration. Pediatr Rev. 2005;26(4):148–50. https://doi.org/10.1542/pir.26.4.148 .

Bockenhauer D, Bichet DG. Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2017;29(2):199–205. https://doi.org/10.1097/MOP.0000000000000473 .

Garrahy A, Moran C, Thompson CJ. Diagnosis and management of central diabetes insipidus in adults. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2019;90(1):23–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/cen.13866 .

Kettritz R, Loffing J. Potassium homeostasis – Physiology and pharmacology in a clinical context. Pharmacol Ther. 2023;249:108489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmthera.2023.108489 .

Viera AJ, Wouk N. Potassium disorders: hypokalemia and hyperkalemia. Am Fam Physician. 2015;92(6):487–95.

PubMed   Google Scholar  

Palmer BF. Regulation of potassium homeostasis. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2015;10(6):1050–60. https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.08580813 .

Preston RA, Afshartous D, Rodco R, Alonso AB, Garg D. Evidence for a gastrointestinal–renal kaliuretic signaling axis in humans. Kidney Int. 2015;88(6):1383–91. https://doi.org/10.1038/ki.2015.243 .

Morita H, Fujiki N, Miyahara T, Lee K, Tanaka K. Hepatoportal bumetanide-sensitive K + -sensor mechanism controls urinary K + excretion. Am J Physiol-Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2000;278(5):R1134–9. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.2000.278.5.R1134 .

An Integrated View of Potassium Homeostasis. N Engl J Med. 2015;373(18):1786-1788. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc1509656

Lee Hamm L, Hering-Smith KS, Nakhoul NL. Acid-Base and Potassium Homeostasis. Semin Nephrol. 2013;33(3):257–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semnephrol.2013.04.006 .

Daly K, Farrington E. Hypokalemia and hyperkalemia in infants and children: pathophysiology and treatment. J Pediatr Health Care. 2013;27(6):486–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedhc.2013.08.003 .

Bamgbola OF. Review of the pathophysiologic and clinical aspects of hypokalemia in children and young adults: an update. Curr Treat Options Pediatr. 2022;8(3):96–114. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40746-022-00240-3 .

Kardalas E, Paschou SA, Anagnostis P, Muscogiuri G, Siasos G, Vryonidou A. Hypokalemia: a clinical update. Endocr Connect. 2018;7(4):R135–46. https://doi.org/10.1530/EC-18-0109 .

Article   CAS   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Clouser AA, Merchan CD, Bashqoy F, Tracy JL, Papadopoulos J, Saad A. Evaluation of parenteral potassium supplementation in pediatric patients. J Pediatr Pharmacol Ther. 2023;28(1):48–54. https://doi.org/10.5863/1551-6776-28.1.48 .

Wagner CA, Unwin R, Lopez-Garcia SC, Kleta R, Bockenhauer D, Walsh S. The pathophysiology of distal renal tubular acidosis. Nat Rev Nephrol. 2023;19(6):384–400. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41581-023-00699-9 .

Martinerie L, Pussard E, Foix-L’Hélias L, et al. Physiological Partial Aldosterone Resistance in Human Newborns. Pediatr Res. 2009;66(3):323–8. https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e3181b1bbec .

Ciepiela O, Raniszewska A, Manda-Handzlik A, Kotuła I, Demkow U. Pseudohyperkalemia in capillary whole-blood samples – an occasional error or a significant problem in a pediatric hospital? Clin Chem Lab Med CCLM. 2017;55(8):e159–62. https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2016-0735 .

Cummings BM, Macklin EA, Yager PH, Sharma A, Noviski N. Potassium abnormalities in a pediatric intensive care unit: frequency and severity. J Intensive Care Med. 2014;29(5):269–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885066613491708 .

Choi M, Ziyadeh F. The utility of the transtubular potassium gradient in the evaluation of hyperkalemia. J Am Soc Nephrol. https://doi.org/10.1681/ASN.2007091017

Masilamani K, Van Der Voort J. The management of acute hyperkalaemia in neonates and children. Arch Dis Child. 2012;97(4):376–80. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2011-300623 .

Weiss JN, Qu Z, Shivkumar K. Electrophysiology of Hypokalemia and Hyperkalemia. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2017;10(3):e004667. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCEP.116.004667 .

Yang CH, Chiang MC, Ding JJ, Lin SH, Tseng MH. Incidental hyperkalemia in an infant: answers. Pediatr Nephrol. 2021;36(5):1139–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-020-04729-7 .

Li T, Vijayan A. Insulin for the treatment of hyperkalemia: a double-edged sword? Clin Kidney J. 2014;7(3):239–41. https://doi.org/10.1093/ckj/sfu049 .

Helfrich E, De Vries T, Van Roon E. Salbutamol for hyperkalaemia in children. Acta Paediatr. 2001;90(11):1213–6. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1651-2227.2001.tb01562.x .

Singh BS, Sadiq HF, Noguchi A, Keenan WJ. Efficacy of albuterol inhalation in treatment of hyperkalemia in premature neonates. J Pediatr. 2002;141(1):16–20. https://doi.org/10.1067/mpd.2002.125229 .

Bridgeman MB, Shah M, Foote E. Potassium-lowering agents for the treatment of nonemergent hyperkalemia: pharmacology, dosing and comparative efficacy. Nephrol Dial Transplant Off Publ Eur Dial Transpl Assoc - Eur Ren Assoc. 2019;34(Suppl 3):iii45–50. https://doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfz223 .

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Wong SWS, Zhang G, Norman P, Welihinda H, Wijeratne DT. Polysulfonate resins in hyperkalemia: a systematic review. Can J Kidney Health Dis. 2020;7:205435812096583. https://doi.org/10.1177/2054358120965838 .

Article   Google Scholar  

Jahnen-Dechent W, Ketteler M. Magnesium basics. Clin Kidney J. 2012;5(Suppl 1):i3–14. https://doi.org/10.1093/ndtplus/sfr163 .

Part 8: advanced challenges in resuscitation. Section 1: life-threatening electrolyte abnormalities. European Resuscitation Council. Resuscitation. 2000;46(1-3):253-259.

Al-Ghamdi SMG, Cameron EC, Sutton RAL. Magnesium Deficiency: Pathophysiologic and Clinical Overview. Am J Kidney Dis. 1994;24(5):737–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-6386(12)80667-6 .

Hsiao PJ, Liao CY, Kao YH, et al. Comparison of fractional excretion of electrolytes in patients at different stages of chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional study. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(2):e18709. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000018709 .

Kaplinsky C, Alon US. Magnesium homeostasis and hypomagnesemia in children with malignancy. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2013;60(5):734–40. https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.24460 .

Anderson S, Farrington E. Magnesium Treatment in Pediatric Patients. J Pediatr Health Care Off Publ Natl Assoc Pediatr Nurse Assoc Pract. 2021;35(5):564–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedhc.2021.03.003 .

de Caen AR, Berg MD, Chameides L, et al. Part 12: pediatric advanced life support: 2015 American Heart Association Guidelines Update for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. Circulation. 2015;132(18 Suppl 2):S526-542. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000266 .

Higham PD, Adams PC, Murray A, Campbell RW. Plasma potassium, serum magnesium and ventricular fibrillation: a prospective study. Q J Med. 1993;86(9):609–17.

Goyal A, Anastasopoulou C, Ngu M, Singh S. Hypocalcemia. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2024. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430912/ . Accessed 21 Apr 2024.

Zhou P, Markowitz M. Hypocalcemia in infants and children. Pediatr Rev. 2009;30(5):190–2. https://doi.org/10.1542/pir.30-5-190 .

Stokes VJ, Nielsen MF, Hannan FM, Thakker RV. Hypercalcemic Disorders in Children. J Bone Miner Res Off J Am Soc Bone Miner Res. 2017;32(11):2157–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbmr.3296 .

Barri YM, Knochel JP. Hypercalcemia and electrolyte disturbances in malignancy. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 1996;10(4):775–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0889-8588(05)70367-1 .

Edelson GW, Kleerekoper M. Hypercalcemic crisis. Med Clin North Am. 1995;79(1):79–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0025-7125(16)30085-2 .

Aldinger KA, Samaan NA. Hypokalemia with hypercalcemia. Prevalence and significance in treatment. Ann Intern Med. 1977;87(5):571–3. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-87-5-571 .

Bharill S, Wu M. Hypocalcemia and Hypercalcemia in Children. Pediatr Rev. 2023;44(9):533–6. https://doi.org/10.1542/pir.2022-005578 .

Dickens LT, Derman B, Alexander JT. Endocrine Society Hypercalcemia of Malignancy Guidelines. JAMA Oncol. 2023;9(3):430–1. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.7941 .

Raina R, Garg G, Sethi SK, Schreiber MA, Simon J, Thomas G. Phosphorus Metabolism. J Nephrol Ther. 2012;S3:008.

Qadeer HA, Bashir K. Physiology, Phosphate. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2023. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560925/ . Accessed 16 Jan 2024

Leaf DE, Wolf M. A physiologic-based approach to the evaluation of a patient with hyperphosphatemia. Am J Kidney Dis Off J Natl Kidney Found. 2013;61(2):330–6. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.ajkd.2012.06.026 .

Konrad M, von Vigier RO. Electrolyte imbalances in infancy and childhood. Ther Umsch Rev Ther. 2005;62(8):557–64. https://doi.org/10.1024/0040-5930.62.8.557 .

Download references

Acknowledgements

Disclosures.

No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the authors.

This work was supported by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic (Conceptual Development of Research Organization, Motol University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic, 00064203).

Author information

Rupesh Raina

Present address: Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, OH, USA

Authors and Affiliations

Department of Pediatrics, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and Motol University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic

Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, OH, USA

Shaarav Ghose

Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Akron Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, OH, USA

Cleveland Clinic, Akron General Medical Center, Akron, OH, USA

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

J.Z. and S.G. drafted and revised the main manuscript text, J.Z. and S.G. provided a literature review, J.Z. prepared the figures, and J.Z. and R.R. supervised the project. All authors reviewed the manuscript and approved the submitted version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jakub Zieg .

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Zieg, J., Ghose, S. & Raina, R. Electrolyte disorders related emergencies in children. BMC Nephrol 25 , 282 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12882-024-03725-5

Download citation

Received : 17 May 2024

Accepted : 21 August 2024

Published : 30 August 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12882-024-03725-5

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

BMC Nephrology

ISSN: 1471-2369

literature review management strategy

Adaptation Strategies for Asian Farmers Against Climate Change

literature review management strategy

Part of the book series: Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Regional Perspectives ((IUNSDGRP))

The agricultural sector and farming households in less developed economies, particularly in Asia, are becoming more vulnerable to climate change. Climate-stimulated reduction of farming yields leads to less income, weakened food security, and, eventually, poverty. Thus, the adaptation strategies of Asian farming communities are critical to achieving various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including but not limited to Goals 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and 13 (Climate Action). This chapter reviews existing and potential adaptation strategies for risk-prone farming communities in Asia against climate change. Systematically, this study employs a PRISMA-guided approach to retrieve the most relevant documents from the Web of Science™ and Scopus® databases published between January 2015 and December 2021. This chapter restricts its criteria to review any adaptation strategy practiced by farmers and their communities in Asia against climate change and climate-induced hazards. Conducted in January 2022, the searches and selection gathered 63 documents as review materials. Applying content analysis to the selected articles reveals that adaptation strategies are the cushions of farming communities against the adverse effects of climate change in Asia, including floods, droughts, and riverbank erosions. There are five key areas for practicing adaptation strategies, i.e., livelihood diversification, agricultural diversification, risk management, land/crop management, and farm and income management. This study synthesizes the findings as transformative, systemic, and systematic adaptation strategies to showcase their applicability to the agricultural sector in Asia. Given adequate effort and support, the five key areas in three dimensions would strengthen the fundamental characteristics of Asian farming communities to meet the relevant SDGs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save.

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Abid M, Schneider UA, Scheffran J (2016) Adaptation to climate change and its impacts on food productivity and crop income: perspectives of farmers in rural Pakistan. J Rural Stud 47:254–266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.08.005

Article   Google Scholar  

Aftab A, Ahmed A, Scarpa R (2021) Farm households’ perception of weather change and flood adaptations in northern Pakistan. Ecol Econ 182:106882. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106882

Ahmed Z, Guha GS, Shew AM, Alam GMM (2021) Climate change risk perceptions and agricultural adaptation strategies in vulnerable riverine char islands of Bangladesh. Land Use Policy 103:105295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105295

Aidoo DC, Boateng SD, Freeman CK, Anaglo JN (2021) The effect of smallholder maize farmers’ perceptions of climate change on their adaptation strategies: the case of two agro-ecological zones in Ghana. Heliyon 7:e08307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08307

Akinyi DP, Ng’ang’a SK, Girvetz EH (2021) Trade-offs and synergies of climate change adaptation strategies among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review. Region Sustain 2:130–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsus.2021.05.002

Alam GMM, Alam K, Mushtaq S (2017) Climate change perceptions and local adaptation strategies of hazard-prone rural households in Bangladesh. Clim Risk Manag 17:52–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2017.06.006

Al-Amin AQ, Masud MM, Sarkar MSK et al (2020) Analysing the socioeconomic and motivational factors affecting the willingness to pay for climate change adaptation in Malaysia. Int J Disas Risk Reduct 50:101708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101708

Alauddin M, Sarker MAR (2014) Climate change and farm-level adaptation decisions and strategies in drought-prone and groundwater-depleted areas of Bangladesh: An empirical investigation. Ecol Econ 106:204–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.07.025

Ali A, Erenstein O (2017) Assessing farmer use of climate change adaptation practices and impacts on food security and poverty in Pakistan. Clim Risk Manag 16:183–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2016.12.001

Ali S, Ying L, Nazir A et al (2021) Rural farmers perception and coping strategies towards climate change and their determinants: evidence from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. J Clean Prod 291:125250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125250

Angom J, Viswanathan PK, Ramesh M v. (2021) The dynamics of climate change adaptation in India: a review of climate smart agricultural practices among smallholder farmers in Aravalli district, Gujarat, India. Curr Res Environ Sustain 3:100039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsust.2021.100039

Anik AR, Rahman S, Sarker JR, al Hasan M (2021) Farmers’ adaptation strategies to combat climate change in drought prone areas in Bangladesh. Int J Disas Risk Reduct 65:102562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102562

Anwar MR, Liu DL, Macadam I, Kelly G (2013) Adapting agriculture to climate change: a review. Theor Appl Climatol 113:225–245. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-012-0780-1

Appiah DO, Guodaar L (2022) Smallholder farmers’ perceptions and knowledge on climate variability and perceived effects in vulnerable rural communities in the Offinso Municipality, Ghana. Environ Dev 42:100691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2021.100691

Azadi Y, Yazdanpanah M, Mahmoudi H (2019) Understanding smallholder farmers’ adaptation behaviors through climate change beliefs, risk perception, trust, and psychological distance: evidence from wheat growers in Iran. J Environ Manag 250:109456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109456

Azadi H, Taheri F, Ghazali S et al (2022) Genetically modified crops in developing countries: savior or traitor? J Clean Prod 371:133296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.133296

Azhoni A, Goyal MK (2018) Diagnosing climate change impacts and identifying adaptation strategies by involving key stakeholder organisations and farmers in Sikkim, India: challenges and opportunities. Sci Total Environ 626:468–477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.112

Bahinipati CS, Venkatachalam L (2015) What drives farmers to adopt farm-level adaptation practices to climate extremes: empirical evidence from Odisha, India. Int J Disas Risk Reduct 14:347–356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2015.08.010

Basistha A, Arya DS, Goel NK (2008) Analysis of historical changes in rainfall in the Indian Himalayas. Int J Climatol 29:555–572. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1706

Bremer S, Haque MM, Aziz SB, Kvamme S (2019) “My new routine”: assessing the impact of citizen science on climate adaptation in Bangladesh. Environ Sci Pol 94:245–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.12.029

Chartzoulakis K, Bertaki M (2015) Sustainable water management in agriculture under climate change. Agric Agric Sci Procedia 4:88–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aaspro.2015.03.011

Chen S, Gong B (2021) Response and adaptation of agriculture to climate change: evidence from China. J Dev Econ 148:102557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102557

Chenani E, Yazdanpanah M, Baradaran M et al (2021) Barriers to climate change adaptation: qualitative evidence from southwestern Iran. J Arid Environ 189:104487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104487

Dubey SK, Trivedi RK, Chand BK et al (2017) Farmers’ perceptions of climate change, impacts on freshwater aquaculture and adaptation strategies in climatic change hotspots: a case of the Indian Sundarban delta. Environ Dev 21:38–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2016.12.002

Dubey R, Pathak H, Chakrabarti B et al (2020) Impact of terminal heat stress on wheat yield in India and options for adaptation. Agric Syst 181:102826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2020.102826

Dzvimbo MA, Matamanda AR, Mawonde A, Magijani F (2022) Exploring climate change impacts on smallholder farmers in Mhondoro-Ngezi District. Zimbabwe pp:381–402

Google Scholar  

Escarcha JF, Lassa JA, Palacpac EP, Zander KK (2020) Livelihoods transformation and climate change adaptation: the case of smallholder water buffalo farmers in The Philippines. Environ Dev 33:100468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2019.100468

Esfandiari M, Khalilabad HRM, Boshrabadi HM, Mehrjerdi MRZ (2020) Factors influencing the use of adaptation strategies to climate change in paddy lands of Kamfiruz, Iran. Land Use Policy 95:104628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104628

Fahad S, Wang J (2018) Farmers’ risk perception, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change in rural Pakistan. Land Use Policy 79:301–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.08.018

Faye JB, Braun YA (2022) Soil and human health: understanding agricultural and socio-environmental risk and resilience in the age of climate change. Health Place 77:102799. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102799

Fedele G, Donatti CI, Harvey CA et al (2019) Transformative adaptation to climate change for sustainable social-ecological systems. Environ Sci Pol 101:116–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.07.001

Fink A (2019) Conducting research literature reviews: from the internet to paper, 5th edn. SAGE Publications, Los Angeles, US

Ghahramani A, Bowran D (2018) Transformative and systemic climate change adaptations in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. Agric Syst 164:236–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2018.04.011

Hasan MK, Kumar L (2019) Comparison between meteorological data and farmer perceptions of climate change and vulnerability in relation to adaptation. J Environ Manag 237:54–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.02.028

Hassan RM (2010) Implications of climate change for agricultural sector performance in Africa: policy challenges and research agenda. J Afr Econ 19:ii77–ii105. https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejp026

Howden SM, Soussana JF, Tubiello FN et al (2007) Adapting agriculture to climate change. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104:19691–19696. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701890104

Hussain M, Liu G, Yousaf B et al (2018) Regional and sectoral assessment on climate-change in Pakistan: social norms and indigenous perceptions on climate-change adaptation and mitigation in relation to global context. J Clean Prod 200:791–808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.272

IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Geneva, CH

Islam MT, Nursey-Bray M (2017) Adaptation to climate change in agriculture in Bangladesh: the role of formal institutions. J Environ Manag 200:347–358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.05.092

Islam MM, Rahman MA, Khan MS et al (2021a) Transformational adaptations to climatic hazards: insights from mangroves-based coastal fisheries dependent communities of Bangladesh. Mar Policy 128:104475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104475

Islam MM, Sarker MA, al Mamun MA et al (2021b) Stepping up versus stepping out: on the outcomes and drivers of two alternative climate change adaptation strategies of smallholders. World Dev 148:105671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105671

Jawid A, Khadjavi M (2019) Adaptation to climate change in Afghanistan: evidence on the impact of external interventions. Econ Anal Pol 64:64–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2019.07.010

Jha CK, Gupta V (2021) Farmer’s perception and factors determining the adaptation decisions to cope with climate change: An evidence from rural India. Environ Sustain Indic 10:100112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indic.2021.100112

Jianjun J, Yiwei G, Xiaomin W, Nam PK (2015) Farmers’ risk preferences and their climate change adaptation strategies in the Yongqiao District, China. Land Use Policy 47:365–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.04.028

Kabir MJ, Alauddin M, Crimp S (2017) Farm-level adaptation to climate change in Western Bangladesh: An analysis of adaptation dynamics, profitability and risks. Land Use Policy 64:212–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.02.026

Kadiyala MDM, Nedumaran S, Padmanabhan J et al (2021) Modeling the potential impacts of climate change and adaptation strategies on groundnut production in India. Sci Total Environ 776:145996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145996

Kelly J, Sadeghieh T, Adeli K (2014) Peer review in scientific publications: benefits, critiques, & A survival guide. EJIFCC 25:227–243

Keshavarz M, Moqadas RS (2021) Assessing rural households’ resilience and adaptation strategies to climate variability and change. J Arid Environ 184:104323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2020.104323

Khan I, Lei H, Shah IA et al (2020) Farm households’ risk perception, attitude and adaptation strategies in dealing with climate change: promise and perils from rural Pakistan. Land Use Policy 91:104395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104395

Khan NA, Qiao J, Abid M, Gao Q (2021) Understanding farm-level cognition of and autonomous adaptation to climate variability and associated factors: evidence from the rice-growing zone of Pakistan. Land Use Policy 105:105427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105427

Khan N, Ma J, Kassem HS et al (2022) Rural farmers’ cognition and climate change adaptation impact on cash crop productivity: evidence from a recent study. Int J Environ Res Public Health 19:12556. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912556

Khanal U, Wilson C (2019) Derivation of a climate change adaptation index and assessing determinants and barriers to adaptation among farming households in Nepal. Environ Sci Pol 101:156–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.08.006

Khanal U, Wilson C, Hoang VN, Lee B (2018) Farmers’ adaptation to climate change, its determinants and impacts on rice yield in Nepal. Ecol Econ 144:139–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.08.006

Khanal U, Wilson C, Rahman S et al (2021) Smallholder farmers’ adaptation to climate change and its potential contribution to UN’s sustainable development goals of zero hunger and no poverty. J Clean Prod 281:124999. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124999

Klein D, Carazo MP, Doelle M et al (2017) The Paris agreement on climate change: analysis and commentary. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

Book   Google Scholar  

Kuang F, Jin J, He R et al (2020) Farmers’ livelihood risks, livelihood assets and adaptation strategies in Rugao City, China. J Environ Manag 264:110463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110463

Kuchimanchi BR, van Paassen A, Oosting SJ (2021) Understanding the vulnerability, farming strategies and development pathways of smallholder farming systems in Telangana, India. Clim Risk Manag 31:100275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2021.100275

Lal M, Harasawa H (2001) Future climate change scenarios for Asia as inferred from selected coupled atmosphere-ocean global climate models. J Meteorol Soc Jpn 79:219–227. https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.79.219

Lamichhane P, Miller KK, Hadjikakou M, Bryan BA (2021) Survey data on climate change adaptation and barriers to adoption among smallholder farmers in Nepal. Data Brief 39:107620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2021.107620

Li S, An PL, Pan ZH et al (2015) Farmers’ initiative on adaptation to climate change in the northern agro-pastoral ecotone. Int J Disas Risk Reduct 12:278–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2015.02.002

Li L, Jin J, He R et al (2022) Effects of social capital on farmers’ choices of climate change adaptation behavior in Dazu District. China Clim Dev:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2022.2061403

Lu W, Ye X, Huang J, Horlu GSA (2020) Effect of climate change induced agricultural risk on land use in Chinese small farms: implications for adaptation strategy. Ecol Indic 115:106414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106414

Mahmood N, Arshad M, Mehmood Y et al (2021) Farmers’ perceptions and role of institutional arrangements in climate change adaptation: insights from rainfed Pakistan. Clim Risk Manag 32:100288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2021.100288

Mehar M, Mittal S, Prasad N (2016) Farmers coping strategies for climate shock: is it differentiated by gender? J Rural Stud 44:123–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.01.001

Menike LMCS, Arachchi KAGPK (2016) Adaptation to climate change by smallholder farmers in rural communities: evidence from Sri Lanka. Procedia Food Sci 6:288–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profoo.2016.02.057

Mohamed Shaffril HA, Ahmad N, Samsuddin SF et al (2020) Systematic literature review on adaptation towards climate change impacts among indigenous people in the Asia Pacific regions. J Clean Prod 258:120595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120595

Motavalli PP, Kremer RJ, Fang M, Means NE (2004) Impact of genetically modified crops and their management on soil microbially mediated plant nutrient transformations. J Environ Qual 33:816. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2004.0816

Muench S, Bavorova M, Pradhan P (2021) Climate change adaptation by smallholder tea farmers: a case study of Nepal. Environ Sci Pol 116:136–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.10.012

Naz F, Doneys P, Saqib SE (2018) Adaptation strategies to floods: a gender-based analysis of the farming-dependent char community in the Padma floodplain, Bangladesh. Int J Disas Risk Reduct 28:519–530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.12.016

Nguyen TPL, Seddaiu G, Roggero PP (2019) Declarative or procedural knowledge? Knowledge for enhancing farmers’ mitigation and adaptation behaviour to climate change. J Rural Stud 67:46–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.02.005

Omerkhil N, Chand T, Valente D et al (2020a) Climate change vulnerability and adaptation strategies for smallholder farmers in Yangi Qala District, Takhar, Afghanistan. Ecol Indic 110:105863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105863

Omerkhil N, Kumar P, Mallick M et al (2020b) Micro-level adaptation strategies by smallholders to adapt climate change in the least developed countries (LDCs): insights from Afghanistan. Ecol Indic 118:106781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106781

Page MJ, McKenzie JE, Bossuyt PM et al (2021) The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. Syst Rev 10:89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsu.2021.105906

Qazlbash SK, Zubair M, Manzoor SA et al (2021) Socioeconomic determinants of climate change adaptations in the flood-prone rural community of Indus Basin, Pakistan. Environ Dev 37:100603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2020.100603

Rahman MR, Haque A, Azad AK et al (2021) Effectiveness of selected planned adaptations in micro level: evidence from coastal community in Bangladesh. Progr Disas Sci 12:100208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2021.100208

Rahut DB, Ali A (2017) Coping with climate change and its impact on productivity, income, and poverty: evidence from the Himalayan region of Pakistan. Int J Disas Risk Reduct 24:515–525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.05.006

Raihan ML, Onitsuka K, Basu M et al (2020) Rapid emergence and increasing risks of hailstorms: a potential threat to sustainable agriculture in northern Bangladesh. Sustainability 12:5011. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12125011

Rana MMP, Moniruzzaman M (2021) Transformative adaptation in agriculture: a case of agroforestation in Bangladesh. Environ Challenges 2:100026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2021.100026

Reilly J, Hohmann N, Kane S (1994) Climate change and agricultural trade. Glob Environ Chang 4:24–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/0959-3780(94)90019-1

Ricart S, Olcina J, Rico A (2018) Evaluating public attitudes and farmers’ beliefs towards climate change adaptation: awareness, perception, and populism at European level. Land (Basel) 8:4. https://doi.org/10.3390/land8010004

Rijal S, Gentle P, Khanal U et al (2022) A systematic review of Nepalese farmers’ climate change adaptation strategies. Clim Pol 22:132–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2021.1977600

Robert M, Bergez JE, Thomas A (2018) A stochastic dynamic programming approach to analyze adaptation to climate change – application to groundwater irrigation in India. Eur J Oper Res 265:1033–1045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2017.08.029

Rukhsana AA (2022) Levels of agriculture development and crop diversification: a district-wise panel data analysis in West Bengal. In: Agriculture, environment and sustainable development. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 105–117

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Sam AS, Padmaja SS, Kächele H et al (2020) Climate change, drought and rural communities: understanding people’s perceptions and adaptations in rural eastern India. Int J Disas Risk Reduct 44:101436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101436

Sánchez AD, de la Cruz Del Río Rama M, García JÁ (2017) Bibliometric analysis of publications on wine tourism in the databases Scopus and WoS. Eur Res Manag Bus Econ 23:8–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2016.02.001

Saptutyningsih E, Diswandi D, Jaung W (2020) Does social capital matter in climate change adaptation? A lesson from agricultural sector in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Land Use Policy 95:104189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104189

Sarker MNI, Wu M, Alam GMM, Shouse RC (2020) Life in riverine islands in Bangladesh: local adaptation strategies of climate vulnerable riverine Island dwellers for livelihood resilience. Land Use Policy 94:104574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104574

Seo SN, Mendelsohn R (2008) An analysis of crop choice: adapting to climate change in South American farms. Ecol Econ 67:109–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.12.007

Shahid R, Shijie L, Shahid S et al (2021) Determinants of reactive adaptations to climate change in semi-arid region of Pakistan. J Arid Environ 193:104580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104580

Shahzad MF, Abdulai A (2020) Adaptation to extreme weather conditions and farm performance in rural Pakistan. Agric Syst 180:102772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2019.102772

Shariatzadeh M, Bijani M (2022) Towards farmers’ adaptation to climate change: the effect of time perspective. J Clean Prod 348:131284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131284

Sharma HC, Prabhakar CS (2014) Impact of climate change on Pest management and food security. In: Abrol DP (ed) Integrated pest management: current concepts and ecological perspective. Elsevier, pp 23–36

Shi X, Sun L, Chen X, Wang L (2019) Farmers’ perceived efficacy of adaptive behaviors to climate change in the Loess Plateau, China. Sci Total Environ 697:134217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134217

Sierra-Correa PC, Cantera Kintz JR (2015) Ecosystem-based adaptation for improving coastal planning for sea-level rise: a systematic review for mangrove coasts. Mar Policy 51:385–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2014.09.013

Singh S (2020) Farmers’ perception of climate change and adaptation decisions: a micro-level evidence from Bundelkhand Region, India. Ecol Indic 116:106475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106475

Sohail MT (2022) A PLS-SEM approach to determine farmers’ awareness about climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies: pathway toward sustainable environment and agricultural productivity. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23471-1

Sovacool BK (2018) Bamboo beating bandits: conflict, inequality, and vulnerability in the political ecology of climate change adaptation in Bangladesh. World Dev 102:183–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.10.014

Stott P (2016) How climate change affects extreme weather events. Science (1979) 352:1517–1518. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf7271

Thoai TQ, Rañola RF, Camacho LD, Simelton E (2018) Determinants of farmers’ adaptation to climate change in agricultural production in the central region of Vietnam. Land Use Policy 70:224–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.10.023

Tiet T, To-The N, Nguyen-Anh T (2022) Farmers’ behaviors and attitudes toward climate change adaptation: evidence from Vietnamese smallholder farmers. Environ Dev Sustain 24:14235–14260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-02030-7

Tripathi A, Mishra AK (2017) Knowledge and passive adaptation to climate change: An example from Indian farmers. Clim Risk Manag 16:195–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2016.11.002

Truelove HB, Carrico AR, Thabrew L (2015) A socio-psychological model for analyzing climate change adaptation: a case study of Sri Lankan paddy farmers. Glob Environ Chang 31:85–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.12.010

Ullah F, Ali Shah SA, Saqib SE et al (2021) Households’ flood vulnerability and adaptation: empirical evidence from mountainous regions of Pakistan. Int J Disas Risk Reduct 52:101967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101967

Un Jan Contreras S, Gardner CM (2022) Environmental fate and behaviour of antibiotic resistance genes and small interference <scp>RNAs</scp> released from genetically modified crops. J Appl Microbiol 133:2877–2892. https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.15741

van Huynh C, Phuong Le QN, Hong Nguyen MT et al (2020) Indigenous knowledge in relation to climate change: adaptation practices used by the Xo Dang people of central Vietnam. Heliyon 6:e05656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05656

Wang W, Zhao X, Li H, Zhang Q (2021) Will social capital affect farmers’ choices of climate change adaptation strategies? Evidences from rural households in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. J Rural Stud 83:127–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.02.006

Wolfenbarger LL, Phifer PR (2000) The ecological risks and benefits of genetically engineered plants. Science (1979) 290:2088–2093. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.290.5499.2088

Yousafzai MT, Shah T, Khan S et al (2022) Assessing socioeconomic risks of climate change on tenant farmers in Pakistan. Front Psychol 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.870555

Zhai S-Y, Song G-X, Qin Y-C et al (2018) Climate change and Chinese farmers: perceptions and determinants of adaptive strategies. J Integr Agric 17:949–963. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2095-3119(17)61753-2

Zhu Y, Yang Q, Zhang C (2021) Adaptation strategies and land productivity of banana farmers under climate change in China. Clim Risk Manag 34:100368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2021.100368

Download references

Author information

Md Nazirul I. Sarker and Corinthias P. M. Sianipar contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

School of Political Science and Public Administration, Neijiang Normal University, Sichuan, China

Md Nazirul I. Sarker

Organization for the Strategic Coordination of Research and Intellectual Properties, Meiji University, Kanagawa, Japan

Md Lamiur Raihan

Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Tahmina Chumky

Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Md Habibur Rahman

Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh

G. M. Monirul Alam

School of Commerce, University of Southern Queensland, Darling Heights, QLD, Australia

Department of Global Ecology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Corinthias P. M. Sianipar

Division of Environmental Science and Technology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Corinthias P. M. Sianipar .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

European School of Sustainability Science and Research, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

Walter Leal Filho

Centre for Global Sustainability Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Malaysia

Theam Foo Ng

School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Usha Iyer-Raniga

Centre for Sustainable Business, International Business University, Toronto, ON, Canada

Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability and Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi, Hiroshima, Japan

Ayyoob Sharifi

Section Editor information

School of Education and Social Work, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom

Qudsia Kalsoom

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Cite this entry.

Sarker, M.N.I., Raihan, M.L., Chumky, T., Rahman, M.H., Alam, G.M.M., Sianipar, C.P.M. (2024). Adaptation Strategies for Asian Farmers Against Climate Change. In: Leal Filho, W., Ng, T.F., Iyer-Raniga, U., Ng, A., Sharifi, A. (eds) SDGs in the Asia and Pacific Region. Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Regional Perspectives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17463-6_122

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17463-6_122

Published : 01 September 2024

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-031-17462-9

Online ISBN : 978-3-031-17463-6

eBook Packages : Earth and Environmental Science Reference Module Physical and Materials Science Reference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Share this entry

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Policies and ethics

IMAGES

  1. Literature Review Management Writing Guide

    literature review management strategy

  2. Literature reviews

    literature review management strategy

  3. 50 Smart Literature Review Templates (APA) ᐅ TemplateLab

    literature review management strategy

  4. Literature Review: Outline, Strategies, and Examples

    literature review management strategy

  5. (PDF) Critical Review of Literature on Knowledge Management Strategy

    literature review management strategy

  6. How to Write a Literature Review in 5 Simple Steps

    literature review management strategy

VIDEO

  1. Introduction to Literature Review, Systematic Review, and Meta-analysis

  2. Class 10th English Last Minute Tips🔥| Presentation

  3. Boost Your Local Reputation with Customer Reviews

  4. Systematic Literature Review: An Introduction [Urdu/Hindi]

  5. Advanced Literature Review Management from PubMed

  6. Literature Review Critical Questions

COMMENTS

  1. Conceptual Framework for the Strategic Management: A Literature Review

    The objective of this work is to review the literature of the main concepts that lead to determining the strategic approach, creation of strategies, organizational structures, strategy formulation, and strategic evaluation as a guide for the organizational management, taking into account the effects produced by the different types of strategies on the performance of organizations.

  2. Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines

    As mentioned previously, there are a number of existing guidelines for literature reviews. Depending on the methodology needed to achieve the purpose of the review, all types can be helpful and appropriate to reach a specific goal (for examples, please see Table 1).These approaches can be qualitative, quantitative, or have a mixed design depending on the phase of the review.

  3. How to conduct systematic literature reviews in management research: a

    The application of systematic or structured literature reviews (SLRs) has developed into an established approach in the management domain (Kraus et al. 2020), with 90% of management-related SLRs published within the last 10 years (Clark et al. 2021).Such reviews help to condense knowledge in the field and point to future research directions, thereby enabling theory development (Fink 2010 ...

  4. Sample Selection in Systematic Literature Reviews of Management

    The present methodological literature review (cf. Aguinis et al., 2020) addresses this void and aims to identify the dominant approaches to sample selection and provide insights into essential choices in this step of systematic reviews, with a particular focus on management research.To follow these objectives, I have critically reviewed systematic reviews published in the two most prominent ...

  5. Conceptual Framework for the Strategic Management: A Literature Review

    Conceptual Framework for the Strategic Management: A Literature Review—Descriptive. Guillermo Fuertes ,1,2 Miguel Alfaro,1 Manuel Vargas ,3 Sebastian Gutierrez,4,5 Rodrigo Ternero ,1,6 and Jorge Sabattin7. %.

  6. Strategic Management: Current Issues and Future Directions

    Consistent with the interdisciplinary nature of strategic management, we "cast a broad net" by asking our contributors to address what they felt were salient issues in advancing research in strategic management—broadly defined. ... Literature review . Fundamentals of Business Strategy. Show details Hide details. Mie Augier and more ...

  7. Guidance on Conducting a Systematic Literature Review

    Literature reviews establish the foundation of academic inquires. However, in the planning field, we lack rigorous systematic reviews. In this article, through a systematic search on the methodology of literature review, we categorize a typology of literature reviews, discuss steps in conducting a systematic literature review, and provide suggestions on how to enhance rigor in literature ...

  8. Six tips for your (systematic) literature review in business and

    A literature review is an essential component of almost any research project. It serves as the foundation for advancing knowledge, facilitates theory development, closes mature research areas, and uncovers novel research areas (Webster and Watson 2002).Frank and Hatak refer to a literature review as a "knowledge map", which analyzes and synthesizes prior literature.

  9. Strategy implementation: A review and an introductory framework

    Strategy implementation literature offers a diverse set of approaches drawn from a number of different disciplines such as strategic management (e.g., Herrmann & Nadkarni, 2014), marketing (e.g., Cadwallader, Jarvis, Bitner, & Ostrom, 2010), and operations (e.g., Beer, 2003) among others. Therefore, we considered a full range of academic and ...

  10. What Is Strategic Management and Why Do We Need It ...

    In the second chapter, a sound understanding of strategic management and its core concepts, definitions, processes, and applications is provided. This is done by a review of relevant strategic management literature. Firstly, the applied methodology for the literature analysis is presented.

  11. Dynamics of Competition and Strategy: A Literature Review of Strategic

    M. Saadatmand, M. Dabab and C. Weber, "Dynamics of Competition and Strategy: A Literature Review of Strategic Management Models and Frameworks," 2018 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), Honolulu, HI, 2018, pp. 1-14. This Article is brought to you for free and open access.

  12. The Management of a Business Strategic Plan: A Systematic Literature Review

    The indication that strategic planning is not easy and certain educational platforms need to be established to aid in educating SME owner/managers to plan and successfully implement strategies The Management of a Business Strategic Plan: A Systematic Literature Review Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Studies Picking it up from the ...

  13. How to Write a Literature Review

    Examples of literature reviews. Step 1 - Search for relevant literature. Step 2 - Evaluate and select sources. Step 3 - Identify themes, debates, and gaps. Step 4 - Outline your literature review's structure. Step 5 - Write your literature review.

  14. Strategic management accounting practices: a literature review and

    Keywords Strategic management accounting, Contingent factors, Adoption, Effect of adoption, Literature review Paper type Literature review 1. Introduction In the late 1980s, management accounting (MAC) faced considerable challenges when Johnson and Kaplan (1987) claimed that MAC has lost its relevance in the changed business environment.

  15. Strategic management accounting practices: a literature review and

    Based on the review, avenues for future research studies are outlined.,The review of extant literature reveals that several SMA techniques such as competitor accounting, strategic pricing, benchmarking and customer accounting have been highly or moderately adopted in several developed countries while majority of other techniques remained at the ...

  16. A review of the strategic management literature: the importance of

    Design/methodology/approach - This paper reviews the strategic management literature with a focus of the above concepts within the non-profit context. The Development of Strategic Management in ...

  17. Steps in the Literature Review Process

    The Literature Review by Diana Ridley The Literature Review is a step-by-step guide to conducting a literature search and writing up the literature review chapter in Masters dissertations and in Ph.D. and professional doctorate theses. The author provides strategies for reading, conducting searches, organizing information and writing the review.

  18. PDF Strategic management accounting and performance implications: a

    oretical premise of this study. e literature review is organised along three core themes in strategic manage-ment accounting discourse, namely, strategic manage-ment accounting techniques, contingency factors of strategic management accounting usage, and the impact of strategic management accounting on organisational performance.

  19. Writing a literature review

    A formal literature review is an evidence-based, in-depth analysis of a subject. There are many reasons for writing one and these will influence the length and style of your review, but in essence a literature review is a critical appraisal of the current collective knowledge on a subject. Rather than just being an exhaustive list of all that ...

  20. Literature Review

    Typically, a literature review is a written discussion that examines publications about a particular subject area or topic. Depending on disciplines, publications, or authors a literature review may be: A summary of sources. An organized presentation of sources. A synthesis or interpretation of sources. An evaluative analysis of sources.

  21. LSBU Library: Literature Reviews: Developing a Literature Review

    Developing a Literature Review . 1. Purpose and Scope. To help you develop a literature review, gather information on existing research, sub-topics, relevant research, and overlaps. Note initial thoughts on the topic - a mind map or list might be helpful - and avoid unfocused reading, collecting irrelevant content.

  22. A systematic literature review towards a conceptual framework for

    While embracing digitalization that is further accentuated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the real business outcome is achieved through a robust and well-crafted 'Data Science Strategy' (DSS), as significant constituent of Enterprise Digital Strategy. Extant literature has studied the challenges in adoption of components of 'Data Science' in discrete for various industry sectors and domains ...

  23. A Systematic Literature Review of Organizational Performance through

    The aim of this paper is to present a systematic literature revision (SLR) that shows the relationship between the concept of employer branding (EB) and talent management (TM).

  24. Literature Review Strategic Management

    Literature Review Strategic Management - Free download as Word Doc (.doc), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. Strategic management is an ongoing process that involves continuous evaluation and adjustment. It consists of five main tasks: defining the business and mission, setting objectives, crafting a strategy, implementing the strategy, and evaluating performance.

  25. Mastering Literature Reviews: Tools, Techniques, and ...

    Learn how to effectively conduct and structure literature reviews using AI tools, search strategies, and writing tips to enhance your research projects. Services ... Speaker 1: A literature review is a summary of the existing research on a particular topic. It's typically done at the beginning of a research project and I did one for my ...

  26. Urban Mining of E-waste Management Globally: Literature Review

    The choice to employ a Systematic Literature Review is justified, given its ability to meticulously analyze articles within the targeted study area (Cronin et al., 2008). The methodology provided by Cronin et al. (2008) is a step-by-step guide to assist students and novice researchers in conducting a traditional or narrative literature review ...

  27. An Integrative Review of Project Portfolio Management Literature

    Sustainability integration in project portfolio management helps shape strategic, organizational, and project-based contexts. The authors conducted a structured literature review from 2000 to 2021 and developed a novel integrative framework presenting a holistic view highlighting three substantive research themes: sustainability mindset, sustainability assessment, and sustainability ...

  28. Reports

    Wandering spleen (WS) is a rare condition often linked with torsion or infarction, but its association with Bochdalek hernia, acute appendicitis, and thrombocytopenia is exceptionally rare. We present a case of a nine-year-old girl who was admitted with acute abdominal pain, later diagnosed with WS, Bochdalek hernia, and acute appendicitis. A literature search was performed on PubMed and ...

  29. Electrolyte disorders related emergencies in children

    This article provides a comprehensive overview of electrolyte and water homeostasis in pediatric patients, focusing on some of the common serum electrolyte abnormalities encountered in clinical practice. Understanding pathophysiology, taking a detailed history, performing comprehensive physical examinations, and ordering basic laboratory investigations are essential for the timely proper ...

  30. Adaptation Strategies for Asian Farmers Against Climate Change

    The primary characteristics include systematic, explicit, thorough, and reproducible strategies for the discovery, analysis, and synthesis. In this review, gathering relevant literature as review materials follows the discipline-agnostic PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) framework (Page et al. 2021).