In this study, a bibliometric analysis of 69 journal articles published between 1994 and 2024 was used to achieve the study objectives. In pursuit of the first objective, a quantitative analysis was conducted to reveal the prolific scholarly articles, authors, and affiliations making significant contributions to the field of social infrastructure service delivery research in South Africa. Furthermore, the study subsequently adopted a qualitative method to gain deep insight into the recurring keywords, themes, gaps, and future research trends on the subject. In this qualitative method, in-depth content analysis and thematic review were observed as common in bibliometric analysis (Agyei et al., 2024; Albugami et al., 2024; Barik, 2025; Bhati et al., 2025; He et al., 2025; Khan et al., 2025).

In addition, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) were used in the selection of articles suitable for the achievement of the objectives of the study. As held by Agyei et al. (2024), Bhati et al. (2025), and Mufungizi et al. (2023), PRISMA is best adopted when the focus is on ensuring a clear and concise criterion for article selection. Furthermore, this study relied on the Scopus database for article search and retrieval. As held by Agyei et al. (2024), Barik (2025), and He et al. (2025), using a single database in a bibliometric analysis assists a researcher in mitigating the errors likely to emerge when combining bibliometric data from multiple databases. Furthermore, social infrastructure service delivery is an interdisciplinary concept, and on this, Scopus offers an extensive range of content across different disciplines (Agyei et al., 2024; Liu et al., 2025). Lastly, several bibliometric studies have relied on only this database to produce insightful and impactful scholarly works (Agyei et al., 2024; Albugami et al., 2024; Bhati et al., 2025; Liu et al., 2025; Mufungizi et al., 2023; Sharma, 2025; Vătămănescu et al., 2024).

In the collection of articles for this study, PRISMA with precise inclusion and exclusion criteria was adopted (Albugami et al., 2024; Bhati et al., 2025) to ensure the inclusion of appropriate studies, and specific keywords relevant to social infrastructure service delivery research in South Africa were adopted. These keywords range from social infrastructure to service delivery in South Africa. It was around these keywords that a Boolean search string was formed, as indicated in Figure 1. The literature search was conducted on Thursday, 9th January 2025, at about 10:48 am. Adequate attention was placed on including only articles published between 1994 and 2024. The idea of 1994 stemmed from the understanding that this was the year South Africa gained its political independence from Britain. All publications before this period would not reflect the notion of an equitable social infrastructure service delivery in the country, given the prevalence of apartheid during those periods. Also, articles in press were excluded to enable the study to focus only on published works, as equally demonstrated by Agyei et al. (2024), Albugami et al. (2024), Barik (2025), and Bhati et al. (2025).

As a result of the search on the Scopus database, there were 340 documents with emphasis on the title, abstract, and keywords parameters. In streamlining these documents, this study employed a five-step approach, as also adopted by Agyei et al. (2024) and Bhati et al. (2025), as illustrated in Figure 1. The inclusion criteria were based on English-language journal publications. In extension, therefore, the study excluded documents published in other languages and non-journal articles such as reviews, conference papers, book chapters, editorials, and articles in the press. These parameters have assumed popularity in several bibliometric studies (Agyei et al., 2024; Bhati et al., 2025). The argument against other documents aside, journal articles have a lack of stringent review and basic data required for a bibliometric analysis (Agyei et al., 2024; Albugami et al., 2024). Flowing from Figure 1, 69 articles were analysed using the R tool for Bibliometric and VOSviewer software, as equally adopted in the works of Agyei et al. (2024), Albugami et al. (2024), and Wani and Ganaie (2025).

In this study, Biblioshiny, a component of R tools (Albugami et al., 2024; Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017; Huang, 2025; Khan et al., 2025; Vătămănescu et al., 2024), is adopted in presenting the bibliometric descriptive statistics of the adopted articles. In visualising the keywords’ co-occurrence network and overlay, VOSviewer has assumed prominence (Barik, 2025; Bhati et al., 2025; He et al., 2025; Khan et al., 2025; Mufungizi et al., 2023; Rizelioğlu, 2025; Sharma, 2025; Van Eck and Waltman, 2023); thus, it was used in this study. Furthermore, this study leveraged the prowess of Microsoft Excel 2021 to produce a few graphs. The combination of these tools has assumed prominence in most bibliometric studies, given their capacity to handle complex graphs, keyword counts, and map scientific relationship networks (Agyei et al., 2024; Albugami et al., 2024; Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017; He et al., 2025; Mufungizi et al., 2023; Vătămănescu et al., 2024). These tools were used to generate the annual scientific production over time, three field plots, co-authorship networks, and the thematic map. Another visualisation feature generated was the keyword co-occurrence network and overlay map. Finally, the analysis concluded with an in-depth qualitative discussion of the adopted articles, exploring dominant research areas, knowledge gaps, and areas for further research on social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa.

The mixed-method approach adopted in this study, combining bibliometric analysis with qualitative thematic discussion, serves multiple critical functions that enhance the research’s validity and practical utility. The quantitative bibliometric component, utilizing Biblioshiny and VOSviewer, provides objective mapping of research trends through statistical analysis of publication patterns, keyword co-occurrence networks, and collaboration landscapes (Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017; Van Eck and Waltman, 2023). This macro-level analysis reveals dominant themes, knowledge gaps, and the evolution of scholarship over time in social infrastructure service delivery research. The qualitative component then adds depth to these findings by interpreting the bibliometric results within South Africa’s specific socio-political context, explaining why certain research trends have emerged and how they relate to real-world infrastructure challenges. This dual approach enables comprehensive triangulation of findings, where quantitative patterns are validated and enriched through qualitative insights.

The methodology particularly addresses the limitations inherent in using either approach independently: while bibliometrics might identify research clusters, it cannot explain their contextual significance; conversely, purely qualitative analysis might lack the systematic breadth of bibliometric evidence. By integrating both, the study achieves a more nuanced understanding that bridges large-scale research patterns with granular, context-specific interpretations. This is especially valuable for policy-relevant research, as it combines measurable trends with actionable narrative insights. The approach aligns with established best practices in bibliometric research, where leading scholars advocate for mixed methods to fully capture both the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of scientific knowledge production. Ultimately, this methodology strengthens the study’s contributions by ensuring its findings are both empirically robust and practically meaningful for addressing South Africa’s social infrastructure challenges.

Social infrastructure refers to the basic facilities required for the delivery of efficient and effective public services (Imuezerua and Chinomona, 2015; Ajayi and De Vries, 2019). Given that the government is the largest service provider (Ajayi and Devries, 2022), there is a need for comprehensive service-support facilities capable of complex and bulk service delivery. In South Africa, municipalities are critical to service delivery. For instance, municipal services comprise an array of amenities provided to citizens residing in municipalities, such as water, electricity, housing, health, education, and waste management (Ingwani et al., 2024). However, delivering these facilities could be capital-intensive (Akinboade et al., 2012; Imuezerua and Chinomona, 2015). In South Africa, however, shortfalls in public service delivery are becoming common, thereby resulting in civic unrest, leading to significant economic losses and social discontent (Akinboade et al., 2012; Akinboade et al., 2013; Akinboade et al., 2014; Ajayi and Devries, 2022). To set the country on a solution pathway, the performance levels of service delivery must be measured with the aim of improving them. This measurement could be done by auditing contemporary literature on social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa to properly understand its scope and significance. Hence, this study adopts a bibliometric analysis approach.

In this subsection, an overview of the research field focusing on trends, prominent authors making significant contributions to the field, and their affiliations was presented. As captured in Figure 2, the publications’ growth over time is presented. On the figure, even though this study set the coverage time between 1994 and 2024 to capture the post-apartheid social infrastructure service delivery trend in South Africa, the first Scopus-indexed article on social infrastructure service delivery research in South Africa was recorded in 1999 (Kroukamp, 1999) and centred on Batho Pele, a traditional concept that meant putting the people ahead of all interests in the society. The paper examined the need to put the citizen first in transforming public service delivery in a changing South Africa. The 5-year interval between 1994 and the production of the first article on social infrastructure service delivery in 1999 may be due to the need to accommodate the service improvement gestation period after the unequal post-apartheid service deficiency experience.

In the first 10 years of publication on the subject (1999 to 2009), document production hovered around one to two articles, with no published articles in 2002, 2003, and 2008. Within this first decade, only 10 published articles were recorded on the Scopus database. This showed a struggling period for social infrastructure service delivery research in South Africa. In the subsequent 10 years, however, the research area experienced a considerable growth in article publication from just 10 to 36. This is an outstanding increment of over 200% between 2010 and 2019. Furthermore, from 2020 to 2024, 23 articles have been published showing the sustainability of the initial article production increase trend in social infrastructure service delivery research in South Africa.

In the analysis of the document citations, Figure 3 was prepared as shown below. As an invaluable component of bibliometric studies, citations present the extent of contributions that a study asserts in a research field (Agyei et al., 2024; Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017; Bhati et al., 2025; He et al., 2025; Huang, 2025; Khan et al., 2025; Mufungizi et al., 2023; Vătămănescu et al., 2024). Notably, the figure included citations for every document and year for which article publication was recorded. This demonstrated the relevance of all papers produced on the subject. Despite the acknowledgement of all articles with citations, there is variation in the citation pattern over the years. For instance, in 2010 and 2020, just a decade apart, the highest number of citations was recorded in the articles of Goldin (2010) that examined the role of the state in opening water policy networks and redressing issues of knowledge, power, and agency. The study argued that adequate awareness creation is necessary for ensuring an inclusive water policy framework. This article recorded a total of 61 citations with 3.81 citations per year, as observable in Table 2. In addition, Lemanski’s (2020) article on infrastructural citizenship in Cape Town, with 87 citations and about 15 citations per year, discusses the multiple ways that citizenship and infrastructure relate in diverse urban settings. He argued that this interaction has received limited critical attention. This study demonstrates how urban dwellers’ relationship to public infrastructure in the domestic spaces of the home and settlement, and the temporal scale of the everyday, offers a representation of broader political identities and perceptions, framed through the language of citizenship.

In furtherance, the extract of the 15 most cited articles in Table 2 complements Figure 3 by demonstrating the scientific impacts of articles on the subject of this study. However, articles between 2021 and 2024 have recorded fewer citations. This trend aligns with claims by Agyei et al. (2024) that recent articles usually garner fewer citations than older ones.

Furthermore, the 15 articles with the highest citations in the field of social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa, as captured in Table 2, discussed varied aspects of the subject. Prominent among these were water policy and infrastructure (Dithebe et al., 2019; Goldin, 2010; Ruiters, 2013); citizens’ participation in enhancing service delivery (Akinboade et al., 2012; Akinboade et al., 2013; Dawson, 2010; Lemanski, 2020); public service delivery and informal settlement (Kovacic et al., 2016; Masuku and Jili, 2019; Ncholo, 2000; Ruiters, 2007); and public service innovation and procurement (Fourie and Malan, 2020; Nel and Masilela, 2020; Twinomurinzi et al., 2012).

In addition to recognizing widely referenced articles through citations in the scholarly community, regard is also paid to authors with multiple publications (Agyei et al., 2024). As depicted in Figure 4, 10 prolific authors with multiple articles on social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa were presented. For instance, in the figure, Akinboade OA., Mokwena MP., and Kinfack EC., affiliated with MANOL Advisory Research, Centurion, South Africa, and Pretoria, South Africa, jointly produced three articles on the subject of this study. Given this effort, they were rated 1st, 2nd, and 4th most prolific authors on the subject, respectively. The first joint paper from these authors in 2012 analyses citizen satisfaction with public service delivery in the Sedibeng district municipality of South Africa (Akinboade et al., 2012). The study adopted primary data gleaned using a structured sample of 1,000 respondents. These respondents were asked to comment on their satisfaction with public service delivery in health care, housing, water, electricity, solid waste removal, community services, or overall physical appearance of the community, cutting crime, and job creation. The study found that respondents are most dissatisfied with road maintenance, government efforts to create jobs, and reducing crime. The overall conclusion of this study is that citizens are grossly dissatisfied with public service delivery in the study area, even though respondents from Emfuleni local municipality hold more positive feelings about public service delivery around water, electricity, and solid waste.

In their second and third papers together, they examined citizen participation in public service delivery protests in the Sedibeng district municipality of South Africa (Akinboade et al., 2013, 2014). Using a structured sample of 1,000 respondents, the study found that the average level of satisfaction with public service delivery is quite low, just as established in their first article (Akinboade et al., 2012). Given this service deficiency trend, citizens have resorted to participating in protests. In the study, it was noted that service delivery protest participants had no option but to force the municipality to improve social service delivery.

Another prolific author with three articles on the subject and rated third in Figure 4 is Maramura TC. This author was with the Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Commerce, University of Fort Hare (UFH), Bisho, Republic of South Africa, when this study was published. However, in 2021, she moved to the Department of Public Administration and Management, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa, where she published two other articles on the subject. In her first paper, Maramura, while leveraging the existing literature on the poor service delivery trend in South Africa that has engendered the growth of protests across districts, proposed a new theory to address the service failure trend. Her proposition, tagged Mandelafying the public service in South Africa (Maramura et al., 2020), is grounded in values such as proper ethics, humanitarianism, transparency, accountability, empathy, and selflessness, which characterized Nelson Mandela. Her subsequent papers also focused on enhancing public service delivery through supply chain management (Maramura and Ruwanika, 2023) and upgrading the role of service providers in ensuring effective service delivery (Ruwanika and Maramura, 2024).

Figure 5 complements the presentation depicted in Figure 4 by establishing the co-authorship network among the articles adopted in this study. In the figure above, two prominent co-authorship networks can be observed, even though there are three clusters of green, red, and blue colours. As stated earlier and as confirmed in Figure 5, Akinboade co-authored three studies with Akinboade et al. (2012) and Akinboade et al. (2013, 2014), and they are clustered in green colour. Primarily, these studies were on the role of citizens in demanding efficient public service delivery in South Africa. Equally, Maramura, another prolific author on social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa, co-authored two works with Ruwanika, and they are clustered in red colour. Their studies examined the challenges with supply chain management and the role of service providers in enhancing public service delivery. In the last cluster, depicted in blue colour, are authors such as Ajayi, Chikulo, Mashamaite, and others who, at one time or another, collaborated amongst themselves. The main theme of articles in this cluster centred on the interplay among infrastructural citizenship, access, and service delivery in South African local governments (Chikulo, 2004, 2013; Haque et al., 2021; Lemanski, 2020; Masuku and Jili, 2019; Masuku et al., 2022).

In establishing the relevance of the prolific authors in the field of social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa, Figure 6 was developed. The figure depicts the major keywords of authors vis-à-vis their publication outlets. This, according to Khan et al. (2025), is to demonstrate that the main interests of scholars working in the field of social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa were “public evaluation,” “citizens’ protests,” “public service delivery,” “public services,” and “municipality.” Furthermore, most social infrastructure service delivery research articles were published by Akinboade OA and Maramura TC, whereas the most active sources were Cogent Business and Management and the International Review of Administrative Sciences.

In Figure 7, a three-field plot was provided to link 10 prolific authors to their affiliations and countries. Akinboade, the most prolific author with three articles on social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa, is affiliated with MANOL Advisory Research, Centurion, and the University of the Western Cape, both in South Africa. Other authors domiciled in South Africa but in separate institutions were Ajayi, Lewanski, Maramura, Aigbavboa, Adam, and Masuku. This indicated that about 90% of the prolific authors with an interest in this study are domiciled in South Africa. The reason for this is not complex, as this study focused on research within the context of the country. Other countries, as shown in the figure, that are taking a keen interest in social infrastructure service delivery research in South Africa are the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Nigeria, Ireland, and Australia, as shown in Figure 8. This established social infrastructure service delivery as an issue of international concern among scholars.

Institutions with a significant contribution to the subject, as observable in Figures 7, 9 were from the University of Pretoria, with 12 articles, followed by the University of the Western Cape, with nine articles. However, upon analysis of the countries of corresponding authors, as shown in Figure 8, Belgium ranks second, following South Africa, in terms of the highest number of published works. Furthermore, the figure shows the scholarly output of countries in terms of publications and the extent of collaboration across multiple countries in research on social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa. Out of the 69 articles adopted in this study, 37 were from South Africa and one from each of Belgium, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. There is also collaboration among authors from different countries, which affirms the observation depicted in Figure 7. SCP stands for Single Country Publications, while MCP refers to Multiple Country Publications. Out of the 37 articles from South Africa, four were acquired through international cooperation. Notably, other countries in Figure 8, with one article each, demonstrated prominent levels of international collaboration, indicating a strong international collaborative effort.

To date, this study has provided a comprehensive overview of social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa. Another important part that requires attention in this study is the thematic analysis, which is expected to provide a deeper understanding of the dominant and emerging themes of social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa.

In this section, a cursory look is taken at the dominant themes in the research field of social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa. To do this, the authors’ keyword analysis was conducted, after which a keyword co-occurrence network was generated to explore the dominant themes on the subject. The use of authors’ keyword analysis to ascertain the core themes, topics, and research direction is assuming prominence among bibliometric analysis literature (Agyei et al., 2024; He et al., 2025; Huang, 2025).

As depicted in Figure 10, the word cloud of the twenty (20) most prominent authors’ keywords was presented. In this figure, some nouns and phrases captured varied aspects of social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa. The extent of keyword occurrence was captured with the size of each in the figure (Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017). This thereby meant that the higher the occurrence of a keyword, the larger the size of the word (Agyei et al., 2024; He et al., 2025). The authors’ keywords with the most occurrences were “South Africa,” “Service delivery,” and “Public service delivery” with 26, 12, and 10 occurrences, respectively. Other prominent authors’ keywords were “public services,” “local government,” “municipality,” “participation,” “public evaluation,” and “infrastructure.” These keywords indicate that research on social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa has primarily focused on public service delivery at the municipal and local government levels, exploring how this has promoted citizens’ participation, infrastructural development, and public evaluation in South Africa.

Furthermore, these keywords, when limited to just 10 prominent ones as presented in Figure 11, allow for a systematic trace of their use over time. For instance, “South Africa,” the most prominent authors’ keyword in this study, was first used in 2001, and from then on, it has experienced wide usage through 2007, 2010, 2012, and till 2024, when it was used 24 times in a single year. “Public service delivery” has also assumed prominence among scholars in this study. From 2007, when it was used once, to 2014 (7), 2021 (9), and 2024, when it was used 10 times. Most recently, especially from 2020, keywords assuming popularity were participation, public services, public sector, and municipality.

For a deeper insight into the authors’ keywords, a keyword co-occurrence network is prepared using VOSviewer software, as was also done by Agyei et al. (2024) in their study that examined sustainable transportation in Africa. This network enables proper scrutiny of authors’ keywords as they appear in multiple articles and their interrelationship. These networks, as presented in Figures 12, 13, are formed into nodes, with the size of each corresponding to its number of occurrences (Agyei et al., 2024; Barik, 2025; Rizelioğlu, 2025; Van Eck and Waltman, 2023). Only the twenty (20) most common authors’ keywords were used to form the network. This aims to eliminate the complexity associated with accommodating all keywords. In conformity with Figures 10, 11, “South Africa,” “Service delivery,” and “public service delivery” are the three most frequent keywords, which is why their nodes are larger in Figures 12, 13 than those of the other keywords. Furthermore, the distance of the links joining each node explains the relative strength and topic similarity among the keywords (Van Eck and Waltman, 2023). That is, the shorter the link, the stronger the relative strength and topic-relatedness of the keywords.

Specifically, in Figure 12, the authors’ keywords are formed into six clusters that indicate the topic relatedness among the adopted articles in this study. In the figure, there were six distinct clusters, indicating six subfields of social infrastructure service delivery research. A cursory look at the keywords constituting each of the clusters revealed the distinct themes each cluster represents. For instance, in cluster one (red nodes), there were eight keywords: accountability, citizens, community participation, governance, government, participation, service delivery, and urban infrastructure. These keywords are all related to “participatory governance in social infrastructure and service delivery.” In cluster two (green nodes), there were six keywords, such as cities, citizen protests, local public policy, municipality, public evaluation, and public policy, that related to “citizen advocacy and local governance in social service delivery.” The third cluster (blue nodes) with four items comprised basic services, innovation, local government, and public service delivery. These keywords centred around “innovative approaches to public service delivery at the local government level.” This cluster highlights the relevance of leveraging innovation within local government structures to enhance the delivery of basic services, ensuring that public needs are met effectively and equitably. It underscores the role of local governance in addressing service delivery challenges through creative and sustainable solutions.

The fourth cluster (yellow nodes) comprises keywords such as e-government, infrastructure, and South Africa. These speak to the “digital transformation of infrastructure governance in South Africa.” This cluster highlights the role of e-government initiatives in modernising the governance and management of infrastructure in South Africa. It emphasises how digital technologies can address inefficiencies, improve service delivery, and foster better governance of critical infrastructure systems. The fifth cluster (purple nodes) was public services and poverty. This centred around the role of effective and efficient public service delivery in alleviating widespread poverty in South Africa. The cluster explores how the equitable provision of public services can act as a powerful tool for poverty reduction. It emphasises the importance of accessible and efficient public service delivery in addressing the root causes of poverty and improving socioeconomic outcomes for disadvantaged populations. Finally, the sixth cluster (blue node) has only “public sector” as its keyword; however, it is connected to seven other keywords in the network. For instance, the public sector is linked to “public service delivery,” “public services,” “public policy,” “public evaluation,” “service delivery,” “governance,” and “South Africa.” This cluster thus focused on the role of public policy in enhancing public service delivery and good governance in South Africa.

Figure 2 shows that publications on social infrastructure service delivery experienced a significant boost around 2010 and 2012 before experiencing a sharp decline in 2017, after which it then rose again. This trend also emerged in Figure 13. Specifically, Figure 12 showed the time-varying keyword occurrences from 2012 (in dark purple) to 2020 (in yellow). Before and immediately after 2012, most studies on social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa adopted keywords such as basic services, citizens, public policy, public sector, public evaluation, citizen protests, local public policy, etc. By 2016, however, a shift in keyword use tilted towards local government, public services, service delivery, governance, and infrastructure. Subsequently, the emerging research on the subject has shifted to innovation and urban infrastructure (APY of 2020). This has led to a new insight among researchers on the subject, highlighting the need for innovation in the construction, maintenance, and management of urban infrastructure to enhance service delivery.

In providing further explanation on Figures 11, 12, the link and total link strength of the first 10 keywords based on occurrence are presented in Table 3. The link expresses the association between a keyword and related keywords on the network. There is a value for each link, representing its strength, thereby indicating that a link with higher values has a stronger connection. When the individual link strength is added, it gives the total link strength for the keyword. Given this understanding, South Africa, the keyword with the highest occurrences, also recorded the highest number of links (20) and a total link strength of 46 among all the keywords. In terms of connections, public service delivery came second with 13 connections and 25 total link strengths.

In a bid to further buttress the themes in social infrastructure service delivery research, a thematic map, as well as a detailed analysis of relevant studies, was undertaken. The map categorised keywords into clusters based on their frequency and interconnectedness. Just as noticed in Figures 5, 8, 11, 12, the size of the cluster corresponded with the occurrence of the keywords. Therefore, keywords with higher occurrence assumed a bigger size in the cluster than those with less (Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017; Huang, 2025).

Furthermore, two distinct concepts of density and centrality require explanation for an adequate understanding of the thematic map. Density is located at the vertical axis of the map, and it measures the extent of theme development through internal keyword association. Centrality, on the other hand, is located at the horizontal axis, and it is used to determine the theme’s importance through external keyword associations. Simply put, density measures theme growth, while centrality focuses on theme significance (Agyei et al., 2024). These concepts classify themes on the map into Motor, Niche, Emerging/Declining, and Basic categories. These categories were generated from authors’ keywords with three parameters for information richness and map readability. The parameters included 250 of the most frequent authors’ keywords, keywords with a minimum frequency of two occurrences per 1,000 documents, and two keywords per cluster. Consequently, a total of 16 clusters were thus formed, as shown in Figure 14.

Despite the diversity in the focus of existing literature on social infrastructure service delivery in South Africa, evidence abounds on areas that are starving for research attention. These areas, often captured as research gaps, are identified in this section.