Mergers and acquisitions—Time for a methodological rejuvenation of the field?

SummaryMergers and acquisitions (henceforth M&As) have long attracted interest from academics. Yet, despite all the research, we do not seem to know much about M&A outcomes. Reasons for this state of affairs are frequently attributed to the fragmentation and existence of substantive gaps in current M&A literature, and the need for integrative frameworks to grasp such a complex phenomenon. We do not agree. We would instead posit that the M&A field has become marred by a set of bureaucratic method techniques that trivialize research with little organizational relevance. If we are to advance our understanding of M&As as scholars we must rethink how we produce knowledge in the M&A field in terms of research designs and sources of data. This is the aim of this research note—to discuss a possible way to query M&As. To accomplish this, we will address some methodological issues about the study of M&A as processes instead of as one time events in order to bring forward some ideas on how to learn more about M&A processes.