Domain dynamics in scholarly areas: How external pressure may cause concept and term changes
Terminology, (2011)Abstract
The present paper discusses how scholarly areas are subject to different kinds of external pressure resulting in both concept and term changes. When representing domains in knowledge bases, a central purpose will be to capture the conceptual structures of the domains together with the terminology denoting the concepts. This pursuit is fundamentally challenged by the fact that domains are dynamic and develop over time. In the paper, this challenge is discussed in view of examples from three different domains, i.e., Organisational Behaviour, Financial Accounting and Crisis, Restructuring and Growth. All these three economic-administrative domains are subject to external pressure which causes both concept and term changes. However, the factors causing the knowledge development are quite different.