Gender issues in key account management research: A systematic literature review and avenues for future research

In many academic disciplines, including psychology, sociology, and management studies, there is broad interest in gender issues. But does this hold true for the literature on key account management, global account management, or strategic account management? Anecdotal evidence suggests that key account management, in practice, is still a rather male domain. Is this reflected in extant research, either through a discussion of the role of female key account managers or through the absence of such a discussion? This study first presents a systematic literature review of the key account management literature regarding research on gender issues. The results show that academic interest in gender issues in key account management has been very limited. It then argues for the necessity for increased scholarly research into gender issues in key account management and it develops numerous avenues for future research along the lines of (1) actors, (2) activities, and (3) resources in key account management as well as (4) relationship atmosphere and the environment in which key account management relationship are being managed.