A Bibliometric Analysis to Study the Evolution of Artificial Intelligence in Business Ethics

The contemporary world is witnessing the pervasive diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) across diverse societal domains.Concurrently, the implementation of these technologies in numerous management areas raises novel and critical ethical con-siderations. Considering that AI is not a neutral technology, this study employs a bibliometric approach to conduct a systematicliterature review, aiming to understand the evolution of this nascent field within management studies. Our analysis is limited topublications from 2016 onward, a year widely recognized as marking the onset of significant AI dissemination. By examining therecent years of diffusion and the evolution of this phenomenon, our work reveals a fragmented field. To investigate thematic evo-lution, we used the Cobo method, partitioning the corpus into three distinct time slices with cut-off points at 2020 and 2022. Thefindings indicate that, despite the emergence of key themes and a substantial body of research exploring AI from both technicaland philosophical standpoints, the field remains in its initial stages of development. This analysis underscores the increasing rel-evance of research in management science concerning the responsible and ethical application of AI technologies. Consequently,this area presents considerable opportunities for future management research employing diverse managerial and theoreticalframeworks, particularly in relation to the antecedents of ethical AI adoption and the implications of AI for ethical leadership.