The phenomenon of moonlighting is drawing attention across the globe. This study aims to highlight the innovation and propensity in the literature on moonlighting by investigating academic publications on moonlighting through bibliometric analysis. Additionally, the comprehensive literature review identifies various factors that led to moonlighting intentions among employees.
This study adopts the qualitative bibliometric analysis and content analysis approach to evaluate the existing literature on moonlighting. In total, 201 papers from Scopus between 1975 and May 2023 were retrieved in accordance with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis review methodology. Scientific mapping was used in conjunction with descriptive analysis for analyzing the data through VOSviewer software.
The results illustrate a growing trend in moonlighting, which shows that the topic is gaining momentum so as to create a second source of income. The analysis identified the most cited publications, most productive journals, authors and countries in the current domain. Further, authors from the USA have maximum collaborations with authors from other countries in regard to publication on moonlighting. Keyword co-occurrence analysis further revealed the recent trends in topics related to moonlighting. This study further explores various factors that provoke employees to practice moonlighting while working in the organizations.
The review paper provides an in-depth understanding of the reasons behind moonlighting among employees which would help organizations to evaluate their policies and build effective employee welfare strategies to ensure the complete participation of employees. This research further delineates the future research directions for the academicians regarding moonlighting.
