PurposeIn order to further understand the research status and prospect, the purpose of this paper is to adopt a novel method in the research field of institutional investor to depict the knowledge structure and the evolution path over the past three decades.Design/methodology/approachBased on the 4,194 records retrieved from Web of Science, Citespace combined with VOSviewer are employed to perform visualized analysis.FindingsThe results reveal that the number of published articles of research on institutional investor has an exponential growth. Although the United States is the most significant contributor with more publications compared with other countries, Malaysia and Nigeria show higher centrality in the research network worldwide. Furthermore, “shareholder activism”, “corporate governance”, “global convergence”, “corporate reporting regulation” and “individual investor” are the largest five knowledge clusters. “Media coverage”, “corporate social responsibility” and “stock price crash risk” are the latest three knowledge clusters. Moreover, “governance worldwide”, “institutional character”, “dynamic information environment”, “investment patterns” and “sustainable development” are the potential extended research fields in the future.Originality/valueThis research helps the scholars and participants to capture the knowledge structure of research on institutional investors and to develop a reference to future opportunities.
