Research and Application of GPT-Based Large Language Models in Business and Economics: A Systematic Literature Review in Progress

Represented by ChatGPT and GPT-4, Large Language Models (LLM) based on the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) have revolutionized the capability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in natural language processing. In the fields of business and economics, large amounts of research and applications of GPT-based LLMs have been developed and published to automate tasks that mandate advanced human-machine interaction. Nevertheless, there has not been a systematic literature review on GPT-based LLMs in business and economics. To fill this gap, we present our in-progress literature review in this paper focusing on these two related fields. This paper analyzed 30 published research articles and delineated the trends in research, application, prompt engineering and ethical considerations. Our goal is to provide a research framework as well as an application guideline for the fast-growing audience of GPT and LLMs in business and economics. Results of the literature review indicate that many studies are: (1) engaged in creating new applications of GPT-LLM; (2) empirical-qualitative research based on evidenced-oriented data sources; (3) applying diverse methods of prompt engineering; (4) concerned about ethical challenges of GPT-based LLMs.