Emerging themes in international business research
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PERSPECTIVE
Emerging themes in international business research David A Griffith1, Salih Tamer Cavusgil1 and Shichun Xu2 1
Department of Marketing, The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA; 2 Department of Marketing & Logistics, College of Business Administration, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA Correspondence: ST Cavusgil, Department of Marketing, The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, N370 North Business Complex, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 488241122, USA. Tel: þ 1 517 432 4320; Fax: þ 1 517 432 4322; E-mail: [email protected]
Received: 10 November 2005 Revised: 18 June 2007 Accepted: 18 June 2007 Online publication date: 19 June 2008
Abstract This study is motivated by two research questions: (1) Which recent contributions have been driving the research agenda in international business? (2) Which emerging themes in the literature are likely to set the stage for future work? To examine these questions, the study examined scholarly work in international business over the time period 1996–2006 in six leading international business journals ( Journal of International Business Studies, Management International Review, Journal of World Business, International Marketing Review, Journal of International Marketing, and International Business Review). Next, a Delphi study of the most prolific authors in these journals over the same time period was conducted to delineate a future research agenda in international business. Addressing these two research questions provides us with a more complete understanding of the progress made to date in international business research, and provides a glimpse of the future. Journal of International Business Studies (2008) 39, 1220–1235. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400412 Keywords: international business research themes; international business scholarship; citation analysis; Delphi study
INTRODUCTION A series of recent articles in the Journal of International Business Studies have explored the future development of international business as a scholarly discipline (Buckley, 2002; Buckley & Ghauri, 2004; Buckley & Lessard, 2005; Lewin, 2005; Peng, 2004; Shenkar, 2004). Specifically, Buckley (2002) argues that the field of international business has run out of steam, largely answering the big questions posed in the past, with limited focus on issues to drive the field forward. Further, he contends that the field needs to identify key empirical factors to be explained and then search out a tractable means of explication within a coherent theoretical framework, lest we, as a field, fall victim to a lack of differentiation from other functional areas of management and social science. Peng (2004) responds to this call by identifying specific research questions that can be addressed to drive the international business agenda forward. While identification of the big issues in international business is important to the advancement of know
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