Mapping family firm internationalization research: bibliometric and literature review

Abstract

Internationalization is an important entrepreneurial strategy for the growth and long-term survivability of family firms. Research on family firm internationalization (FFI) has attracted increasing interest as there has been rapid growth in the number of academic publications in recent years. Since its initial stages, this research field has evolved significantly and developed in different directions. In this context, the goal of this study is to provide an overview of the cornerstones of the FFI literature, its main research trends, and promising avenues for future research. To this end, we conducted several analyses, including bibliometric performance and co-word analyses as well as a literature review that provide an updated overview of this growing research field and identify key topics underpinning it. Our analysis covered 115 journal articles published in the Web of Science between 2002 and 2018. The main results of the co-word analysis reveal six thematic clusters: (1) corporate governance, (2) entry mode, (3) board of directors, (4) foreign market knowledge, (5) entrepreneurship, and (6) competitive advantage, which provide a holistic view of the field and offer a new and useful means of determining its traceability. Subsequently, we conducted an in-depth full text review of the articles whose keywords are included in each of these clusters with the objective of identifying potential avenues for future research that can contribute to advancing the knowledge of the uniqueness and heterogeneity of family firms. Hence, we help in understanding the interplay between family and firm behavior, and how family firm-specific features shape the dynamics and processes of internationalization.