Abstract
The interplay between internationalization and digitalization (IDI) is a relatively young research domain that is finding its way into numerous academic journals, which motivates us to systematically portray the proceedings and evolutions of this interplay over time, analyze its methodological and theoretical background and, more importantly, provide insights to guide future research on these phenomena. Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, we analyze 68 peer-reviewed international business and management papers to explore the structure of knowledge production and identify the emerging trends. Our research reveals four key stages of the debate: (a) how IDI influences interorganizational aspects (1996–2004), (b) how digitalization influences the balance between perceived risk and returns in internationalization (2005–2009), (c) how digital advances and available internationalization channel alternatives influence IDI (2010–2014), and (d) how IDI influences intraorganizational aspects (2015–2019). Moreover, our analysis reveals heterogeneity across theoretical perspectives, methods, and research themes over the years. Finally, we identify theoretical and methodological challenges related to IDI research.
Highlights
In recent decades, management studies have acknowledged digital transformation as one of the most relevant phenomena shaping the evolution of the business world and, by and large, societiesExtended author information available on the last page of the article1 3 Vol.:(0123456789)(Parviainen et al 2017; Tihinen et al 2016)
What is the structure of the internationalization and digitalization (IDI) domain? How did the related research develop over time? What emerges that is of interest to practitioners and scholars studying this evolution? What are the future patterns of the research? with the aim of answering the above questions, the purpose of this article is threefold
By conducting a structured assessment of the extant literature to answer our research questions (What is the structure of the IDI domain? How did the related research develop over time? What emerges that is of interest to practitioners and scholars studying this evolution? What are the future patterns of the research?), our work represents a first attempt to offer a clear overview of IDI, enrich the conversation about IDI, interpret its evolution, and provide an informative snapshot of this research domain
Summary
Management studies have acknowledged digital transformation (or digitization; i.e., the “technical process of converting analog signals into digital form”; Legner et al 2017, p. 301) as one of the most relevant phenomena shaping the evolution of the business world and, by and large, societiesExtended author information available on the last page of the article1 3 Vol.:(0123456789)(Parviainen et al 2017; Tihinen et al 2016). During the last three decades (and especially the most recent one), great innovations in digitalization have reshaped the task environment and redesigned international strategies: innovative technologies have facilitated firms in reducing their transaction costs (Yamin and Sinkovics 2006), favoring communication, carrying out information interchanges and integration among partners, suppliers, customers and distributors (Alarcón-del-Amo et al 2018; Kim et al 2018; Özcan et al 2018; Vasilchenko and Morrish 2011), reducing distances (Liu et al 2016; Sinkovics et al 2011), supporting the emergence of synergies in production (Jean et al 2010), reshaping firm boundaries (Chen and Kamal 2016), and reconfiguring operations and the supply chain by reducing location dependencies (Jean et al 2010; Strange and Zucchella 2017). Digitalization has permitted the identification of new market opportunities (Chen and Kamal 2016; Watson et al 2018) and allowed for easy access to resources, capabilities and knowledge in foreign countries (Charalabidis et al 2015; Coviello et al 2017)
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