International Business Review Research Articles

Paradigms in Qualitative IB Research: Trends, Analysis and Recommendations

This paper examines trends, challenges and opportunities in terms of research methodologies in qualitative IB research. In particular, it examines trends for the dominant (positivism/(post)positivism) paradigm versus alternative paradigms (i.e., social constructivism, critical realism and interpretivism) and provides a comparative analysis of data collection and methods. Using mixed methods to collect and analyze data on qualitative articles published in International Business Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, and Management International Review, we examine trends and differences between the dominant and alternative paradigms and use qualitative content analysis to investigate how alternative paradigm papers are conceptualized and presented. Moreover, we interview authors of non-positivist papers to gain in-depth understanding of the findings. We reveal differences across the paradigms and provide evidence of paradigmatic fit between methods and data collection techniques for the dominant paradigm, but more variation for alternative paradigms. Lastly, we provide prescriptions for IB scholars in terms of methodology diversity and how complex IB phenomena can be pursued vis-a-vis alternative paradigms.

Foreign direct investment by multinational corporations in emerging economies: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis

PurposeThis study introduces a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the foreign direct investment (FDI) literature by multinational corporations (MNCs) focusing on emerging economies to identify the most influential authors, journals and articles in FDI research and reveals the fields' conceptual and intellectual structures. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzed 533 articles published between 1974 and 2020 in 226 academic journals indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. We used the R language for statistical computing to map author collaboration, co-word and develop a conceptual and intellectual map of the field.FindingsThe results show that, although the FDI literature has many authors, few dominate the field. The International Business Review (IBR) and International Journal of Emerging Markets (IJoEM) are the main sources of the publications. Moreover, bibliometric laws show that our dataset follows the Lotka law of scientific productivity and Bradford law of scattering, identifying the core journals. Finally, FDI by MNCs in emerging economies research is divided into four sub-research themes related to (1) FDI determinants, (2) entry mode, (3) MNCs and FDI performance and (4) the internationalization process.Originality/valueThe current article provides several starting points for practitioners and researchers investigating FDI. It contributes to broadening the vision of the field and offers recommendations for future studies.

Critique and change: The “what”, “why”, “how”, and “so what”

Critique and change: The “what”, “why”, “how”, and “so what”

U.S. hegemony and international business research: Further considerations

AbstractThe commentaries in this issue raise many insightful questions and considerations regarding the Livanis and Geringer (Thunderbird International Business Review, 2023, 64) study and we address a few of these. In particular, we focus on the following five areas: (i) the relationship of international business (IB) publications with the English language, (ii) resource constraints and IB research, (iii) institutional rewards and IB research, (iv) methodological considerations in evaluating IB research productivity, and (v) opportunity costs of pursuing a Ph.D. and IB research and publication.

The Psychology of Offering Wasta: Inferences from Narratives

AbstractThere is increasing interest in understanding Wasta and its influences on individuals and organizations alike, but little attention has been paid to uncovering elements related to the psychology of offering Wasta, to understand how individuals make their decisions about being Wasta patrons. Extending on the article “Narrative inquiry: a proposed methodology for Wasta research” in Thunderbird International Business Review Journal, this article presents a set of narratives of five individuals in various occupations and industries who were asked to be the patrons of Wasta in an organizational setting in Jordan. The findings generated from the narratives indicate that the decision of offering Wasta depends on the type of network with the receiver, perceived recipient deservingness, the impact of offering Wasta on the donor, and the donor's reciprocity expectations. Through the narratives, a deep understanding of the psychology of offering Wasta and how it works is obtained. The implications of this research are theoretical and practical and are presented at the end of the paper.

Thirty years of International Business Review and International Business Research

This paper reviews the content of the International Business Review (IBR) since its foundation thirty years ago. It analyses statistically the topics addressed by the journal’s contributors. It relates the content of the journal to changing research themes in the discipline. It considers the underlying forces – political, social and economic - that have led to the emergence of new themes, It concludes with some speculations about new themes that may be addressed by future contributors to the journal.

Research on international business: The new realities

This year (2021) marks the thirtieth year of the establishment of the International Business Review. This anniversary provides an appropriate occasion not only to reflect on past developments in the global economy and International Business (IB) research, but also to offer our thoughts on the new realities that we believe IB scholars should address in the coming years. In this paper, we highlight some of the major changes in the global business environment over the past 30 years. In doing so, we draw attention to four new realities that we believe merit increased attention in the IB literature: the growth of populism and economic nationalism, sustainable development and climate change, new digital technologies, and changing power relationships. These realities are not completely new and IB scholars have already begun to explore their implications, but we would argue that both the scope and the depth of these implications are growing and evolving. We are thus calling for new empirical insights, new theoretical lenses, and new perspectives to shed light on these issues that are increasingly having profound impacts on society, on firm strategies, and on cross-border management.

Market entry into Africa: Acquisitions and international joint ventures. Studies of foreign firms' market entry strategies, challenges, and performance in Africa

AbstractWhile the interest in investing in Africa is rising, the know‐how of business on the continent is very limited. There have been only recently few special issues focusing on sub‐Saharan Africa in the top international business journals: “Sub‐Saharan Africa at a key inflection point” (Thunderbird International Business Review 2009); “Contemporary developments in the management of human resources in Africa” (Journal of World Business 2011); “Contemporary challenges and opportunities of doing business in Africa” (Journal of Technological Forecasting and Social Change 2016); “Critical perspectives on international business in Africa (Critical Perspectives on International Business 2016); “Strategic Management in Africa (Global Strategy Journal, 2017); and “The internationalization of African firms (Thunderbird International Business Review 2016). The aim of this special issue is to advance understanding of international business in Africa and specifically focus on how foreign firms enter African markets via acquisitions and international joint ventures and extend knowledge of these market entry strategies and performance in Africa for research and for foreign firms intending to, or currently doing business in Africa. This guest editorial provides a summary of the five articles and one book review in this special issue categorized into three broad thematic issues: International joint ventures and acquisitions as market entry strategies in Africa; cross‐border investments of African firms; and theoretical underpinnings.

Trends and changes in Thunderbird International Business Review journal: A bibliometric review

AbstractThunderbird International Business Review is amongst the most influential journals in the field of international business studies. It started in 1959 as a result of a collaboration with the Thunderbird School of Global Business Management in the United States. The key objective of the journal is to combine academic and practical issues thereby appealing to international business academics and executives. This approach has led it to be amongst the most well‐read and cited journals due to its ability to incorporate articles on current international business topics. The aim of this article is to analyze how the journal has grown and changed. A bibliometric analysis of the journal is conducted with a specific focus on the last 15‐year time period in order to understand the trends and predict future projections. The most cited articles, authors, and countries are stated. In addition, the topics covered are discussed, which shows the journal shifting from a broad reliance on international business topics such as foreign direct investment, export performance, and multinationals to diversifying into more inter‐disciplinary topic areas such as entrepreneurship and innovation. The role of the journal impacting the topics covered in other journals is also discussed. Future research trends are provided that discuss potential new growth areas that need to be covered in terms of further progressing the field of international business studies.

View from practice: Stock market reaction to sukuk credit rating changes in Malaysia

Thunderbird International Business ReviewVolume 61, Issue 6 p. 977-977 CORRIGENDUMFree Access View from practice: Stock market reaction to sukuk credit rating changes in Malaysia This article corrects the following: View from practice: Stock market reaction to sukuk credit rating changes in Malaysia Zulkarnain Muhamad Sori, Shamsher Mohamad, Mahmoud Al Homsi, Volume 61Issue 5Thunderbird International Business Review pages: 659-667 First Published online: April 24, 2019 First published: 14 October 2019 https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.22096AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat In Muhamad Sori, Muhamad and Al Homsi (2019), the sequence of authors was published with error. Here is the correct author listing: Mahmoud Al Homsi1, Zulkarnain Muhamad Sori2 and Shamsher Mohamad2 1Research Department, CIBAFI, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain 2INCEIF, Lorong Universiti A, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia We apologize for this error. REFERENCE Al Homsi, M., Muhamad Sori, Z., & Mohamad, S. (2019). View from practice: Stock market reaction to sukuk credit rating changes in Malaysia. Thunderbird International Business Review, 61, 659– 667. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.22066 Volume61, Issue6November/December 2019Pages 977-977 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Twenty-five years (1992–2016) of the International Business Review: A bibliometric overview

The International Business Review (IBR) is a leading international academic journal in the field of International Business (IB). Such leadership is reflected in the large number of publications that grow year after year and particularly in the large number of citations received from other journals of high academic prestige. The aim of this study is to conduct a bibliometric overview of the leading trends regarding the journal’s publications and citations since its creation in 1992 until 2016. The work identifies the authors, universities, and countries that publish the most in IBR by mainly using the Scopus database though eventually complemented with Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection. It also analyzes the most cited papers and articles of the journal. Besides, the study graphically maps the bibliographic material by using the visualization of similarities (VOS) viewer software. In order to do so, the work uses co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-occurrence of author keywords. The results show the prominent European profile of the journal where contributors from European universities and countries are the most productive ones in the journal. Particularly, British and Scandinavian universities obtain the most remarkable results. However, mostly scholars from North America, but also from Oceania and East Asia are increasingly and regularly publishing in the journal. In addition, IBR is very well connected to other leading journals in the field, such as the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) and the Journal of World Business (JWB), as well as with other top management journals, thus demonstrating its core position in IB research conducted worldwide.

A review of the internationalization of Chinese enterprises

This article reviews the scholarly research on the internationalization of Chinese enterprises (ICE) through bibliometric citation analysis. We do so through a data visualization technique and analysis of 206 articles which are authored by 382 scholars in 72 different journals published between 2003 and 2016. The results reveal four research streams in the context of ICE: (1) testing traditional FDI theory, (2) location choice, (3) entry mode choice, and (4) drivers and motivations of internationalization. While international business (IB) journals, such as the Journal of World Business, the Journal of International Business Studies, and International Business Review, have taken a lead role in pushing the ICE literature stream forward, geographically focused general management journals, such as the Asia Pacific Journal of Management and Management & Organization Review, have also made a singular contribution. The impact of perspective, in terms of author and institution affiliation, on the literature set is also examined. Finally, issues related to data, methodological rigor and theoretical underpinnings are highlighted. To advance the ICE literature, we proposed a holistic framework of drivers and motivations of Chinese outward FDI and present some promising future research areas.

An Investigation into the Benefits of Investing in Chinese Multinational Companies

We provide a unique longitudinal analysis into firm-level multinationality of Chinese firms between 2002 and 2012 using two measures of multinationality—the Aggarwal, Berrill, Hutson and Kearney (2011, International Business Review, 20, 557–577) system and foreign sales as a percentage of total sales. We find that Chinese firms have low levels of multinationality with most foreign sales in the triad regions of Asia, Europe and North America. We use mean variance spanning tests to investigate the benefits from investing in Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs). We find that Chinese MNCs offer little diversification benefits to domestic investors and firms with greater multinationality levels do not result in greater benefits.

Effectuation, Not Being Pragmatic or Process Theorizing, Remains Ineffectual: Responding to the Commentaries

Effectuation, Not Being Pragmatic or Process Theorizing, Remains Ineffectual: Responding to the Commentaries

A critical look at the use of SEM in international business research

Purpose– Structural equation modeling (SEM) has been widely used to examine complex research models in international business and marketing research. While the covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM) approach is dominant, the authors argue that the field’s dynamic nature and the sometimes early stage of theory development more often require a partial least squares SEM (PLS-SEM) approach. The purpose of this paper is to critically review the application of SEM techniques in the field.Design/methodology/approach– The authors searched six journals with an international business (and marketing) focus (Management International Review,Journal of International Business Studies,Journal of International Management,International Marketing Review,Journal of World Business,International Business Review) from 1990 to 2013. The authors reviewed all articles that apply SEM, analyzed their research objectives and methodology choices, and assessed whether the PLS-SEM papers followed the best practices outlined in the past.Findings– Of the articles, 379 utilized CB-SEM and 45 PLS-SEM. The reasons for using PLS-SEM referred largely to sampling and data measurement issues and did not sufficiently build on the procedure’s benefits that stem from its design for predictive and exploratory purposes. Thus, the procedure’s key benefits, which might be fruitful for the theorizing process, are not being fully exploited. Furthermore, authors need to better follow best practices to truly advance theory building.Research limitations/implications– The authors examined a subset of journals in the field and did not include general management journals that publish international business and marketing-related studies. Fur-thermore, the authors found only limited use of PLS-SEM in the journals the authors considered relevant to the study.Originality/value– The study contributes to the literature by providing researchers seeking to adopt SEM as an analytical method with practical guidelines for making better choices concerning an appropriate SEM approach. Furthermore, based on a systematic review of current practices in the international business and marketing literature, the authors identify critical challenges in the selection and use of SEM procedures and offer concrete recommendations for better practice.

Thunderbird International Business Review

Thunderbird International Business ReviewVolume 57, Issue 4 p. VI-VI Information Page Thunderbird International Business Review First published: 08 June 2015 https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21737Citations: 1Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume57, Issue4July/August 2015Pages VI-VI RelatedInformation

Thunderbird International Business Review

Thunderbird International Business ReviewVolume 57, Issue 2 p. VI-VI Information Page Thunderbird International Business Review First published: 13 February 2015 https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21704Citations: 1Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume57, Issue2March/April 2015Pages VI-VI RelatedInformation

Thunderbird International Business Review

Thunderbird International Business ReviewVolume 57, Issue 1 p. VIII-VIII Information Page Thunderbird International Business Review First published: 19 December 2014 https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21685Citations: 1Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume57, Issue1January/February 2015Pages VIII-VIII RelatedInformation

Thunderbird International Business Review

Thunderbird International Business ReviewVolume 56, Issue 6 p. VIII-VIII Information Page Thunderbird International Business Review First published: 27 October 2014 https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21667Citations: 1Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume56, Issue6November/December 2014Pages VIII-VIII RelatedInformation

Thunderbird International Business Review

Thunderbird International Business ReviewVolume 56, Issue 6 p. 601-604 Volume Table of Contents Thunderbird International Business Review THUNDERBIRD SCHOOL OF GLOBAL MANAGEMENT First published: 27 October 2014 https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21662Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume56, Issue6November/December 2014Pages 601-604 RelatedInformation