A systematic international entrepreneurship review and future research agenda

Abstract

PurposeInternational entrepreneurship (IE) has received a considerable amount of attention in the recent decades as a result of globalization enabling access to new international markets and business opportunities. Despite the growing increase in academic publications, IE still faces certain inconsistencies, with doubts remaining as regards its boundaries and the thematic groups making up the field. The purpose of this article is to systematically analyse the IE, mapping the intellectual territory and the evolution of the field.Design/methodology/approach Indexed to Web of Science( WoS) database until 2021, from 52 journals, 130 articles were selected, applying content analyses techniques to identify the main research lines.FindingsThe results reveal that IE presents four conceptual themes/clusters: (1) international business networks and opportunities; (2) institutional environments; (3) the characteristics and motivations of entrepreneurs; and (4) internationalisation drivers and processes. Extant analysis show that IE has progressed immensely, concentrating a good diversity of subtopics and research trends. An integrative framework bringing together 27 years of publications and 67 future research lines, detailed by cluster, were also presented in this study to improve understanding and guide future studies.Originality/valueThis review makes a broad contribution to the IE literature, assisting in consolidating the academic field, expanding and complementing the results of previous theoretical–conceptual studies. We reflect and individually discuss the state of the art of the four streams that characterize IE to identify key themes, points of convergence and advance new subfields.

International Entrepreneurship: Thematic Mapping and Research Agenda Proposal

“…In addition, we chose to use the two largest databases in the area of applied social sciences (Scopus and Web of Science) to have greater breadth than if only one database was used -e.g., the Web of Science, as is the case of Nave and Ferreira (2022). Thus, the findings of this study add to those of the others, contributing to the state of the art of the IS.…”

“…Finally, there is the model theme, which influences the continuity of the performance theme and the emergence of the impact theme. It is worth noting here an alignment of emerging themes and those that continue their development with the clusters mentioned by Nave and Ferreira (2022), mainly with the clusters networks and international business opportunities, characteristics and motivations of the entrepreneur and stimuli and processes of internationalization. The fourth cluster mentioned by the authors, institutional environments, is included in the research agenda that this article proposes for its deepening.…”

“…Resuming the discussion of Figure 2, after reading the initial work on IE by McDougall (1989), we arrived at the seminal article of Oviatt and McDougall (1994), considered a landmark in the research on IE (Baier-Fuentes et al, 2018;Nave & Ferreira, 2022). The authors defined International New Ventures (INV) as commercial organizations that seek to obtain competitive advantages through the use of resources and the sale of products in different countries from their very beginnings.…”

“…In relation to Latin America, only four countries are cited: Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica. Nave and Ferreira (2022), in their systematic review, considered the last 27 years of publications in the field of IE. The authors state that the production on IE shows an increase in publications and citations, mainly from 2014 onwards.…”

Empreendedorismo Internacional: Mapeamento Temático e Proposta de Agenda de Pesquisa

“…Já em relação à América Latina, somente quatro países aparecem nos resultados do estudo: Brasil, Chile, Colômbia e Costa Rica. Nave e Ferreira (2022), na sua revisão sistemática, consideraram os últimos 27 anos de publicações na área do EI. Os autores afirmam que a produção sobre EI apresenta um aumento em publicações e citações principalmente a partir de 2014.…”