Three decades of research on cross-border mergers and acquisitions: A literature review and future research agenda

Abstract

This study reviews 191 empirical articles published from 1990 to 2020 in A* and A category journals recognized by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC). We adopt the theories-contexts-characters-methods (TCCM) protocol to review and present the consolidated findings and set future research agendas in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (CBA) activities. Our review findings suggest that scholars have used institutional theory consisting of the formal and informal institutional framework, resource-based view, macro economic theory, information asymmetry, agency theory, ownership, location, and internalization (OLI) framework, and multi-theoretical framework covering transaction cost economics, information cost, real options theory, knowledge-based view, organization learning theory, and likewise related antecedents in the CBA research. Most of the existing knowledge is either from developed markets or global markets, and at a rapid pace, scholars are investigating emerging markets’ outbound CBA activities.