THE FUTURE OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AS A STUDY FIELD

Abstract

The field of International Business lies at a crossroads of analytical levels, themes and theoretical traditions, and it will probably remain at this point in the near future. This work follows five years (2001-2006) of the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) to analyse the scope and evolution of themes, methodologies and theoretical traditions in 199 articles. After this phase, it discusses, with the help of colleagues gathered in two workshops, the future of the area in terms of two hypotheses: the convergence hypothesis of the dominance of a theoretical and thematic mainstream, and the divergence hypothesis of a “theoretical quilt” configuration of the field. It concludes that the editorial preferences of JIBS favour traditional approaches to the field and that the second “future” is the most likely to occur, leading International Business to evolve as a social reference more than an epistemological entity.