Mapping five decades of international business and management research on India: A bibliometric analysis and future directions

India-focused research has proliferated in the last few decades. That stated, no study to date has systematically examined the nuances of the intellectual evolution of this rich body of literature. To fill this lacuna, we attempt to quantify and evaluate five decades of India-focused international business (IB) and management research in leading journals. To accomplish this, we map publication trends, shed light on the sample characteristics, major theories, research methodologies, and key research themes of the India-related literature. Moreover, we conduct a bibliometric analysis to account for citation records, authorship patterns, and underlying knowledge structure. The results reveal continuous growth in the number of India-focused IB and management studies from 1974 to 2021. The bibliographic coupling analysis identifies four major clusters of research themes. Based on our findings, we offer distinct avenues of research for future scholars interested in studying the Indian context.

Automated summary

This paper systematically examines five decades of India-focused international business and management research using a large-scale literature survey and bibliometric analysis. The study reveals a continuous growth in the number of studies in this field and identifies four major research theme clusters. The findings provide valuable insights and direction for future scholars interested in studying the Indian context.