Language Research in International Business: An Author Co-citation Analysis

The number of articles regarding language in international business (IB) research fields has rapidly increased, and many scholars now consider language an important research topic in these fields. Despite the increased study of language in IB fields, scholars continue to be faced with substantial challenges for empirically and theoretically conceptualizing the complexity of this research theme. Thus, we recommend that studies regarding language in IB adopt new methodologies such as bibliometric methods. In addition, language studies should transcend disciplinary boundaries and draw from and integrate various theories from other disciplines such as communication to gain a more profound understanding of language in international business. Our bibliometric study of 222 articles published in the top international business journals from 1975 to 2016 permits deeper analyses than traditional literature reviews. We identify three main research trends: the political view of language, the instrumental view of language and the cultural view of language. In addition, we compared the research trends of language in IB journals with that of 16 communication journals to determine whether similarities exist between the research trends of IB and other research fields. In addition, we suggest which topics should be analysed in future IB studies.