A cognitive map of the international business field

Abstract

Within this paper, we examine the IB field and develop a generic cognitive map in order to better understand the field from an academic research point of view. In doing so, we first categorize the IB literature into research streams. We then examine difficulties encountered when unifying these streams into cognitive maps. Next, we discuss some broad-level, potential maps of the field. After this discussion, we present our more detailed generic map which encompasses some of the major traits of the previous maps along with the research streams identified in the literature review. We conclude by discussing implications of cognitive maps for future research.