Informal institutions and international business: Toward an integrative research agenda

Luis Alfonso Dau (), Aya S. Chacar (), Marjorie A. Lyles () and Jiatao Li ()
Additional contact information
Luis Alfonso Dau: Northeastern University
Aya S. Chacar: Florida International University
Marjorie A. Lyles: Florida International University
Jiatao Li: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Journal of International Business Studies, 2022, vol. 53, issue 6, No 1, 985-1010

Abstract: Abstract This editorial introduces the literature on informal institutions and international business (IB) as well as the Special Issue. Informal institutions serve as the invisible threads that connect the fabric of social groupings, making them a critical element in the study of IB, but also especially challenging to capture both theoretically and empirically. As a result, there has been limited work on the topic, a lack of clarity on how to conceptualize and measure informal institutions, and a limited understanding of the role they play in IB. This editorial and Special Issue seek to address these gaps. Specifically, this editorial teases out the definitions of institutions, formal institutions, and informal institutions, and clarifies how they differ from organizations and culture. It then reviews the literature on the three main institutional traditions, explaining for each the role of informal institutions, and connecting them to the IB literature and Special Issue articles. Finally, it identifies gaps and proposes a future research agenda. The goal is to stimulate the academic conversation on the topic by showing how informal institutions are essential in studying international business.

Keywords: informal institutions; international business; unwritten rules; unwritten norms; social expectations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41267-022-00527-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:jintbs:v:53:y:2022:i:6:d:10.1057_s41267-022-00527-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/41267/PS2

DOI: 10.1057/s41267-022-00527-5

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Business Studies is currently edited by John Cantwell

More articles in Journal of International Business Studies from Palgrave Macmillan, Academy of International Business
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().