Internationalization of companies and transaction costs theory: bibliometric analysis.

Abstract

Research in international business aims to understand and explain decisions related to the internationalization of companies. The Transaction Cost Theory (TCT) is one of the main theoretical currents that explain the internationalization decisions of companies. TCT has already done much to explain internationalization decisions, however, new trends have demanded the extension of traditional internationalization theories and TCT has much to contribute to explaining internationalization decisions. Thus, this article, through a bibliometric study of academic articles published between 1961 and 2018, aimed to analyze the theoretical networks around TCT and its impact on international business research, as well as to identify perspectives for extending the theory. Data analysis was performed in VOSviewer software. Results indicated an increase of scientific production in the last 10 years, highlighting four journals with high participation in studies dealing this theme. The mapping of co-citations identified links between authors, journals and educational institutions that concentrate production in international business and TCT. Three areas with future perspectives for new scientific productions were identified: international experience of companies, internal management and/or market and international expansion. Thus, results of this study afforded to show a research Framework, with an agenda for future studies.