Political Ties in Emerging Markets: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Purpose – This paper identifies the development of and gaps in knowledge in various management disciplines, including international marketing in relation to political ties in emerging markets, based on a systematic review of the related literature. The paper develops a synthesized integrative framework and provides a research agenda and pathways for future research.

Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts the systematic literature review protocol to investigate the ways in which political ties have been examined in the management literature in various disciplines, such as international business, marketing, entrepreneurship, strategy, innovation, and organization. 114 articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to 2022 were analyzed.

Findings – We believe that studying the impact of political ties on firm outcomes is timely and important as interest in this area of research is growing rapidly. The review reveals that the diverse conceptual and methodological approaches adopted in different management disciplines have resulted in inconclusive and mixed findings on the relationship between political ties and performance.

Originality/value – This is one of the few systematic literature reviews of political ties and firm performance in emerging markets. We clarify some of the ambiguities around the subject and offer a path forward for developing current understanding and insights. We also highlight the major perspectives in management and clarify the similarities and differences in the conceptualization of political ties. In addition, we develop an integrative framework of the political ties–performance link in emerging markets.