The social value creation of MNEs - a literature review across multiple academic fields

Purpose
This study investigates how different academic fields within and outside of international business (IB) engage with the topics of social value creation in the context of multinational enterprises (MNEs). The aim is to take stock of the main themes and offer suggestions for future research avenues.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper undertakes a scoping review. We use the Web of Science database to identify relevant articles. The database search yielded 466 articles. The NVivo software was used to code and identify key thematic areas.
Findings
The matrix analysis performed in NVivo yielded 15 main thematic areas spanning 37 research fields. However, further analysis revealed that 89% of the articles originated from 13 fields. Furthermore, while IB journals represent the second-largest field home to publications related to the social value creation of MNEs, they only account for 12% of the sample.
Originality/value
The paper responds to prior calls to reduce disciplinary silos through the performing of a thematic analysis across a multitude of research fields.