A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
Introduction: An Agenda for Future-fit International Business Scholarship
Authors: Piekkari, Rebecca; Lundan, Sarianna; Ritvala, Tiina; Harikkala-Laihinen, Riikka; Van Tulder, Rob
Editors: Piekkari, Rebecca; Lundan, Sarianna; Ritvala, Tiina; Harikkala-Laihinen, Riikka; Van Tulder, Rob
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Publication year: 2026
Book title : Future-fit : Expanding the Boundaries of International Business, Part A
Series title: Progress in International Business Research
Number in series: 20A
First page : 1
Last page: 17
ISBN: 978-1-80686-432-4
eISBN: 978-1-80686-431-7
ISSN: 1745-8862
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1745-88622026000020A001
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: No Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : No Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1108/s1745-88622026000020a001
The 50th EIBA Annual Conference in Finland celebrated half a century of progress in International Business (IB) research, while envisioning its future amidst global challenges. The conference embraced the notion that groundbreaking research often surpasses traditional boundaries and explored how the IB community can evolve to remain relevant and make a significant impact on society. This introductory chapter outlines a visionary agenda for IB scholarship, reflecting on past development of the Progress in International Business Research (PIBR) series and questioning whether a new era of engaged research is emerging. The ambition of this two-volume book is to propose an agenda for ‘future-fit’ IB scholarship. It identifies five areas that the selected chapters cover in terms of topics, methodologies, and atypical research contexts that have often been overlooked in IB research. These topical areas, covered in two volumes of the book, offer new perspectives on: (i) the agency and role of governments (volume A); (ii) knowledge creation and technologies (volume A); (iii) value chains and value propositions (volume A); (iv) governance models (volume B); and (v) research methodology (volume B). The conclusion identifies new pathways, and methods needed to enable ‘engaged IB scholarship’, recognizing that current concepts and frameworks are historically bound and may maintain an illusion of stability, suggesting that they have an expiration date. The aim is to nourish collective rethinking, embrace new ideas, and empower young scholars to forge new directions rather than uncritically follow those established by previous generations. The future is here, and it starts now!
Keywords:
Engaged scholarship, future-facing research, multi-polarity, Transdisciplinary, Triangulation
