Bibliometric analysis of immigrant entrepreneurship research 2009–2019

Abstract

This comprehensive bibliometric study analyses the nomological structure of the immigrant entrepreneurship domain 2009–2019 by means of citation and co-citation analysis. Web of Science citation data was used to return lists of most-cited authors, journals, and publications. Co-citation matrixes were tabulated and visualized with the VosViewer software for three consecutive time intervals to highlight shifts in the evolving structure of knowledge. The results show that the immigrant entrepreneurship domain transformed into a management research domain with seminal theorization shifting toward structuralistic models. Recently, however, the results indicate the successive fragmentation of the nomological network, shown as more localized network clusters while a universal field theory appears absent. We discuss the implications of these developments with regards to the findings of works of content synthesis and formulate seven specific recommendations for future research in the field as well as point out why “multifocality” appears a prosperous concept to further advancing field theorization. Our results serve as an important point of reference for both scholars and practitioners in the field of immigrant entrepreneurship.