20 years of firm growth literature in the international small business journal: Taking stock, looking ahead

Over the past two decades, the International Small Business Journal (ISBJ) has played a pivotal role in shaping scholarly understanding of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth. This commentary presents a systematic literature review of 92 ISBJ articles published between 2004 and 2023, examining geographic coverage, theoretical foundations, methodological approaches, growth measures, and thematic trends. Our analysis reveals areas of consolidation and knowledge gaps, including limited attention on the regions beyond Western advanced economies, family and mid-sized firms, the entrepreneur’s role, AI and digitalization, the contingent nature of growth, new theoretical perspectives, weak integration of institutional contexts, and the dominance of outcome-centric views of growth. Moving beyond gaps internal to articles in the ISBJ, we consider these patterns in light of the broader entrepreneurship and management literature and outline research avenues accordingly. In doing so, we aim to reinforce the ISBJ’s role in advancing a more integrative and future-oriented agenda for SME growth research.