Geopolitics in international business research: mapping the terrain and future agenda

Purpose Despite decades of accumulated knowledge and scholarly efforts to explore geopolitical dynamics in international business (IB), this domain remains theoretically and empirically fragmented, necessitating further knowledge synthesis. This study aims to synthesise the geopolitics–IB literature, identify emerging research themes, and propose avenues for future research. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a systematic review of 105 novel contributions published between 2000 and 2025. The articles were extracted from two comprehensive databases, namely,Web of Science and Scopus. The analysis includes two phases. First, a descriptive analysis followed by content analysis based on a thematic categorization of geopolitics–IB research domain. Findings The findings reveal four major trending themes in current geopolitics–IB research, namely: (i) causes of geopolitical uncertainty, (ii) challenges and impacts of geopolitical uncertainty on multinational corporations (MNCs), (iii) MNCs’ coping strategies during geopolitical uncertainty and (iv) MNCs’ (sustainable) corporate purpose during geopolitical uncertainty. Originality/value The authors contribute to the ongoing geopolitics–IB debate and body of knowledge by exploring the complexities of identified trending themes, their implications for the IB field and offering directions for future research.