An overview of contemporary international human resource management studies: Themes and relationships

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the evolution of the intellectual structure of international human resource management (IHRM) studies and to propose a theory of an invisible network of knowledge (INK).Design/methodology/approachResearchers can also use this methodology to explore the knowledge network of their own fields so as to gain a vantage position with respect to their field and conduct seminal research.FindingsThe results help to profile the INK production in IHRM and provide important insights with implications for current and future research directions of IHRM studies for management scholars and practitioners.Originality/valueThis study examines the status of contemporary IHRM research over the last decade. This study examines the status of contemporary IHRM research over the last decade. With Social Sciences Citation Index citation data from the top IHRM journal,International Journal of Human Resource Management, this study used citation and co-citation analysis to identify the most important publications, scholars, and research themes in the IHRM area, and then mapped the intellectual structure of IHRM studies.