Is Internationalization Beneficial to Innovation? Evidence from a Meta-analysis

This paper conducts a meta-analytical review to examine the impact of internationalization on innovation, with particular attention to the role of research design factors that may confound causal inferences. The existing literature is examined (1) to determine the average effect of internationalization on innovation and (2) to assess how variations in key aspects of research design has affected results. Analysis of 99 studies reveals that the effects of internationalization on innovation are diverse but are generally positive, albeit the effect sizes are mostly small to moderate. The inferred magnitude of such effects is influenced by research design factors and that country-context matters. The results suggest that internationalization measurements, data characteristics and statistical artifacts affect the variations in effect sizes. We conclude with a discussion of opportunities and challenges in future research on the internationalization-innovation nexus.