Beyond the Nation-state: Anchoring Supranational Institutions in International Business Research

In this paper, we broaden the conceptualization of institutions beyond the
nation-state and develop the concept of an institutional triality that represents
two national institutional environments and the supranational level. While
much of international business (IB) research has focused on national institutions
and the differences between them, little attention and theorizing has been
dedicated to the supranational institutions that form an integral part of the
global institutional ecosystem. First, we conduct an interdisciplinary
bibliometric survey on supranational institutions and a qualitative review of
the central publications. Second, we initiate theory building and conceptualize
supranational institutions from an IB point of view, distinguish them from
related IB concepts, and discuss the conceptual properties of supranational
institutions that are most relevant for MNCs. Building on these distinctions and
properties, we provide a conceptual framework for understanding
supranational institutions in the institutional triality. Third, we provide
avenues for IB research building on the delineations, the conceptual
properties, and the conceptual framework.