International joint ventures research on Africa: A systematic literature review, propositions, and contextualization

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21993
• Author: Nnamdi Oguji,William Y. Degbey,Richard A. Owusu
• Date: 01 January 2021
• Published date: 01 January 2021

RESEARCH ARTICLE

International joint ventures research on Africa: A systematic

literature review, propositions, and contextualization

Nnamdi Oguji

1

| William Y. Degbey

2

| Richard A. Owusu

3

1

Department of Marketing, University of

Vaasa, Vaasa, Finland

2

Department of Marketing & International

Business, Turku School of Economics,

University of Turku, Turku, Finland

3

Department of Marketing, School of Business

and Economics, Linnaeus University, Kalmar,

Sweden

Correspondence

Nnamdi Oguji, Department of Marketing,

University of Vaasa, P.O. Box 700. FI-65101

Vaasa, Finland.

Email: nnamdi.oguji@gmail.com

This study reviewed the research on international joint ventures (IJVs) in Africa up to 2017. The

authors performed a systematic search of peer-reviewed good-quality research using the 6W

procedure and ensured the quality of the review by using the 5Cs quality criteria. The content

analysis was focused on four research questions. A total of 22 relevant studies were found.

Overall, only about one-third of the lead authors were affiliated with African universities. A

majority of the studies were quantitative, and 78% of the studies were done for three countries:

Ghana, Morocco, and Nigeria. There was either just one or no study on trust and conflict, part-

ner selection, and human resource management (HRM). At the contextual level, it seems the

most important factor influencing IJV strategy and success is institutions. We therefore suggest

a greater use of institutional theory. Finally, we present a summary of conceptual framework

and four propositions to guide future research.

KEYWORDS

Africa, international joint ventures, literature review

1|INTRODUCTION

The increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into several

African countries are the result of market reforms and economic liber-

alization policies implemented over the past three decades (Bartels,

Napolitano, & Tissi, 2014; Dadzie, Owusu, Amoako, & Aklamanu,

2018; Degbey & Ellis, 2017; World Bank, 2011, 2012). While the total

value of acquisitions in Africa is twice that of the previous decade

(UNCTAD, 2015), the use of the greenfield alternative entry mode has

also risen because of the rapidly improving formal institutions in many

African countries (R. Chen, Cui, Li, & Rolfe, 2017). Despite these

trends, some African governments still have several restrictive laws on

mergers and acquisitions (M&A) (Oguji & Owusu, 2017a), which, in

addition to local content legislation (Vaaland, Soneye, & Owusu,

2012), host government suasion (Bartels, Johnson, & Ahmed, 2002),

and challenges in valuating targets and accessing necessary financing,

make international joint ventures (IJVs) a viable strategy for firms

seeking market entry into Africa.

IJVs or partially owned greenfields are a prevalent strategy used

by foreign firms to gain market entry into Africa (Boateng, 2004). In a

greenfield organization, a foreign firm shares the ownership stake with

a local partner (S.-F. Chen, 2008), and the equity share serves as a

means to exercise ownership and control over the joint venture

(Bowe, Golesorkhi, & Yamin, 2014). Through IJVs, both partners lever-

age their capabilities, learn and develop new expertise, and achieve

enhanced profitability and synergies (Ado, Su, & Wanjiru, 2017;

Beamish & Berdrow, 2003).

A literature review of existing studies on IJVs suggests existing

research is dominated by the advanced economies in Europe and

North America, as well as the recently emerging economies of Asia

and Latin America. The scant research on Africa is the reason for the

recent call for studies focusing on IJVs in Africa (Oguji & Owusu,

2017b), as there exists a need to discuss the importance of the African

context and the ways it can shape IJV research in international busi-

ness (IB). This paper answers this call by conducting a systematic liter-

ature review of existing studies on Africa. Our objective is to examine

the extant of IJV research in Africa to understand what we know thus

far, whether the African context is unique, and how we can advance

future IJV research in Africa. We approached our objective through

four research questions:

RQ1: What are the characteristics of IJV research in Africa?

RQ2: What do we know about IJVs in Africa?

RQ3: How have these studies affected the conceptualization

of IJVs?

DOI: 10.1002/tie.21993

Thunderbird Int. Bus. Rev. 2021;63:11–26. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tie © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 11

RQ4: What might be some promising avenues for future

research?

Our literature review and the answers to these research ques-

tions have enabled us to discuss the IJV context in Africa, contrast it

with those of developed economies, shed light on its uniqueness, and

suggest several potential IJV themes in the context of Africa. We

believe examining the African context will contribute to contextual-

ized explanations in IB research, enrich theory, and provide contextual

aspects that have so far been unexplored (e.g., Meyer & Peng, 2005;

Van de Ven & Jing, 2012; Welch, Piekkari, Plakoyiannaki, &

Paavilainen-Möntymäki, 2011). We approach this paper as follows:

The first section focuses on the procedure of the systematic literature

review, which involves a search and thematic analysis of the literature

up to 2017. The second section discusses the characteristics of the

researchers and their publications. The third section discusses

the themes and current knowledge about IJVs in Africa. Fourth, we

discuss the context-specific contributions of these studies and com-

pare them with the contributions of research on advanced economies.

Based on the contextualized explanation, we formulate propositions.

Finally we recommend a future research agenda for IJVs in Africa.

2|LITERATURE REVIEW DESIGN AND

PROTOCOL

We conducted a systematic literature review to uncover the impor-

tance of the African context and its role in shaping IJV research. A sys-

tematic literature review enables us to critically examine IJV issues in

the African context by integrating existing studies, summarizing prior

IJV contributions, locating knowledge gaps, and developing new theo-

retical frameworks that will contribute to the IB literature

(e.g., Marabelli & Newell, 2014; Xie, Reddy, & Liang, 2017).

Our literature review followed the 6Ws literature review design

(Callahan, 2014; Xie et al., 2017) and employed the 5Cs as quality

criteria (Callahan, 2014). The 6Ws protocol is comprised of who (who

conducted the search for data), when (when the data were collected),

where (where the data were collected), wherein (how the data were

collected), what (what was kept and what was discarded), and why

(why the selection criteria were used) (Callahan, 2014; Xie

et al., 2017).

Who (who searched for the data?): The search was conducted inde-

pendently by all authors to ensure the consistency and validity of the

search process.

When (when were the data collected?): The lead author conducted

the initial search in 2016. A later search was conducted by all authors

in 2017 after the 2017 Thunderbird call for papers on IJV research in

Africa.

Where (where were the data collected?): The search was focused

on peer-reviewed journal publications up to 2017, without restrictions

on the initial year of analysis. Books and conference proceedings were

not considered because peer-reviewed articles have the most impact

in scholarly research (e.g., Martineau & Pastoriza, 2016; Podsakoff,

MacKenzie, Bachrach, & Podsakoff, 2005).

Wherein (how were the data collected?): The literature search was

done using Scopus, Business Source Premier, and ProQuest in system-

atic steps. First, the authors searched Scopus, for specific keywords—

“Joint Ventures”AND “Africa.”A total of 121 articles were found. The

titles of these 121 articles were copied and uploaded to an Excel

sheet. A second keyword search for “Joint Ventures”and the names

of each country in Africa (e.g., Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Camer-

oon, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco) was done. The titles of all the arti-

cles found were also copied to an Excel sheet. After eliminating

duplicates, a total of 140 unique articles were left. The same search

process was repeated in Business Source Premier and ProQuest.

Three new articles were found in Business Source Premier, and the

remaining articles were duplicates of articles already identified in

Scopus. Thus, in all, 143 unique articles were found. In selecting suit-

able papers, the authors checked for articles that focused on issues

within the scope of IJV research, as shown in Figure 1.

The authors read each of the articles, and a total of 22 relevant

articles were found. Table 1 shows the relevant articles and the

respective keywords and databases.

What (what was kept and discarded?): After the search process,

22 relevant articles were selected. Other articles that did not focus on

IJV research as identified in Figure 1 were eliminated.

Why (why the selection criteria used?): The authors are experienced

IB researchers. However, to avoid bias, we sent Figure 1 to threeaddi-

tional researcherswith more than 15 individual publications focusing on

issues in IJVs. They confirmed that our figure is a good representation

of the scopeof IJV research, thus confirmingour selection criteria.

The quality of the systematic literature review was ensured by

using the 5C criteria (concise, clear, critical, convincing, and contribu-

tive). The authors sought to ensure that the argumentation of the

extant studies was concise and clear. Furthermore, we ensured that

our review was critical and convincing by developing a critical review

procedure comprised of eight analytical points (for a similar procedure,

see Bozic, 2017; Creswell, 2013). The eight analytical points were

(a) bibliographic details, (b) focus area of the paper within the IJV

research paradigm, (c) theory used, (d) key findings, (e) methodology,

IJV

performance,

survival &

dissolution

IJV

formation,

composition,

financing,

ownership,

governance,

& control Knowledge

transfer &

IJVs

learning in

Trust &

conflict

issues in

IJVs

Partner

IJV

selection &

negotiation

IJV motives,

vs.

choice of IJV

alternative

entry mode

choice

HRM issues

in IJVs

FIGURE 1 Scope of international joint venture (IJV) research [Color

figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

12 OGUJI ET AL.