MAPPING RESEARCH IN THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FIELD

Despite the interest in International Human Resource Management (IHRM) in recent years, several issues still need to be addressed to provide clarity and conceptual understanding. This article aims to offer a systematic review of the literature on IHRM, highlighting the main themes and trends observed in this field. The study offers a critical evaluation, deepening the comprehension of IHRM, and identifying the most promising future lines of research. A scientific mapping analysis based on co-word networks of the literature was developed, using the SciMAT bibliometric tool. Three steps were followed: first, research themes were detected; second, the research themes and thematic networks were visualised; and third, the contributions made by the research topics were measured by performance analysis. One thousand seven hundred and seven published documents between 1974 and 2020 were retrieved from the Web of Science. In the last period (2015-2020) the driving themes are cross-cultural adjustment, multinationals, global careers and cross-cultural management. Job satisfaction is a specialised issue, while China is a transversal issue. Global talent management, women in the international context and diversity are emerging themes. This analysis will help inform researchers, professionals and public administrations about the importance of IHRM.