Academic research in the Latin American context: a review of the empirical literature 1990-2010

Purpose - The purpose of this literature review is to provide a systematic overview and analysis of the trends and methodological issues of empirical scholarship in the Latin American context. Design/methodology/approach - The publications of a 21-year period (1990-2010) were reviewed in 45 business journals; 108 empirical studies were found that utilized a Latin American context. Findings - Country-specific and research design patterns were identified. This paper discusses how three methodological challenges - language, data collection, and response rates - have evolved in the context of Latin America over a period of two decades. Originality/value - This paper contributes to presenting Latin America as a more tractable empirical context for future qualitative and quantitative scholarship and highlights the feasibility of including this understudied region to test scholars' hypotheses in the developing world.