Meta-analysis of business-related research in the former Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union countries

Purpose Research focussed on various issues or perspectives of business can be considered as an important driving force for business development. The purpose of this paper is to identify the main topics and trends associated with business-related research conducted in Belarus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. The study results contribute to a context-aware explanation of the dynamics of business-oriented research in individual countries. Design/methodology/approach This study both quantitatively and semantically analyses 6,166 abstracts indexed and abstracted in the Scopus database. Three main research questions and associated hypotheses are investigated. Three text-mining techniques were applied in the analysis of available resources, namely, word clustering, collocation statistics and correspondence analysis. Findings There is a growing trend in the quantity of business-related research publications associated with each country. Similarly, there is an increasing internationalisation and intensification process of research networks. It is possible to identify both general and specific business topics that are investigated in individual countries. Research limitations/implications The time spans investigated do not always correspond with the main events occurring at the national level. From the semantic analysis perspective, the shortage of records for specific time periods prevents a valid semantic analysis, and the results are dependent on the quality of the abstracts provided by the authors. The study results might be used as support for funding decisions or context-aware evaluation of research outcomes at both institutional and national level. Originality/value This study provides a unique insight into the development and mutual comparison of business-related research in the countries investigated.