The investment development path literature: a review and research agenda

This study is the first systematic literature review of the Investment Development Path (IDP) that applies a thematic analysis approach, encompassing 51 journal articles published in CABS-ranked journals from 1981 to 2021. This study differs from previous studies on IDP in terms of the methodology deployed and the research focus. The deployment of IDP literature is quite extensive, covering many aspects of the IDP concept. The analysis reveals that four themes arise from the IDP literature: the assessment of a country’s development in relation to the IDP concept, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) phenomena in the IDP concept, the internal and external factors that influence a country’s position in the IDP stages, and further development of the IDP concept. These findings lead to the generation of a novel framework that represents the interrelationship between FDI performance and the economic development of a country relative to its position on the IDP stages. They also lead to the identification of five approaches to the classification of IDP stages based on economic development, FDI performance, locational advantages, the strategies of Multinational Companies (MNCs), and the role of government. These approaches can assist researchers, policymakers, and firms in classifying a country on the IDP stages.