Two decades of research on nation branding: a review and future research agenda

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the growing interest by scholars, practitioners and public policymakers, there are still divergent and fragmented conceptualizations of nation branding as the field is still developing. In response, the purpose of this paper is to review and synthesize nation branding research and to provide directions for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors review peer-reviewed theoretical and empirical journal articles published during the last two decades – from 1998 to 2018. Selected journal articles on nation branding were subsequently synthesized for further insights.

Findings

The field of nation branding is fragmented and has developed in the course of the last two decades in different directions. This paper identifies key publication outlets and articles, major theoretical and methodological approaches and primary variables of interest that exist in the nation branding literature. The findings also highlight several research themes for future research.

Originality/value

This research fills a need to summaries the current state of the nation branding literature and identifies research issues that need to be addressed in the future.

Citation

Hao, A.W., Paul, J., Trott, S., Guo, C. and Wu, H.-H. (2021), "Two decades of research on nation branding: a review and future research agenda", International Marketing Review, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 46-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-01-2019-0028