Nighttime lights data and their implications for IB research

Researchers in the social sciences have increasingly employed nighttime lights (NTL) data to examine a variety of questions relating to various political, social and natural risks associated with economic sanctions, conflicts, natural disasters, climate change, poverty and inequality. These same issues have emerged in the international business (IB) literature, but IB researchers have not yet used NTL data. We propose that NTL data provide unique benefits to IB researchers when they study countries where national data are not reliable and/or subnational locations where detailed spatial data does not exist. In this perspective paper, we introduce the NTL data and the social science literature that uses them. We suggest that these studies point to possible uses of NTL by international business scholars who examine political, social, and natural risks.