What Drives Faculty Engagement in Higher Education Internationalization? A Systematic Review of Concepts, Predictors, Mechanisms, and Contexts

Abstract :

Faculty participation is central to higher education internationalization, yet existing research remains conceptually fragmented and theoretically contested. This study presents a systematic review of 44 empirical and conceptual studies examining faculty participation in internationalization across diverse national, institutional, and disciplinary contexts. Guided by four research questions, the review synthesizes how faculty participation has been conceptualized and measured, how institutional and individual predictors have been operationalized, which theoretical frameworks explain support–participation mechanisms, and how contextual conditions shape research findings. The review makes three theoretical contributions. First, it demonstrates that faculty participation is a multi-domain construct encompassing mobility, international research, curriculum internationalization, and composite engagement, and that measurement choices systematically shape empirical conclusions. Second, it advances an interactionist synthesis showing that institutional support is a necessary but insufficient condition, while individual motivation and accumulated academic capital operate as proximal translation mechanisms. Third, it foregrounds contextual contingency, revealing how national settings, institutional types, disciplinary cultures, and faculty identities condition engagement patterns. By linking theoretical debates to methodological practices, the review advances a conditional and relational understanding of faculty participation in internationalization.