The importance of institutions has become more relevant analytically in recent years, emphasizing the significance of an appropriate institutional framework for international competition. This paper aims to identify the link between institutions, institutional quality, and international competitiveness. Following the TCCM (Theory, Context, Characteristics, and Methodology) framework analysis, proposed by Paul & Rosado-Serrano (2019), we conducted a systematic literature review of top tier journals during the period 2000–2020. This review unfolds the theoretical and empirical studies regarding institutions, institutional quality, and international competitiveness. Main findings reveal five widely studied, three emerging and two understudied theories, the most studied contexts are country and firm, and quantitative studies are the main method of analysis. This review incorporates the acumen of previous research and provides a future research agenda in understudied contexts like industrial and individual level by applying emerging theoretical approaches and integrative analytical methodologies.