Advancing management scholarship internationally through theoretical emancipation
Ke Cao et al.
What the paper says
Purpose An increasing consensus has been built on advancing management scholarship in contexts other than Anglophone North America. However, debates and arguments about how to do so remain, and there has not been a clear understanding of the progress made. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive and historical assessment of related scholarship and provide recommendations for the path forward. Design/methodology/approach Around 2,700 international context-based empirical papers published from 1990 to 2020 in 4 elite general management journals were reviewed. Other relevant publications on the margins and related academic discussions were also analyzed. Findings At elite outlets, international-context-based research is characterized by a gradual decrease in intellectual vigor and methodological variety, a disregard for context and indifference to practice. At outlets on the edge, research is less constrained by dominant and rigid academic discourse. Research limitations/implications The paper prioritizes liberatory thinking about theoretical contribution as the key solution for the academic impasse. Extant theories shall be conceptualized as context-bounded heuristics rather than universal truths. Additional provocations and suggestions about reforming research practice were provided. Originality/value The study is the first comprehensive literature survey in this area. Meanwhile, new, grounded and provocative recommendations have been outlined for a bold and robust reset of academic discourse.
1 citation
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06 |
| M · momentum | 0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.