Institutionalized norms of conducting research and social realities: A research synthesis of empirical works from 1983 to 2002

Based on a systematic review of the last 20 years of empirical research grounded in institutional theory, we identify some of the main norms of conducting research in this literature. The level of institutions, the formal/informal institutional pillars and the direction of effects are the foundation of these norms addressed by researchers in the last two decades. This review indicates that empirical research is well behind changes in social realities. This may be related to both the institutionalization process that takes place in any academic research and to the suggested difficulty that scholars find in moving away from widely accepted research models and practices, given the context within which they evolve. It is also concluded that local/national regulative institutions are giving up their position to more global normative and cognitive organizational field institutions. As the business environment become more global, giving more importance to transnational and informal institutions will be more crucial in institutional analysis of organizations.     

Evaluating qualitative management research: Towards a contingent criteriology

The term qualitative management research embraces an array of non‐statistical research practices. Here it is argued that this diversity is an outcome of competing philosophical assumptions which produce distinctive research perspectives and legitimate the appropriation of different sets of evaluation criteria. Some confusion can arise when evaluation criteria constituted by particular philosophical conventions are universally applied to this heterogeneous management field. In order to avoid such misappropriation, this paper presents a first step towards a contingent criteriology located in a metatheoretical analysis of three modes of qualitative management research which are compared with the positivist mainstream to elaborate different forms of evaluation. It is argued that once armed with criteria that vary accordingly, evaluation can reflexively focus upon the extent to which any management research consistently embraces the particular methodological principles that are sanctioned by its a priori philosophical commitments.     

The Informal Sector: A Review and Agenda for Management Research

Despite its connotations of non‐compliance, illegality, social exploitation and marginality, the informal sector is a substantial contributor to economic life in developing countries and, increasingly, in more technologically advanced activities. Its prevalence in developed economies has also become more widely recognized. In light of its significance, this paper reviews research on the informal sector from a management and organization scholarship perspective, rather than from an entrepreneurship view, as has been the focus until now. It sets out the atypical management practices that are inherent in the sector, explores the under‐researched relationship between formal and informal firms, and highlights definitional, conceptual and other limitations in extant research. As a step in resolving these issues, the authors present a conceptual model of formality and informality in a three‐dimensional framework that highlights an organizational infrastructure dimension, a view of firms operating along a continuum, and a multi‐level analytical context. Building on this, the authors detail opportunities for enhanced appreciation of in situ management and organizational practices in the informal sector and outline tools for pursuing a management and organization scholarship agenda. Overall, the authors argue that management scholarship has great potential to improve understanding of the informal sector, and that the informal sector provides opportunities to advance management theory, research and practice.     

The Ethics of Management Research: An Exploratory Content Analysis

Management academics have tended to rely on ethics codes developed by social researchers in related fields to inform their research practice. The point of this paper is to question whether this remains a viable approach in the current climate that is characterized by a significant increase in ethical regulation across the social sciences. We suggest that management researchers face ethical issues of a different nature to those most frequently confronted by other social science researchers, and argue for more explicit acknowledgement of contextual factors involved in management research. An exploratory analysis of the content of ethics codes formulated by nine social scientific associations is undertaken to identify the main ethical principles they cover and to analyse their underlying ethical tone. Drawing attention to the principle of reciprocity, which is found in very few codes, we suggest that an ethics code could be used to formulate new ways of thinking about management research relationships. Despite the risk that ethics codes may encourage instrumental compliance with minimal ethical obligations, we suggest they also have the potential to reflect a more aspirational agenda. The development of an ethics code for management research should therefore be seen as a potentially worthwhile project.     

Problematizing ‘Relevance’ in the Business School: The Case of Leadership Studies

In recent years, the discourse of ‘relevance’ has risen to prominence in the university‐based business school. At the heart of this discourse is the suggestion that management researchers should align their research practices more closely with the needs of practitioners in external organizations. One important but under‐researched strand of this debate focuses on the way in which ‘relevance’ is pursued by business scholars via forms of practitioner engagement such as management consulting, corporate presentations, executive education and personal coaching. Drawing on extensive semi‐structured interviews, this paper explores the motivations, rewards and tensions experienced by leadership scholars in the process of engaging with practitioners. This study suggests that the pursuit of ‘relevance’ may come into conflict with norms of scholarly conduct, which in turn gives rise to a series of trade‐offs and compromises. Ultimately, the authors argue that the prevailing discourse of relevance provides an alibi for scholars to orient themselves towards practitioners in ways that contravene their academic identity and research ethos (whether post‐positivist, interpretivist or critical).     

Cultural and societal influences on shared leadership in globally dispersed teams

Leading globally dispersed teams poses critical challenges, especially if the team members are not only physically separated, but also culturally diverse and their tasks are dynamic and complex. It has been argued that shared leadership behaviors, such as continuous reflection, anticipation of a team's information needs, and initiating a team's social influence, positively influence virtual team performance. Country-level effects on shared leadership in globally dispersed teams, however, have been neglected. Building on the country institutional profile developed by Kostova (1997), we argue that regulative, cognitive, and normative components influence the likelihood that the individual will engage in shared leadership behaviors. Analyzing the differences between the institutional profiles of team members' home countries as reflected in institutional diversity as a team-level property, we furthermore point to different levels of institutional diversity as an enabling or hindering condition of shared leadership.     

In search of rigor, relevance, and legitimacy: what drives the impact of publications?

In this study, we introduce the concept of legitimacy to the rigor-relevance debate and investigate empirically how rigor, relevance, and legitimacy are related to the process of knowledge dissemination within a research field. We argue that this analysis has been a missing piece in the debate on rigor and relevance when institutional logics about what constitutes both elements lead researchers to act according to what they perceive to be appropriate behavior in the research field. We draw on insights from the micro and macro levels of institutional theory to show how researchers aiming to bestow legitimacy on their own work conform to these “rules of the game”. Using meta-analytical techniques, we focus on the field of strategic entrepreneurship and analyze how rigor- and relevance-related characteristics of studies in this field are linked to their legitimacy and therefore to the impact they have in the research community.     

Towards Common Ground and Trading Zones in Management Research and Practice

The purpose and nature of management scholarship is contested, evidenced by debates about the ‘academic–practitioner divide’ and attendant remedies for addressing it, including mode 2 and mode 3 research, engaged scholarship, evidence‐based management and design science. In this paper the authors argue that, without a culture of dialogical encounter, management scholarship will never be able to emerge from its adolescence, and management will not develop into the profession that it should and can become. The central proposition is that the highly fragmented landscape of management (practice and scholarship) lacks sufficient capability for dialogue among the plurality of actors situated across that landscape. Developing the dialogical capability ultimately required to break this fundamental impasse demands, first, a shared sense of purpose and responsibility (akin to the Hippocratic Oath in medicine) and, second, institutional entrepreneurship to establish more and better ‘trading zones’. Drawing on the philosophy of pragmatism, the authors further this endeavour by identifying and proposing key elements of a statement of shared purpose and responsibility. Finally, they explore the nature and characteristics of successful trading zones, highlighting particular examples that have already been created in management studies.     

基于实践的学术问题提炼与中国管理模式总结

管理学的学科特点要求理论研究必须与实践紧密结合。中国经济持续30多年的快速增长与管理实践的改革创新是分不开的,在这样的背景下,《管理学报》杂志致力于推动中国实践管理的研究工作,及时而且必要。从中国管理实践研究现状、学术和科学问题提炼、中国管理模式总结3个方面进行分析,旨在突出管理实践的学术研究,希望引发学术界对管理研究的思考,在提升研究规范性和研究能力的基础上,丰富和创新管理理论,增强国内学术研究在国际上的影响力和话语权。     

Critical success factors and green supply chain management proactivity: shedding light on the human aspects of this relationship based on cases from the Brazilian industry

Abstract

By applying the resources-based view (RBV) theory to green management, this study aims to analyse the relationship between critical success factors (CSFs) and the adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices for some Brazil-based manufacturers of automotive batteries considered focal in their supply chains. It also analyses how human issues, known as green human resource management (GHRM) aspects, can help to increase the effectiveness of CSFs for GSCM strategies that are still not totally well-managed, justifying a RBV perspective. This research assumes that firms tend to be in different stages of GSCM development (more strategic or less strategic) and tests four research propositions to determine whether more proactive GSCM is related to higher levels of effectively managed CSFs. Three focal companies that operate in the Brazilian automotive battery industry were studied. Research results suggest that more proactive GSCM practices correlate to more effectively managed CSFs and to a greater support from GHRM. We argue that managers with a clear GHRM strategy will have more success in GSCM adoption, using more green training, green recruitment and selection, green performance evaluation and employee rewards.     

Methodology‐as‐Technique and the Meaning of Rigour in Globalized Management Research

This paper analyses the genre of ‘methodology‐as‐technique’, which we suggest provides the underpinning logic for a particular conception of scientific rigour that is increasingly regarded as normal in globalized management research. Based on a qualitative interview study of management researchers in the peripheral context of India, we associate the methodology‐as‐technique genre with social scientific methods of organizing, conducting and disseminating knowledge founded on Western neo‐imperialism and colonialism. Our analysis draws attention to the consequences of the genre of methodology‐as‐technique which relate to a narrowing and displacement of research goals, erasure of context, and devaluation and marginalization of alternatives. By providing insight into how methodology‐as‐technique comes to dominate in peripheral locations such as India, we suggest that these normative constraints also present an opportunity for denaturalization, by making what is increasingly seen as normal appear alien or strange. We conclude by arguing that countering restrictive definitions of rigour in management research relies on development of a more expansive and inclusive conception of the global that fosters indigenous ways of knowing and promotes decolonizing methodologies.     

Theory Development in Operations Management: Extending the Frontiers of a Mature Discipline via Qualitative Research

This invited paper discusses theory development in operations management. Many stellar researchers have made excellent contributions to theory development in our field. Operations management is a maturing discipline. Recently, theory driven empirical research has become common in top‐tier journals in our field. Impelled by this trend and due to the path dependency of research, in general, researchers have examined operations phenomena using theories from management and organizational science. How do we extend the frontiers of knowledge in our maturing discipline? How do we develop theories within the field of operations management? In examining some of the seminal ideas that have shaped our field, a common characteristic is that they relied on observational studies and conceptual reasoning. Is it time for us to stress the usefulness of qualitative research methods in our field? Could this lead to an intellectual renewal in our field and extend the frontier of a maturing discipline? This paper explores these questions and advances the notion that qualitative analysis needs to be emphasized more than it has been in recent past. This paper is meant to provoke discussion among empirical researchers in operations management.     

Sustainable Luxury Marketing: A Synthesis and Research Agenda

Sustainability has become a pervasive issue for the luxury sector, gaining traction with brand managers, scholars, policy‐makers, the media, and academia. The purpose of this paper is to examine the state of sustainable luxury research in marketing and consumer behaviour by critically reviewing and synthesizing the growing but fragmented body of scholarly work on sustainable‐luxury marketing. The paper critically assesses where, how and by whom research on sustainable luxury is being conducted, and it identifies gaps for future investigation. The paper reviews research published between 2007 and 2018 within major peer‐reviewed English‐language scholarly publications in business, marketing, ethics, fashion, food and tourism journals. The research is identified using the keywords sustainable luxury, green luxury, eco‐luxury and organic luxury. Three core themes emerge from this review: (1) consumer concerns and practices; (2) organizational concerns and practices; and (3) international and cross‐cultural issues. The review confirms that research on sustainable luxury is significantly underdeveloped. This paper provides the first critical and comprehensive assessment and categorization of the emergent literature streams on sustainable luxury. The authors argue for a broader, deeper and more critical research agenda on the relationship between sustainability and luxury. Potential avenues for future research on sustainable luxury are proposed, with calls for theoretical and cross‐cultural reflections that tackle broader systemic and institutional issues within the field.     

Ethnic Minority Women in the Scottish Labour Market: Employers' Perceptions

This paper contributes to an under‐researched area through investigating employers' perceptions of ethnic minority women in the Scottish labour market. Adopting a social constructionist approach which acknowledges agency and structure and incorporates insights relating to organizational and social group culture, the study highlights the influence of individual (micro), organizational (meso) and contextual (macro) factors on ethnic minority women's participation in the labour market. The paper is based on qualitative research involving Scottish employers in the public and private sectors to examine perceptions and practices related to the employment of ethnic minority women. Institutional commitment to equality issues is questioned, although individual instances of engagement with key equality issues were sometimes evident. Proactive recruitment strategies and career support for ethnic minority women and men were not in evidence, and there was low awareness of the unique position of ethnic minority women in employment and society. We argue that these findings call for a multi‐level approach to advancing human resources management policy, practice and research within a wider socio‐political environment in which the responsibilities and duties of public sector organizations are clarified and more support is provided for organizational promotion of equal opportunities.     

How MNE subsidiaries transfer HRM practices in distant environments: A tale of two IKEA subsidiaries

While most research in the international business field focuses on the impact of the national institutional environment on multinational enterprises (MNEs), this paper explores the opposite relationship—the role and impact of MNE subsidiaries on the host country institutional environment. I analyze the subsidiaries' agency in the transfer activities of human resource management (HRM) practices by bringing the case of IKEA subsidiaries in Korea and Japan and find that these subsidiaries not only adapted to pressures arising from an institutional distance but also played an important role in influencing the institutional arrangement for employment system of their host countries. With a contextualized agency model, this study finds that institutional and organizational contexts that these subsidiaries are embedded in shaped their agencies and strategic responses and co-evolved with their host institutional environments while transferring HRM practices. These findings have implications for the IB and IHRM field, as they highlight the potential of MNE subsidiaries as agents.     

Human Resource Management–Performance Research: Is Everyone Really on the Same Page on Employee Involvement?

Differences in the treatment of involvement in the human resource management (HRM)–performance research stream have been underplayed, as commentaries concentrate on showing that HRM produces a performance premium, and more recently on exploring the mechanisms explaining this. This paper first identifies the two initial concerns of the research stream – the value of employee involvement and the holistic treatment of HRM – and the way these are joined to present a unified view of the area. It then reviews the studies, confirming that involvement has been underplayed or neglected completely, and is only prioritized in a minority. A divide is identified between HRM as an orientation towards fostering employee involvement – seen as a managerial philosophy – and as a technology – a set of practices constituting high‐performance work systems. The paper then argues that acknowledgement of this divide matters, and concludes by drawing out some implications for how we should progress the research stream.     

人力资源管理实践对组织绩效影响的元分析

鉴于人力资源管理实践对组织绩效影响的研究结论不统一的研究现状,本文通过对国内外重要期刊的60篇文章的元分析发现,人力资源管理实践对组织绩效具有积极影响。同时,本文还对比了中国和西方在这一问题上的研究,发现人力资源管理实践的个别维度在两种社会环境下所起到的作用迥异。论文的研究结果增加了我们对人力资源管理实践的理解,同时也为企业人力资源管理工作者对人力资源管理系统的设计提供了有益的启示。     

实践导向的管理理论研究:内涵、机制与成果评价——2011’“中国·实践·管理”论坛观点述评

2011’"中国·实践·管理"论坛以"直面中国的管理实践"为主题,从实践导向的管理研究的内涵、机制和成果评价进行了丰富而有启发性的探讨。论坛强调"中国实践导向的管理理论研究"的价值,认真探索中国情境理论化的方法和实例,达成了源于中国管理实践的理论研究基本共识,呼吁正确评价实践导向的管理理论研究,强化了"直面中国管理实践"的学术导向的影响,期望学术界与实践界的合作更加紧密。     

Product Design: a Review and Research Agenda for Management Studies

This paper reviews research on product design in the broad domain of business studies. It highlights established and emerging perspectives and lines of inquiry, and organizes them around three core areas, corresponding to different stages of the design process (design activities, design choices, design results). Avenues for further research at the intersection of these bodies of research are identified and discussed, and the authors argue that management scholars possess conceptual and methodological tools suited to enriching research on design and effectively pursuing lines of investigation only partially addressed by other communities, such as the construction and deployment of design capabilities, or the organizational and institutional context of design activities.