A review of research methodologies in international business

What is common practice in international business (IB) research methodology? To address this question, we surveyed 1,296 empirical articles published in six leading international business journals from 1992 to 2003. The study uncovers state-of-the-art approaches in research methodologies in IB in terms of five major aspects: data collection methods, sample sources including sampled countries and subjects, sampling methods, sample sizes, and response rates. The results indicate that (1) mail questionnaire surveys dominate empirical research, (2) 60.9% of the studies use a one-country sample (88.9% from western countries), (3) 33.7% of the studies are based upon sample frames provided by third parties, and (4) the median sample size is 180 with an average response rate of 40.1%. Suggestions and recommendations are also provided to improve the methodological rigor of IB research.     

The search for global competence: From international HR to talent management

This article describes the evolution of the search for global competence through a 50-year content analysis and review of published research in the field of International HR Management (IHRM), and more recently, Talent Management (TM), with special emphasis on the Journal of World Business. We present a detailed examination of the IHRM/TM content of the Journal of World Business from its inception in 1965 through 2014. To put the results of that review into perspective, we review key themes in global business and strategy from 1965 to the present, noting where IHRM/TM research and business trends correspond, diverge, and lag. Next, we present a brief history of IHRM and TM, showing how the emerging theme of TM offers challenges and promise for connecting future IHRM/TM research with emerging business, strategy, and social trends. We conclude with the implications of our findings for future research, and the importance of the search for global competence.     

Developing an Integrative International Human Resource Model: The contribution of Chinese Multinational Enterprises

This study develops an integrative international human resource IHRM framework in Chinese MNEs mainly by examining the relationship between the intervening factors and IHRM policies and practices. It confirms that IHRM is associated with a variety of contextual and firm-specific factors, including political, legal, economic, socio-cultural factors, international strategy, organizational structure, organizational culture, stage and mode of internationalization, type and niche of industry, international experience, size of international operation, the reliance on international markets and top management perceptions of home HRM systems. These factors have differentiated impact and are changing over time. It also explores the impact of IHRM policy and practice on each other, arguing that there is interplay between IHRM policies and practices.     

论高职高专层次国际贸易课的"具体化"教学

高职高专层次的学生学习基础普遍较差,学习能力不足,而国际贸易是一门技术性、实践性很强的应用学科,因此学生普遍感到国际贸易课比较难,"听不懂".究竟怎样才能让学生更好地理解国际贸易相关课程呢?笔者在教学实践中发现,"具体化"教学是一个非常好的选择.本文详细阐述了国际贸易课采用"具体化"教学法的依据及开展"具体化"教学的主要方法.     

Staff Attitudes to Talking Openly About Ethical Dilemmas: The Role of Business Ethics Conceptions and Trust

To ensure ethical employee behavior, companies often utilize several forms of mostly one-way communication such as codes of conduct. The extent to which these efforts, in addition to informing about the company stance on ethics, are able to positively influence behavior is disputed. In contrast, research on business ethics communication and behavior indicates a relatively clear, positive link between open workplace dialogue about ethical issues and ethical conduct. In this article, I therefore address the question: What influences employee attitudes to talking openly about ethical issues? Answers are proposed on the basis of focus group interviews with staff at the Denmark and Brazil affiliates of the global healthcare company Novo Nordisk. It was found that interest in discussing ethical issues was influenced by two main factors: employee conceptualizations of business ethics and the level of inter-collegial trust, credibility, and confidence. In this article, by examining these phenomena, I aim at providing insight that can both inform scholars in these fields as well as help managers in their attempts to promote open workplace dialogue about ethical issues.     

Mapping international business and international business policy research: Intellectual structure and research trends

This paper analyzes the core international business (IB) areas covered by ten IB-focused journals to date using 13,937 documents reflecting more than 300 years of combined publication history. Using bibliometric and citation analysis, it provides a systematic understanding of the current IB landscape, explicates the relevance of the future of IB research and depicts trends in this research field with emerging prevalent themes identified. The strongest themes across IB journals are performance, perspective and emerging economies/MNEs, shared strongly across UK/Europe, US and Asia-based journals. Our findings report on the prevalent research field, economy and geography, the latter analyzing the impact of author numbers and distribution, and thus, scale effects. Within this context, sole authorships are largely replaced by co-authorships, yet often on national level. We further limited the study to IB policy and found the focus centers on key themes of foreign business attraction, transnational governance and IB promotion.     

Taking international business education programs and pedagogy to new heights: Fundamental questions for educators and students

As the dynamic global business environment continues to force organizations to be agile and adaptive, international business (IB) education pedagogy is transforming. Building on previous literature describing gaps in IB pedagogy, as well as unaddressed stakeholder needs, we first use our institution—the United States Air Force Academy—as an example of IB program development. In examining our program's evolution, we develop five questions that may provide insight regarding more generalizable IB pedagogy trends. To assess this possible generalizability, we explore questions related to the development of our program using self-reported, publically-available websites of the top full-time MBA programs throughout the United States. Our questions focus on the role of foreign languages, study abroad opportunities, integrative courses, capstone/thesis projects, and faculty development. Our exploration indicates that these five questions are important not only for educators developing future programs, but also for students examining potential IB programs. Additionally, our research examines a sixth question focused on the development of competitive positioning and program differentiation in IB programs. We hope to motivate future inquiry into IB pedagogy, which could inform more effective means of improving IB education.     

Twenty-five years of business systems research and lessons for international business studies

Since 1992, the national business systems (NBS) approach has been increasingly used to analyse not only firm characteristics, structures and strategies within NBS, but also the nature of international business and its interactions with both national and transnational institutions. In reviewing 25 years of NBS literature, we heed calls in IB journals urging researchers to use NBS notions and findings in IB research. Our systematic review of 96 articles analyses the patterns and contributions of NBS literature, revealing four thematic junctures: (1) comparative business systems, (2) firm internationalisation and the management/organisation inside MNCs, (3) the role of internationalisation in the development of organisational capabilities and innovation and (4) the emergence of transnational communities in and across firms and societies. Themes are described in terms of (a) the research questions (RQ) they focus on, (b) how NBS approach investigates the RQ and what are the major findings, (c) how IB frames and approaches the same RQ, (d) how does the NBS approach extend the perspectives of IB and (e) what are the problems faced by NBS in terms of developing further insights into the RQ. Our review contributes to the recent endeavour of IB research to institutionalism, encouraging a productive dialogue between IB and NBS research.     

Nurturing International Business research through Global Value Chains literature: A review and discussion of future research opportunities

This article offers a comprehensive and systematic review of the literature on Global Value Chains (GVCs). The GVC framework has received growing attention in the last decade, providing theoretical concepts and analytical tools to understand and assess patterns of value creation in view of the new international division of labour. In this area, a broad overlap of research interest exists with the international business (IB) literature. Yet, few interactions between the two fields of study have been recorded so far. Performing a quantitative content analysis on all academic publications on GVCs in the period 1994−2018, this paper describes the evolution of GVC studies, emphasizing points of contact and potential synergies with the IB literature. It also identifies research opportunities along the four key dimensions of the GVC framework: geographical and industrial scope, governance, upgrading, and institutional context.     

实证会计理论对我国资本市场的启示

实证会计理论在资本市场中的应用越来越引起人们关注。实证会计主要内容是什么 ?对我国资本市场有哪些借鉴作用 ?作者从实证会计研究的两大领域加以扼要分析阐述     

Exploring the Differences of Undergraduate Students' Perceptual Learning Styles in International Business Study

More than 45,000 international students are now studying for bachelor programs in The Netherlands. The number of Asian students increased dramatically in the past decade. The current research aims at examining the differences between Western European and Asian students' perceptual learning styles, and exploring the relationships between students' learning styles and their academic achievements in international business (IB) study. One hundred and seventy-two students from a Dutch university participated in the survey research. Western European students significantly outperformed Asian students in academic performances. Significant differences in learning styles were also found between Western Europeans and Asian students in English, second language, business subjects, and group project learning. Besides, in comparison with Asian students, Western European students preferred to learn from hearing words, taking notes of lectures, and getting involved in some classroom experiences such as role-playing. They may benefit more from lecture-based subjects than Asian students. Based on the findings, practical recommendations are offered for instructors in international higher education.     

Scholarship of Teaching International Business: Challenges and Opportunities

International business (IB) is an important topic for business schools as business is global, but much business school teaching of IB still seems inadequate. IB education can be challenging but also presents many opportunities. We need to build our knowledge base of effective IB teaching methods and procedures. Such knowledge can not only be used to improve the teaching of IB, but it can also improve data-driven resource allocation for teaching IB. Clearly, the Journal of Teaching International Business has an important role to play in these processes.     

In defense of enlightened hardball management

What can we learn from bygone successes? How can we get moving again? The authors offer an action agenda that managers can start on immediately.     

A systematic approach to conducting review studies: An assessment of content analysis in 25 years of IB research

Content analysis has become a popular method for qualitative and quantitative analyses in management and international business (IB) research. It is increasingly used in literature reviews to assess extant knowledge and understand intellectual structures. However, it is often poorly understood and incorrectly applied. In this article, we identify benchmark criteria and develop coding schemes that IB scholars can use in review studies. We also demonstrate the application of content analysis through a review of content analysis–based articles, published in the top eight IB journals from 1991 to 2015.     

International business and human rights: A research agenda

The discussion on business responsibilities for human rights is thriving – although, surprisingly, predominantly outside of the International Business (IB) field. This article introduces business and human rights (BHR) as a research area with great potential for IB scholars. IB scholarship has much to offer when it comes to better understanding the relation between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and human rights. BHR, on the other hand, is a field that can no longer be ignored by IB research if the field is to remain at the forefront of scholarship in globalization-related issues concerning MNEs. Therefore, this perspective article aims at providing guidance to IB scholars interested in engaging in BHR research by tracing common themes and overlaps, and outlining a research agenda that addresses some of the research gaps and open questions in both fields.     

The Evolution of International Business Textbooks

As a field of study, international business (IB) has evolved with accelerated tempo in the last four decades. The subject has brought with it an increasing plethora of textbooks. We analyze the contents of major textbooks, both classic and new, to find the extent to which these textbooks cover the various components of the common body of knowledge in IB, as organized around a conceptual model. Using this model, we study some 27 textbooks published between 1976 and 2008, and categorize their content. Our primary objective is to determine the extent to which there is commonality among textbooks. Additionally, we study the evolution over time in the content of the same textbooks from one edition to the next and explore the reasons for these changes. We present the results in graphic and tabular forms, depicting areas where themes may converge or overlap. This study’s conclusions will contribute to a better understanding of the epistemological roots of the field and its evolution over time. Scholars who write textbooks, textbook users, and publishers will benefit from this analysis.     

International Business Research: Coauthorship Patterns and Quality

The authors investigate published international business research in four international business journals over a 10‐year period, 1995–2004: (a) patterns of coauthorship across regions, and (b) the relation between coauthorship patterns and the quality of international business (IB) articles. A cross‐region coauthorship enhances the quality of an article, suggesting that international collaboration creates synergy in IB research. The authors do not see any positive correlation between alphabetical ordering of coauthor names in multiauthored articles and article quality—a result that is contrary to some evidence in other disciplines. Finally, international management articles appear to be more frequently cited than articles in other IB research areas.     

Cross-national research and international business: An interdisciplinary path

Comparative cross-national research is among the oldest approaches of scientific inquiry in the social sciences. We investigate the foundations of published works in cross-national research (CNR) in international business (IB), sociology, and psychology with an eye on leveraging their rich traditions for future IB research. Our approach aims to contribute and address repeated calls for taking an interdisciplinary approach in IB. We examined published CNR in 106 scholarly journals and identified 817 articles with 51,738 citations in IB, 477 works with 30,017 citations in sociology, and 835 articles with 54,519 citations in psychology. We use metric multidimensional scaling to examine the co-citation data for each field and identify knowledge and approaches commonplace in sociology and psychology to propose future research paths in IB. In particular multilevel analysis, which is scarcely used in IB, offers the potential of unfolding new dimensions within the field. Based on the emergent results from our MDS solutions, we recommend multiple future paths for CNR, particularly with respect to IB relationships, market entry, and related domains.     

Commitment to the Study of International Business and Cultural Intelligence: A Multilevel Model

Adopting a multilevel theoretical framework, we examined how metacognitive and motivational cultural intelligence influence an individual’s commitment to the study of international business (IB). Data from 292 undergraduate and graduate business students nested in 12 U.S. business school classes demonstrated that individuals’ metacognitive and motivational cultural intelligence are positively related to their commitment to the study of IB. Furthermore, there is additional commitment when the classrooms’ cultural intelligence climate is high. We discuss the implications of these findings within a classroom context that involves cross-cultural interactions.     

Three Pathways to Case Selection in International Business: A Twenty–Year Review,Analysis and Synthesis

With its focus on locational context, International Business (IB) is a prime candidate for the application of Case Study (CS) methodology. Yet many IB scholars still have doubts about CSs, possibly because strategies for their selection and disclosure procedures may lack rigor. The purpose of this article is to document and discuss CS selection in IB research, make suggestions for improvement, and thus raise the standard and status of CS research.Using qualitative content analysis, this paper examines CS selection strategies in four IB journals (1995–2014), relating them to chosen theoretical purposes and logics employed. Our results indicate that 12% of the 333 investigated CS articles lacked a section on methodology, and 41% of papers reported no indication of how CSs were selected. Drawing insights from the dataset, we propose and distinguish between theory-driven and phenomenon-driven CS selection approaches. In light of our evidence, best-practice papers are identified and apportioned to coherent pathways connecting theoretical purpose, logic and CS selection strategies. In doing so, we address the link between case selection and theorizing in CSs and advocate greater methodological sophistication and transparency of CS selection reporting in IB research.