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Call for Papers
Management
and Organization Review
Special Issue on
‘Business Leadership in the Chinese Context’
Guest Editors:
Zhi-Xue Zhang, Peking University, China
George Zhen Xiong Chen, The Australian
National University, Australia
Ya-Ru Chen, Cornell University, USA
Soon Ang, Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore
Open for Submissions: January 15,
2011
Submission Deadline:
February 15, 2011
During
the past three decades, the world has witnessed China’s rise from an
underdeveloped country to the third largest economic power. Business leaders
have taken a crucial role in developing the firms during this period, which
constitutes the most powerful driving force for the rapid growth of the Chinese
economy. While business leaders have made significant contributions to
China’s economic and societal development via their unprecedented
achievements, scholars have not systematically examined their leadership
practices and, thus, have not developed rigorous theories to explain these
practices. Among the vast amounts of literature on leadership, very few are on
business leadership in the Chinese context. Researchers, educators, and
practitioners are all aware that the Western-based leadership theories are not
completely sufficient to understand the rich and unique leadership phenomenon
in the Chinese context. To fully understand the miracle of the Chinese economy,
it is essential to identify the unique issues in business leadership in the
Chinese context. The purpose of this special issue is to examine leadership in
organizations at different levels, in different domains, or from different
perspectives aimed at offering valuable insights into the organizational
leadership phenomenon in Greater China. We intend to advance leadership
research in the Chinese context, to improve leadership practices, and to add
novel knowledge to global leadership literature.more_167 433
China’s distinctive political, social and cultural
environments have been regarded as the major factors breeding the leadership
styles in Chinese business organizations. In addition, the unique
characteristics of Chinese firms, which have been evolving in a transitional
era, also play a major role in shaping the special leadership patterns in
Chinese organizations. In the early state, leaders had to make arduous efforts
to build legitimacy and to protect themselves in various ways such as
registering a private firm as a collective one or getting a ‘red
hat’ by registering a firm as a subsidiary or supplemental unit of a
State-Owned Enterprise. Some business leaders skillfully adapted themselves to
the changing environments and led their companies successfully. Starting from
the late 1990s and, in particular, after China became a member of the World
Trade Organization (WTO), the Chinese government has opened its market to the
outside world in almost all business sectors. In the domestic market, Chinese
firms have to fiercely compete with strong foreign companies, many of which are
multinational giants. Pessimists predicted that Chinese firms were not ready
and would be overwhelmed by their international counterparts. However, many
Chinese firms have not only survived, but also gained advantages in competing
with foreign firms. Some Chinese firms have not only dominated the domestic
market, but also started to share the international markets with multinational
companies. While we can attribute the success of Chinese firms to different
factors, we have no doubt that business leadership plays a crucial role in
achieving such performance. In this special issue, we seek manuscripts
investigating leadership practices in Greater China and offering theories to
understand these practices, which may present conceptualizations or/and
findings that differ from, if not challenge, Western-imported theories. We
expect this special issue to enrich our understanding of business leadership in
the dynamic Chinese context by producing meaningful and valid knowledge.
We highlight a Chinese perspective in examining business
leadership in China. Broadly, any study that incorporates the Chinese context
and offers conceptual and theoretical explanations on business leadership in
the Chinese context is welcome. We invite submissions that either modify or
extend the well-accepted leadership theories or develop innovative theories
based on grounded/inductive approaches. We invite submissions that conduct
rigorous research using either qualitative (case study, interview, grounded
theory, or ethnographic methods, etc.) or quantitative approaches (survey,
laboratory experiment, analyzing archival data, etc.). Purely conceptual papers
are also welcome. You are encouraged to identify and choose meaningful and
important problems based on your keen observation, your in-depth knowledge, or
your astute analysis of business leadership and related phenomena in the
Chinese context. Submissions could address, but are not limited to, the
following topics:
• The evolving pattern of leadership in Chinese business
organizations;
• Business leadership in the transitional era in China;
• The characteristics of Chinese business leadership;
• Indigenous models of Chinese business leadership and their
functioning mechanisms;
• Cultural and social antecedents of leadership;
• Economic and social consequences of Chinese business
leadership;
• Implicit theories of Chinese leadership;
• Leader-member exchange (LMX) in Chinese societies;
• Business leadership and team dynamics;
• The nature of transformational leadership in Chinese
organizations;
• Newly emerging leadership styles (e.g., authentic
leadership, servant leadership, and
ethical leadership, etc.) in the Chinese context;
• Multiple intelligences (e.g., emotional intelligence,
cultural intelligence) and business
leadership in Chinese societies;
• Cross-cultural and comparative studies of business
leadership;
• The similarity and diversity of business leadership in
different Chinese societies
(including mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong );
• Cross-level business leadership.
Questions
about the special issue should be directed to any of the guest editors,
including Zhi-Xue Zhang ([log in to unmask]),
George Zhen Xiong Chen (george.chen@
anu.edu.au),
Ya-Ru Chen ([log in to unmask]),
and Soon Ang ([log in to unmask]). You are
encouraged to submit your tentative topics to the guest editors for feedback in
the early stage when conducting your studies. Papers for the special issue
should be submitted electronically through MOR’s
ScholarOne Manuscripts site at http://
mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mor
and identified as submissions to the ‘Business Leadership in the Chinese
Context special issue. All submissions should follow the ‘MOR Submission
Guidelines’,
which are available on the MOR webpage
(http://www.iacmr.org). Papers will be
double-blind peer reviewed and acceptance decisions will be based on the peer
reviews and the standards described in the MOR
mission statement.