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CALL FOR PAPERS
Special Issue of the Journal of International Business Studies

WHAT IS CULTURE AND HOW DO WE MEASURE IT?
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/Culture_SI_Call_for_Papers.html 

Special Issue Editors
• Timothy M. Devinney (University of Technology-Sydney, Australia,
[log in to unmask])
• Bradley L. Kirkman (North Carolina State University, USA,
[log in to unmask])
• Dan V. Caprar (University of New South Wales, Australia,
[log in to unmask])
• Paula Caligiuri (JIBS Area Editor, International HRM, Rutgers University,
USA, [log in to unmask])

Deadline for submission: November 15, 2013

Tentative publication date: Spring 2015

Introduction
Understanding the influence of culture on business operations has been one
of the most enduring components of international business (IB) and
international management (IM) theorizing and empirical investigation.  The
purpose of this special issue is to build on the learning from previous
debates regarding different approaches to studying culture as well as
bringing to the IB/IM audience insights from other disciplines that take an
interest in culture. Hence, we seek to create a volume that: (a) shows how
traditional research programs have evolved as a result of accumulated
knowledge and/or in response to specific critiques, and (b) incorporates
alternative and completely new theoretical and empirical approaches to
understanding and measuring culture.  

In doing this we encourage researchers from economics, psychology,
sociology, political science, education and other domains as well as IB/IM
scholars to make their latest work available to the IB community via this
special issue.  We welcome conceptual and empirical papers using
quantitative, qualitative or mixed approaches aimed at providing
comprehensive solutions to previously raised issues and that illustrate the
most advanced methods for studying culture and other related constructs. 

Topics
From a methodological perspective we are interested in work that addresses
or encapsulates three fundamental logics: (1) culture is ultimately
manifested in the behavior, decisions and choices of individuals; (2) the
measurement of culture is about capturing and categorizing both homogeneity
and heterogeneity; and (3) the most effective means to critically test
theory in the social sciences is to triangulate multiple methods
simultaneously and as one research paradigm as a means to ensure that one is
testing the theory and not simply validating a joint test of theory and
method. Hence, we are interested in papers that go beyond traditional
psychometric approaches and thus examine culture across levels of analysis
and via multiple methodologies. Some examples include:
• Can we move beyond standard psychometrics?  Is the standard ‘reflective’
approach utilized for decades relevant in light of a more advanced
understanding of scale development?
• How do our measures of culture relate to other aspects of an individual’s
existence? Can we use ‘fusion’ of different data sources to come up with a
more parsimonious and valid understanding of the dimensionality of culture?
• Are surveys, particularly self-report instruments, the best way forward?
What is the role of experimental based approaches?  What can we learn from
other fields – such as behavioral decision theory and experimental
economics?
• Can we move beyond standard econometric methods?  What is the role of
Bayesian estimation procedures?  Might we be able to apply multi-level
methods that look at both the dimensions and levels of culture
simultaneously?
From a theoretical perspective we are interested in work that not just
examines the standard historic conceptualizations but also examines the
socializing aspects of culture, how our meaning of culture has changed, and
how we can examine culture in an environment faced by new technologies that
render national boundaries less meaningful. For example, papers examining
topics such as:
• Who are the socializing agents of culture:  How do they differ? When do
they differ? Where do they differ?  How do they become legitimized?
• What and how do specific socializing agents operate?  Examples include the
role of religion; family and the tightness of familial bonds; the culture of
poverty and the shared values, beliefs, etc. of those living in poverty.
• How does culture evolve in a world of complex institutions and
technologies?  Examples include the role of immigration and diasporas,
modern media and new technologies.
• Is our standard dimensional approach to culture meaningful?  How might we
gain and develop a deeper understanding of specific dimensions of culture
that addresses the idea that individuals occupy different cultural places
and spaces simultaneously?
Beyond the above themes and ideas, we leave the list of themes and topics
for this special issue open, so as to not limit the thinking to existing
frameworks and approaches. 

Submission Process
All manuscripts will be reviewed as a cohort for this special issue.
Manuscripts must be submitted in the window between November 1, 2013, and
November 15, 2013, at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jibs. 
For more information about this call for papers, please contact the Special
Issue Editors or the JIBS Managing Editor ([log in to unmask]).

For a list of references cited in this call and information about the Guest
Editors, please see the full call for papers available at
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/Culture_SI_Call_for_Papers.html.


-------------------
Anne Hoekman
Managing Editor, Journal of International Business Studies
 
JIBS Editorial Office
Academy of International Business
Michigan State University
Tel: +1-517-481-3518
Fax: +1-517-432-1009
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.jibs.net 
 
Want to stay up-to-date on JIBS? Follow @JIBSupdates on Twitter!

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