 |
 |
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, Northeastern University, USA, [log in to unmask])
Deadline for submission: extended to December 1, 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 15, 2013, and December 1, 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
Web: www.jibs.net
Want to stay up-to-date on JIBS? Follow @JIBSupdates on Twitter!