Asia Pacific Journal of Management
Special Issue on ‘Indigenous Management Research in Asia’
Guest Editors:
Peter Ping Li, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Kevin Zhou, University of Hong Kong, China Tomoki Sekiguchi, Osaka University, Japan
Submission Deadline: December 1, 2014
It has been long
recognized that indigenous research should be helpful, if not essential,
for an adequate understanding of any local phenomenon. The indigenous
approach is consistent with the repeated calls for contextualizing
organization research. Paradoxically, globalization gives rise to a
greater need for indigenous research so as to adequately analyze each
unique local context in which domestic and multinational firms operate.
In particular, given the fact that most of extant theories of management
and organization are built upon the cultural values and empirical
evidence in the West, it is imperative to conduct indigenous research to
likely revise and modify, potentially supplement and enrich, or even
supersede and replace the Western theories.
In the context of Asian
region, with the region’s long and complex histories as well as its rich
and diverse cultures, there are many interesting phenomena that are
potentially indigenous to Asia and distinctive from those in the West,
including the philosophical, religious, economic, political, social, and
intellectual traditions that often shape the organizational patterns
and managerial styles in the Asian region. Understanding these phenomena
and their influence on firm, manager and employee behavior will benefit
from, if not require, the input of the indigenous approach.
However, the challenges
of indigenous research are enormous. First, there is little consensus
regarding what indigenous research is. Some argue that it qualifies as
indigenous research if one studies an indigenous topic, even if Western
theories are adopted; others maintain that indigenous research requires
certain contextual factors that are indigenous but that the dominant
theoretical framework can be borrowed from the West; still others posit
that only when an indigenously developed theory is adopted or developed
can the research be qualified as indigenous. Second, the above
controversy is related to the vision and goal of indigenous research. Is
it intended to verify the extant Western theories? Is it designed to
modify the extant Western theories? Is it sought to develop new theories
with broad geocentric implications to supplement or even supersede the
extant Western theories? Third, the above controversies extend to
methodological considerations. Do we simply adopt the prevailing methods
in the West? Should we develop indigenous methods for indigenous
research? We need to address these questions and challenges.
It is worth noting that
APJM enjoys the leading position in the indigenous research movement in
Asia with almost all the major articles to call for the indigenous
research in Asia being published in APJM (e.g., Chen, 2002; Fang, 2010;
Li, 2012; Mayer, 2006; Tsui, 2004; White, 2002), so we have the
obligation to answer the calls for the indigenous research in Asia. For
that purpose, this special issue of APJM seeks to shed light on the
above challenges and questions. In this special issue, we seek to
explore various approaches and diverse topics concerning indigenous
research in Asia. We define indigenous research in a broad sense to
encompass context-sensitive and context-specific approaches to a
uniquely local phenomenon in Asia, which may have global implications.
In other words,
if a study is deeply embedded in the Asian context with strong Asian
relevance, it can be qualified as an indigenous research in Asia.
However, we strongly encourage those studies that adopt a uniquely Asian
perspective in contrast to the mainstream perspectives in the West.
Hence, we seek manuscripts that report empirical research addressing
those phenomena unique to Asia, and particularly those phenomena that
defy predictions or explanations by the extant theories derived from the
Western contexts. We also welcome theory-building studies that will
introduce novel theoretical insights, from a uniquely Asian perspective,
into local phenomena that may or may not be unique to Asia. Both
qualitative and quantitative research methods are welcome. In essence,
we encourage creative research designs solidly grounded in the context
of Asian cultural traditions. We invite submissions that incorporate or
address, but are not limited to, the following approaches:
(1)
Indigenization-from-within approach: Contextualizing research and
developing the indigenous constructs and models that are distinctive
from the prevailing Western ones.
(2) Cross-indigenization
geocentric approach: Supplementing and enriching the Western constructs
and models with the indigenous constructs and models, with the purpose
of developing geocentric (i.e., both emic/local and etic/universal)
theories.
(3) Unique
methodological issues confronting the indigenous research: Developing
and illustrating uniquely indigenous research methods for conducting
indigenous research.
Possible topics for empirical analysis could include, but are not limited to, the following:
• The role of informal institutions and their interaction with formal institutions
• The application of
Asian traditional philosophical or religious schools, such as
Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Zen, and Hinduism, to the contemporary
issues of strategic management, organizational structure, strategic
alliance, and leadership
• Personalized trust in
terms of relationship-specific shared interest, shared value and shared
affect rather than the universalistic elements of relationship-free
ability, integrity and benevolence
• Paternalistic leadership in a context of generational cultural value differences
• The balance of harmony and conflict among Asian organizations
• The regional differences within the Asian region that affect the Asian organizations
• The changing role of social network in the evolving Asian economic, social, and cultural contexts
• The change role of strategic management and marketing in the evolving Asian economic, social, and cultural context
• The influence and dynamics of family business in Asia
• The strategic
implications of the emergence of China and India as the two leading
emerging economies in the world for Asian organizations
• The strategic
implications of the emergence of some leading firms from China, India,
South Korea and other parts of Asia who, as the latecomers to the global
competition, have caught up and even leapfrogged the incumbents from
the West and also Japan
• The unique challenges the Japanese firms have to confront in the face of the emerging latecomers from other parts of Asia
Questions about the special issue should be directed to Peter Ping Li at pli.int@cbs.dk
Papers for the special issue should be submitted electronically to APJM Online Submission System at https://www.editorialmanager.com/apjm/,
and identified as submissions to the Indigenous Management Research in
Asia special issue. Authors of papers receiving a revise and resubmit
decision after the first round of review will be invited to a special
session on this topic to share their work at the Asia Academy of
Management conference at 2015 in Hong Kong.
References:
Chen, M.J. 2002. Transcending paradox: The Chinese “middle way” perspective. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 19 (2-3): 179-199.
Fang, T. 2010. Asian management research needs more self-confidence: Reflection on Hofstede (2007) and beyond. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 27 (1): 155–170.
Li, P.P. 2012. Toward an integrative framework of indigenous research: The geocentric implications of Yin-Yang Balance. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 29 (4): 849-872.
Meyer, K.E. 2006. Asian management research needs more self-confidence. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23 (2): 119-137.
Tsui, A.S. 2004. Contributing to global management knowledge: A case for high quality indigenous research. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 21 (4): 491-513.
White, S. 2002. Rigor and relevance in Asian management research: Where are we and where can we go? Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 19 (2-3): 287-352.