Award Committee:

Ning Li (Chair), Tsinghua University
Ai-Chia Chuang, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Joshua Keller, University of New South Wales
Milo (Shaoqing) Wang, Arizona State University

Best Paper:

Hung, S. C., & Chen, Y. C. (2024). Comes the Southern Revolution: The Reframing of Chinese Shan-zhai Toward Identity Change. Management and Organization Review, 20(2), 204-234.

Nomination comments:

This paper exemplifies indigenous Chinese management theory by developing a process model that captures how shan-zhai (山寨) phone entrepreneurs transformed from marginalized copycats to legitimate competitors. Through identifying three stages of cultural reframing—pragmatic, nationalistic, and comprehensive—the authors reveal how these entrepreneurs strategically deployed Chinese cultural resources to build new collective identities and gain legitimacy from increasingly broader audiences. 

Runner up paper:

Wang, Y., Tang, Y., & Wang, T. (2024). To Glorify the Ancestors: How CEOs’ Clan Values Affect Corporate Social Responsibility. Management and Organization Review, 20(4), 586-621.

Nomination comments:

This paper significantly contributes to Chinese management theory by revealing how traditional clan values influence modern corporate behavior through CEOs’ decision-making. By demonstrating how the cultural imperative to “glorify the ancestors” motivates CEOs to engage in institutional CSR activities, and identifying contextual boundaries like overseas experience that moderate this relationship, the authors extend upper echelons theory beyond Western perspectives. 

Description of the Award:

To promote original theorizing to account for management phenomena that are relatively salient in China, Peking University Press (PUP) has set up the MOR/PUP Best Paper Award of Chinese Theory of Management. The award is intended to especially encourage research on “Indigenous Chinese theory of management”. It is important for Chinese management researchers to be innovative in their theoretical analysis. The award aims to recognize the best paper published in MOR that addresses new research questions, identifies new concepts, and/or develop new theories from the “Chinese theory of management” perspective. The winning paper is selected from the articles published in MOR in the past two years.