Reconciling Theory and Context: How the Case Study can Set a New Agenda for International Business Research
Celebrating the 2021 JIBS Decade Award-Winning Paper
“Theorizing from case studies: Towards a pluralist future for international business research“
Time: 1 February, 11am EST (View Local Time)
Registration Deadline: 31 January, 2022
Event Overview: The JIBS Decade Award Winner – a paper by Welch et al. (2011) – sought to explain how scholars, using qualitative data, can employ case study research more effectively by choosing competing methods of theorizing in exploratory and confirmatory research designs. In this Retrospective, the authors further develop their original argument and argue that context is essential to theorizing, as well as elaborate on how decontextualization impoverishes theoretical insights. In order to achieve contextualized explanation, the authors offer four alternatives: process research, historical research, the extended case method, and configurational theorizing.
The webinar will also feature the following commentaries on this award-winning paper:
- Reuber, A.R., Fischer, E. Putting qualitative international business research in context(s). J Int Bus Stud (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-021-00478-3
- Tsang, E.W.K. Alternative typologies of case study theorizing: Causal explanation versus theory development as a classification dimension. J Int Bus Stud (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-021-00477-4
Speakers:
Eriikka Paavilainen-Mäntymäki is an Associate Professor in International Business at the University of Turku and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Vaasa, Finland. Her research interests focus on the internationalization processes of firms, entrepreneurship in small and medium-sized and family enterprises, the role of time and temporality in research and qualitative research methods. She is a member of the Journal of International Business Studies Editorial Review Board and has published and reviewed articles in several journals. Currently she is working on time and history methods in international business research.
Rebecca Piekkari is Marcus Wallenberg Professor of International Business at Aalto University, School of Business in Finland. Her on-going research focuses on the shifting meaning of location for management activities in multinational corporations; translation as an approach to international business phenomena; diversity and inclusion in international organizations and the future of qualitative methodology. She is Board Member and Fellow of the Academy of International Business and Fellow of the European International Business Academy.
Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki is Chair of International Business at the University of Vienna, Austria, and visiting Professor at Leeds University Business School (LUBS), UK. She is Associate Editor at the British Journal of Management and Chair of the International Business/International Management SIG of the British Academy of Management. Her research interests refer to SME and family firm internationalization, international entrepreneurship and qualitative research. Currently she investigates the role of time and temporality in international business research.
Eric W. K. Tsang received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. Before joining academia, he worked as corporate banker at HSBC in Hong Kong. He is the Dallas World Salute Distinguished Professor at the Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, and is an AIB fellow. Dr. Tsang’s research interests include foreign direct investment, strategic alliances, organizational learning, entrepreneurship, and philosophical analysis of methodological issues. He has published in top-tiered journals, such as Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of International Business Studies, MIS Quarterly, Marketing Science, and Strategic Management Journal.
Becky Reuber is Professor and Area Coordinator of Strategic Management at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Her research examines the entrepreneurial behaviors underlying internationalization and the use of qualitative research methods in international business scholarship. She is an editor at the Journal of International Business Studies and sits on the editorial boards of several other journals. She was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of International Business and is a VP (Administration) on the Executive Board of that organization.
Co-Moderators:
Dana Minbaeva, Copenhagen Business School & King’s College London
Alain Verbeke, University of Calgary
About This Webinar Series: The editorial teams behind AIB’s Journal of International Business Studies and Journal of International Business Policy launched this series of webinars to provide global experts a platform to discuss their findings on some of the field’s biggest questions.
Each of these discussions will be focused around a unique line of inquiry, with authors of recently published articles in JIBS, JIBP, and AIB Insights speaking to how their research addresses that core question. Virtual attendees can then interact with our presenters, digging deeper into the issues that interest them most.
The webinar series is being coordinated by Klaus Meyer (Western University) and Dana Minbaeva (Copenhagen Business School), in conjunction with the editorial teams of JIBS, JIBP, and AIB Insights.