Cross-cultural management research made an international breakthrough from a macro-comparative perspective with the seminal work of Hofstede. The main purpose of early research in this field was to put forward the idea that culture had an influence on organizations, business and management. Yet, by now, the awareness that culture and cultural differences play their role has become a part of the organizational and managerial body of knowledge. Hence, the current question to be investigated is how exactly cultureor the perception of cultural differencesbecomes important and meaningful in complex and often paradoxical situations. This question is based on the understanding that the cultural context of every given situation, interaction or organization might be characterized by multiple elements, dormant or salient cultural identities, complex and fluid processes of meaning making and more. This special issue contributes to this new development in the field of cross-cultural management. Many scholars have asked that other factors than national culture be considered (Holden et al., 2015; Sackmann, 1997; Tsui et al., 2007), giving the impression of a search for the exhaustive list of variables influencing international and intercultural interactions. In contrast to the latter, we do not see context as an accumulation of different factors but rather as intertwined dynamic complexities, of which power is an important factor. It means that, rather than the search for even more influencing factors, it is the investigation of how these factors are interconnected and how power relationships take part in this combination that becomes of interest. In other words, we wish to stress the point that power manifests itself in multiple, context-specific ways which need to be investigated critically.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide guidelines for reflexive ethnographic writing that transports the researcher's claims of having conducted participatory reflexive research to her audience.Design/methodology/approachAuto‐ethnographic vignettes from the author's own ethnographic research are used to establish five levels of reflexivity for writing organizational ethnography.FindingsThe author argues that the audience needs to be able to judge a researcher's claims to reflexivity through his/her writing. Yet, due to the participation mode of reflexivity while doing ethnographic research, the researcher is not in control over his/her own reflexive writing. Therefore, processes between three groups of stakeholders, namely researcher, field and audience, and their power relations need to be considered in reflexive writing. The author calls this process ethnographic triangulating and derives a five‐tiered model of reflexive writing from it.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper offers a perspective on how to write organizational ethnography. Others will have to put this perspective into practice.Originality/valueThe paper moves the participation mode of reflexivity to the level of writing, thereby offering a fully conceived view on reflexivity that acknowledges the influence of field and audience on ethnographic writing.
Critical perspectives on cross-cultural management (CCM) are increasingly present in our research community; however, they are spread over multiple research fields (e.g., international business, International Human Resource Management (IHRM), diversity, and gender and/or race studies). Critical researchers tend to have agendas and foci that address topics others consider beyond CCM's scope, such as gender in intercultural training, religion in the multi-cultural workplace, or the relationship between CCM knowledge and the military. We intend to sketch here the contours of this stream of research we call critical CCM and to clarify the broadly shared research studies' agenda. By using Burrell and Morgan (1979) matrix and stressing critical studies' inspirations in two paradigms, radical structuralism and radical humanism, we propose a paradigmatic positioning of the studies. Subsequently, we articulate Critical CCM research agenda around denaturalization, reflexivity, and emancipation. We conclude by asserting a critical performative agenda in a dialog with practitioners. In brief, our ambition is to specifically outline Critical CCM research and show its emergent contribution to CCM research.
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