A quarter century of management research in South Asia – II: India and Pakistan

Abstract

Purpose In part-I of this review series, research from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka was reviewed. The purpose of this paper which is part-II of the series, is to review management research from India and Pakistan over a 25-year period from 1990 to 2014. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review approach was adopted for this research. As a quality standard for inclusion, articles were restricted to journals rated A*, A, or B by the Australian Business Deans Council in 2013 and either Q1 or Q2 in the Scopus/Imago classification system. The divisions and interest groups of the Academy of Management were used as framework to organize the search results. Findings A total of 1,039 articles related to India (n = 930) and Pakistan (n = 112) emerged from the search process, with three articles being related to both countries. The research was published in 163 different journals that met the quality criteria. The period under review coincides with the advent of economic liberalization in India and this emerged as a major theme in the India-related research. Other context-specific insights for these two countries are also derived from an ecological and institutional theory perspective. Originality/value This research represents the first comprehensive and systematic review of management research in India and Pakistan. As in part-I, the unique review approach allows for strict adherence to a predetermined quality standard while including a wide variety of journals and research traditions.

An extension of the socioemotional wealth perspective

“…The Indo–Pak partition in 1947 resulted in large displacements with the new geographic separate entities (see e.g. Menon, 2019). Few for the sake of their survival entered in the economic activities that eventually resulted in some great entrepreneurs (Kuratko and Rao, 2012, p. 10; Saleem et al , 2019).…”

“…Pakistan is also an informal economy (Williams et al , 2016) and family business is one of the most defining and enduring forms of economic activity in Asian economies (see e.g. Menon, 2019). According to estimates, about 80 percent of the industrial base are still owned and controlled by family firms in Pakistan.…”

A quarter century of management research in South Asia – III: analysis and conclusions

“…The last line in Table 3 underscores the fact that the percentage of research with external first authors is quite high, ranging from 60 to 70% (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) to around 80% (Bangladesh, Nepal) to nearly 95% (Afghanistan). Thus, overall, it appears that the criticism or stereotype that South Note(s): The full list of journals is available in Menon (2016Menon ( , 2019 Asian management research is mainly driven by authors with external affiliation seems to be borne out in the current review.…”

“…While Parts I and II (Menon, 2016(Menon, , 2019 portray a diverse and disparate range of research interests, the overarching key finding is that context matters. The management of people and resources cannot be divorced from the contextual field in which management "happens."…”

“…Gaur and Kumar, 2018;Teagarden et al, 2018;Tsui, 2007). Given the relative absence of large-scale reviews of South Asian management research, Menon (2016Menon ( , 2019 carried out a comprehensive review of management research in the eight countries of South Asia -Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lankapublished between 1990 and 2014. Due to length limitations, the results and analysis of this systematic review were parceled into three separate subunits: methodology that uncovered a total of 1,250 articles published in 183 journals.…”