How can International Management Theory contribute to International Management Practice?

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• The Research-Practice Gap
  • Defining the Research-Practice Gap
  • Causes of the Research-Practice Gap
    • Knowledge Production
    • Knowledge Transfer

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This research paper examines the research-practice gap, particularly within the field of International Management (IM). It seeks to understand why research findings often fail to translate into management practice and provides suggestions for bridging this gap. The paper acknowledges the gap as a knowledge production and knowledge transfer problem, identifying causes specific to IM. It proposes solutions through academic initiatives focused on publication processes, researcher-practitioner interaction, and contextualization, and practitioner initiatives regarding implementation issues and a collaborative research paradigm.

• Research-practice gap in International Management
• Knowledge production and transfer problems
• Causes of the research-practice gap in IM
• Suggestions for bridging the gap through academic and practitioner initiatives
• The role of context theory and practitioner-driven research

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

Introduction

The introduction highlights the gap between International Management (IM) research and practice, with many practitioners not implementing research findings. The paper aims to answer how IM research can contribute to IM practice by examining causes and offering suggestions for academics and practitioners. It clarifies the meaning of IM within the context of the research, emphasizing the need for context theory and contextualized IM theory.

The Research-Practice Gap

This section defines the research-practice gap, acknowledging its presence not just in IM but across various fields where researchers and practitioners operate separately. The gap is structured as a knowledge production problem (lack of managerial relevance) and a knowledge transfer problem (difficulty in translating research findings for managerial application).

It then delves into the causes of this gap, focusing on knowledge production issues. These include the academic world's emphasis on internal validation, leading to a closed loop where practitioners have limited voice. It also examines the emphasis on rigor over relevance in academic publications, highlighting the potential for a trade-off between academic rigor and practical applicability.

Furthermore, the dominance of quantitative methods in IM research is discussed, questioning its suitability for capturing nuanced cross-cultural phenomena and beliefs. The section concludes with a discussion of knowledge transfer problems, where researchers assume publication in top-tier journals automatically translates into practice, disregarding the challenges of engaging managers and the accessibility of research for non-academic audiences.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The main keywords and focus topics of this text are: International Management (IM), research-practice gap, knowledge production, knowledge transfer, academic rigor, relevance, quantitative methods, qualitative methods, context theory, practitioner-driven research, evidence-based management (EBM), and the role of practitioners in bridging the research-practice gap.