Widening the lens: Rethinking distance, diversity, and foreignness in international business research through positive organizational scholarship

• Published in: Journal of international business studies Vol. 47; no. 6; pp. 621 - 630
• Main Authors: Stahl, Günter K, Tung, Rosalie L, Kostova, Tatiana, Zellmer-Bruhn, Mary
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer London 01-08-2016; Palgrave Macmillan
• Subjects: Business and Management; Business Strategy/Leadership; Editorial; International Business; Management; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Organization; Organization theory; Organizational effectiveness; foreignness; diversity; international business; distance; positive organizational scholarship
• ISSN: 0047-2506; 1478-6990
• DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2016.28

The point of departure for the special issue is that current theory and research in international business (IB) may have overly emphasized a negative view on foreignness, distance, and differences of all kinds (national, cultural, organizational, and institutional), with an emphasis on liabilities and adverse outcomes associated with such differences. While existing research is certainly valuable, we argue that focusing on mostly negative processes and outcomes has hindered our understanding of the dynamics, processes, and conditions that enable organizations to benefit from diversity in a wide range of IB contexts. The goal of this special issue is to promote research that is in line with a Positive Organizational Scholarship perspective, which encourages scholars to look at commonly considered phenomena in new ways, as well as to explicitly consider positive phenomena in IB research. We then introduce the three articles included in the special issue and highlight how they help IB scholars better understand when and how foreignness, distance, and diversity can enhance organizational effectiveness and performance at multiple levels.