Journal of International Business Studies - JIBS

15/11/2024

Join us for a discussion of how MNEs are transforming through global mobility and cross-border talent management

In this webinar on 22 November you'll hear insights from authors of three recently accepted papers in JIBS’s special issue on “Global mobility of people: Challenges and opportunities for international business,” along with two editors of this special issue.

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This webinar will discuss how multinational enterprises are transforming through global mobility and cross-border talent management! Join us to hear insights from authors of three recently accepted papers in JIBS’s special issue on “Global mobility of people: Challenges and opportunities for int...

13/11/2024

In the latest JIBS editorial, Oded Shenkar takes the study of national culture as an example of how we can move toward interdisciplinary research in IB. Read it here:

Home Journal of International Business Studies Article Towards interdisciplinarity in international business: national culture as an example Editorial Published: 04 November 2024 (2024) Cite this article Download PDF Journal of International Business Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript Towards....

11/11/2024

JIBS is pleased to announce the selection of Ute Stephan, Lorraine Uhlaner, and Christopher Stride's 2015 paper "Institutions and Social Entrepreneurship: The Role of Institutional Voids, Institutional Support, and Institutional Configurations" as the winner of the 2025 Decade Award.

Read the full announcement at https://www.palgrave.com/gp/journal/41267/volumes-issues/decade-award

08/11/2024

A recent JIBS article examines the impact of the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters on Chinese multinational corporations' tax avoidance behaviors. The study concludes that the Convention has led to a reduction in tax avoidance and divestment from tax havens by these corporations.

The research note by Xiaoning Song and colleagues investigates how the Convention's provisions for direct international tax administrative assistance influence Chinese MNCs. The study finds that Chinese MNCs, anticipating stronger tax enforcement, tend to reduce their tax-avoidance activities and divest from tax havens. Notably, this effect is more pronounced in MNCs whose parent firms are located in regions with weaker tax enforcement. Additionally, the paper observes a general decline in overall tax aggressiveness among these corporations following the Convention's implementation.

However, more analysis is still needed to fully understand the long-term implications of these findings for global tax policy and enforcement.

View the full paper here:

06/11/2024

The digital transformation of cultural industries has shifted the innovation landscape from localized processes to a more globalized approach. A recent JIBS paper concludes that users' linguistic inputs significantly influence the pace of cultural product innovation, particularly in the mobile gaming industry.

The article by Pengxiang Zhang, Jingtao Yi, Chao Niu, Eric Yanfei Zhao and Sali Li investigates how future-time reference (FTR) in languages affects the speed of new content introduction in mobile games. Analyzing 7,787 mobile games, the study finds that gamers from countries with weak FTR languages prompt faster updates due to proximate temporal framing. Additionally, the effectiveness of this framing is heightened when publishers are familiar with gamers' languages. These insights highlight the importance of understanding cross-cultural user engagement in driving innovation.

However, more analysis is still needed to fully grasp the implications of these findings for broader cultural industries.

View the full paper here:

04/11/2024

A new article in JIBS examines the global impact of US shareholder-initiated class action lawsuits on non-US firms. The study concludes that these lawsuits can significantly affect the value and governance practices of industry peers outside the US.

The work by massimo massa, Xiaoqiao Wang, Bohui Zhang and Hong Zhang uses an international sample from 1994-2019 and finds that such lawsuits negatively impact the value of non-US-listed industry peers. Two key outcomes are highlighted: information sharing and policy coordination between the US and the non-US firm’s home country. Additionally, non-US peer firms tend to improve their governance and financial policies in response to these lawsuits.

However, more analysis is still needed to fully understand the long-term implications of these findings for global corporate governance.

View the full paper here:

Existing studies tend to focus on how a legal system reinforces the efficiency of its domestic firms or foreign companies that are subject to its domestic jurisdiction (e.g., via cross-listing). Our study provides critical normative implications in the era of financial globalization by showing that....

01/11/2024

Join us on Thursday, November 7th for the webinar ‘ Recent Advances in International Leadership’. This event will showcase three papers recently published by JIBS, focusing on important issues related to international leadership.

Register here:

Join us on Thursday, November 7th for the webinar ' Recent Advances in International Leadership'. This event will showcase three papers recently published by the Journal of International Business Studies, focusing on important issues related to International Leadership.

30/10/2024

In recent years, there has been growing interest in how IB research can be conducted in Africa to address the continent's unique challenges and opportunities. However, as suggested in a new JIBS Commentary, there is a gap in understanding how such research can truly impact African societies, businesses, and policies.

The piece by Baniyelme Zoogah aims to fill that gap by proposing a framework for impactful research in Africa, focusing on what matters to African leaders, practitioners, policymakers, and educators.

Read the full article here:

28/10/2024

A new collection of editorials composed by former JIBS Editors-in-Chief is published in celebration of the journal's first editor, Ernest W. (Bill) Ogram, Jr.

Read the reflections and perspectives on IB from Rosalie L. Tung, Alain Verbeke, Lorraine Eden, Arie Y. Lewin PhD and Paul W. Beamish:

This collection of editorials composed by former JIBS Editors-in-Chief is published in celebration of the journal's first editor, Ernest W. (Bill) Ogram, Jr.  ...

25/10/2024

How can academic journals harness the upside of the rapid development of generative AI tools - and at the same time establish guardrails to preserve research integrity?

In a new JIBS editorial, Andrew Delios, Rosalie L. Tung and Arjen van Witteloostuijn write: "GenAI tools represent a double-edged sword: It can provide substantial benefits to the research process in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and accuracy, but it can also lead to a heightening of some of the frailties that imperil the research process. As we present in this editorial, with an improved understanding of GenAI as it affects and relates to research in the context of JIBS, we can better leverage GenAI as an efficient and effective technology for improving the design and ex*****on of research, throughout all stages of the process, without heightening the perils associated with its more widespread use. In this way, we are better prepared to embrace rather than fight the adoption of GenAI."

Read the full editorialhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41267-024-00736-0

Home Journal of International Business Studies Article How to intelligently embrace generative AI: the first guardrails for the use of GenAI in IB research Editorial Published: 22 October 2024 (2024) Cite this article Download PDF Journal of International Business Studies Aims and scope Submit manus...

18/10/2024

A preview of our next issue, out soon! Read everything in advance at https://link.springer.com/journal/41267/online-first

16/10/2024

Understanding the intricate relationship between language structure and environmental performance in MNEs is crucial for effective management. A recent study reveals that the grammatical feature known as the first pronoun drop in a language significantly influences a firm's environmental strategies and outcomes.

A new research note by Amir Shoham and colleagues delves into how language diversity impacts the environmental performance of MNEs globally. It highlights that MNEs operating in languages that allow for the omission of the first pronoun tend to exhibit better environmental performance. This linguistic feature moderates the relationship between corporate political activities and environmental outcomes, suggesting that language structure can influence corporate behavior towards more sustainable practices. The study analyzes over 4,000 company-year observations, providing robust evidence of this linguistic impact.

This research opens up new avenues for integrating linguistic insights into corporate environmental strategies.

View the full paper here:

Language affects almost every aspect of management in multinational enterprises (MNEs) but little is known about the impact of language on environmental performance. Our study investigates how language diversity affects the environmental performance of MNEs worldwide. We show that the grammatical st...

14/10/2024

A recent study on the impact of immigration policies on MNEs reveals significant shifts in global R&D strategies, pointing to a nuanced understanding of how visa restrictions affect sector-specific innovation.

The work by Deepak Nayak, Solon Moreira, and Ram Mudambi explores the consequences of the 2004 H1B visa cap reduction on innovation within U.S.-based MNEs. Analyzing 371,856 patents from 707 companies, the study finds that firms increased the geographic dispersion of their R&D teams in response to visa constraints. However, this adjustment led to a decline in innovation performance due to increased coordination challenges. Interestingly, industries dependent on codified knowledge were less impacted, suggesting that the physical proximity of R&D teams plays a variable role across different sectors.

This research underscores the complex interplay between immigration policy and corporate innovation strategy, highlighting potential long-term impacts on global knowledge transfer and economic competitiveness.

View the full paper here:

High-skill migrant workers significantly contribute to advanced economies by directly generating knowledge-intensive assets and serving as bridges to knowledge in their origin countries. However, rising populist sentiment has led to increased immigration restrictions in wealthy economies like the U....

11/10/2024

How are cultural industries being shaped by social and technological change in today's IB landscape?

Join us on 17 October for a free webinar on this topic featuring recent research published in JIBS: three papers recently accepted by the Journal of International Business Studies, focusing on critical issues in cultural industries shaped by social and technological change. Specifically, Fiona Kun Yao, Ming Xu, and Jia Ao’s paper, “Worldwide Spread of the Weinstein Scandal and the Movement: Cross-Country Diffusion of Reputation Loss in the Film Industry,” explores the global ripple effects of the movement and its impact on the film industry’s reputation across countries. Qian (Cecilia) Gu, Ying Wang, and Jianhong Zhang’s work, “Foreignness as a Double-Edged Sword for the Internationalization of Cultural Goods: Deep Learning-Based Semiotic Analysis of Hollywood Movies in China,” investigates how the foreignness of cultural products like Hollywood films can simultaneously aid and hinder their success in international markets, using a semiotic analysis powered by deep learning. Finally, JungYun Han, Henrich R. Greve, and Andrew Shipilov’s paper, titled “The Liability of Gender? Constraints and Enablers of Foreign Market Entry for Female Artists,” examines the unique challenges and opportunities that female artists face when entering foreign markets.

Register here:

This event will showcase three papers recently accepted by the Journal of International Business Studies, focusing on critical issues in cultural industries shaped by social and technological change.

09/10/2024

How can established IB approaches be positively adapted, revised, or extended to offer new perspectives and insights on the nature, objectives, and essence of the MNE in light of the emerging imperatives of resilience and sustainability?

Submit your work to our upcoming special issue on “MNEs in the age of resilience and sustainability imperatives and tensions,” deadline January 31, 2025.

See the full call for papers at

07/10/2024

The latest article from JIBS reveals a strategic dimension to why companies cross-list their securities internationally. It concludes that firms use cross-listing as a tactical response to increased competition in their domestic markets.

The article by Albert Tsang, Kun Tracy Wang & Nathan Zhenghang Zhu examines the relationship between competition law reforms and the propensity of firms to cross-list in foreign markets. The study utilizes a comprehensive dataset and introduces a novel metric to assess the impact of domestic competition on cross-listing decisions. It finds that firms are more inclined to cross-list following domestic competition law reforms, using this strategy to gain insights into foreign markets, signal product quality, and enhance brand awareness abroad. Crucially, the paper demonstrates that cross-listing effectively boosts foreign sales, highlighting its role as a strategic tool in global market positioning.

These insights could influence how firms approach international expansion and competition strategy. View the full paper here:

We propose and empirically test a product market motive for cross-listing, positing that intensified competition in domestic markets incentivizes firms to cross-list their securities as a strategic response to mitigate the adverse impact of heightened competition at home. Utilizing a hand-collected....

04/10/2024

Time for some weekend reading! Leigh Anne Liu reviews a book that "lays robust and expansive groundwork for those who are eager to explore and seize the many opportunities within the evolving landscape of international corporate sustainability research".

Read more about this recent volume edited by Anthony Goerzen in the JIBS review here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41267-024-00733-3

02/10/2024

Alternative finance (AF) is becoming an increasingly utilized option alongside traditional financial avenues, with its adoption varying significantly across different nations. While AF has notably influenced comparative research in IB, its role in cross-border contexts remains underexplored.

A new Review Article by Franklin Allen and Julia Meijun Qian provides a comprehensive analysis of alternative finance and its integration within international business studies. It outlines how AF operates through social, business, and virtual networks, offering advantages over traditional financial intermediaries. The paper highlights the impact of technological advancements on the prominence of AF and discusses its role in comparative financial systems, corporate governance, and national culture. The authors suggest that integrating AF insights could enhance understanding and development in international business research.

This study's findings could have significant implications for policymaking and strategic business decisions in the international context. View the full paper here:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41267-024-00739-x