Manifesto for a post-colonial international business and management studies: A provocation

R. I. Westwood, Gavin Jack

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

127 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Purpose - Submitted in the form of a manifesto, this article seeks to make a call to scholars in international management and business studies to embrace post-colonial theory and to allow it to provide an interrogation of the ontological, epistemological, methodological and institutional resources currently dominating the field. Design/methodology/approach - A manifesto approach is adopted in providing a series of deliberately provocative principles which it seeks to have the field adopt. Findings - The paper finds the field to be currently imprisoned within a limited and limiting paradigmatic and institutional location and offers the resources of post-colonial theory as a way to interrogate and reconfigure it. Research limitations/implications - The paper points to the limitations of the field and provides the grounds for a radical reconfiguration across all aspects of its knowledge production, dissemination and research practice. Practical implications - The paper offers practical steps which the field can take to reconfigure itself more appropriately in terms of its various research commitments and its institutional frame. Originality/value - This article offers an original assessment of the orthodoxy currently controlling and disciplining the field, presented in the relatively novel and challenging form of a manifesto.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)246-265
Number of pages20
JournalCritical Perspectives on International Business
Volume3
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Culture
  • Epistemology
  • International business
  • Knowledge based management systems
  • Research methods

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