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Call for Papers: Evidence-based Strategic Management

  • 1.  Call for Papers: Evidence-based Strategic Management

    Posted 01-07-2013 21:05
    Can you please post the following mail? Thanks!

    Reminder:
    Call for Papers on a Special Issue of the Review of Managerial Science
    Evidence-based Strategic Management (EbSM)
    Submission Deadline: March 10, 2013

    Guest Editors:
    Andreas Bausch, University of Giessen, Germany
    Markus Fitza, Texas A&M University, USA

    Background
    Driven by namable advocates and programmatic publications in leading
    academic and practitioner-oriented management journals (Rousseau, 2006;
    Pfeffer & Sutton, 2006), evidence-based management is gaining more and more
    attention. In essence, the notion of evidence-based management stands for
    the need for improved decision-making quality in management practice.
    Corporate decision-makers ought to improve decision-making by drawing on
    best available information.
    “In many cases, the facts about what works are out there – so why don’t
    managers use them?” (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2006).
    However, evidence-based management goes beyond this claim. There has been
    much debate on the knowledge-doing gap, all too often seen to be
    unbridgeable (Kieser & Leiner, 2009). But what is at the core of evidence-
    based management is the explicit emphasis on the need for systematic
    summaries of decision-relevant research to generate evidence and actionable
    knowledge. In this context, evidence means the best summary of knowledge
    based on multiple sources of information. Thus, evidence in this sense goes
    not only beyond individual experiences but also beyond knowledge provided by
    single empirical studies (Frese et al., 2012).
    “Through evidence-based management, practicing managers develop into experts
    who make organizational decisions informed by social science and
    organizational research – part of the zeitgeist moving professional
    decisions away from personal preference and unsystematic experience toward
    those based on the best available scientific evidence.” (Rousseau, 2006).
    We think it is time to let Evidence-based Strategic Management (EbSM) become
    an important part of this emergent development. After four decades of
    research resulting in a strong theory base which is eclectic in nature, and
    yielding substantial empirical knowledge (Hoskisson et al., 1999; Nag,
    Hambrick & Chen, 2007), the field of strategic management is especially
    appropriate for the evidence-based approach. With several thousand primary
    empirical studies there is a natural need for research synthesis. At the
    same time, it can be recognized that individual studies and replications
    conducted in similar areas of inquiry often produce conflicting results.
    Differences, for example, in research methods, measures, samples and time
    span induce some variability in the relationship of interest. Accordingly,
    an integration of these studies may yield some summary conclusion and a
    comprehensive view on the true nature of specific cause-and-effect
    relations, including the influence of moderating variables.
    In light of the need of cumulative knowledge, meta-analytical approaches
    play a central role in evidence-based management. Meta-analysis is a
    systematic and quantitative review of the scientific literature delivering a
    valid overall picture of relationships between variables (Hunter & Schmidt,
    2004). It allows us to integrate existing studies as it examines how strong
    certain relationships really are and how much we can trust the
    methodological rigor of a body of research. Because of this, meta-analytical
    approaches can generate results of greater validity than traditional
    narrative reviews and vote-counting methods.
    Strategic management researchers make increasing use of meta-analysis to
    quantitatively integrate entire lines of research. The number of paper
    presentations at major international conferences is rising, and so is the
    number of publications in high-ranked journals. With a number of more than
    40 meta-analyses published on issues of strategic management such as
    diversification (e.g., Palich, Cardinal & Miller, 2000; Bausch & Pils,
    2009), internationalization (e.g., Bausch & Krist, 2007; Kirca et al.,
    2012), innovation (e.g., Damanpour, 1991; Rosenbusch, Brinckmann & Bausch,
    2011), and mergers & acquisitions (e.g., King et al., 2004; Homberg, Rost &
    Osterloh, 2009), we believe to have reached a tipping point to establish
    what we call Evidence-based Strategic Management (EbSM).
    The goal of this special issue is to stimulate authors to further develop
    EbSM – to explore options and limitations in applying evidence-based
    approaches from medicine and other areas to the field of Strategic
    Management. The special issue will undoubtedly have a focus on meta-
    analysis. However, any submission that examines how good empirical evidence
    for practical and theoretical questions can be tracked, aggregated and
    evaluated will be welcome.

    Potential Research Questions and Contributions
    We hope to spur research contributions related to how strategic management
    research continues to pursue knowledge accumulation and evidence-based
    approaches. The following are illustrative, rather than exhaustive research
    questions that would fit very well this special issue:
     What constitutes evidence in strategic management research and what
    types of evidence can be differentiated?
     Which meta-analytic evidence does exist regarding issues in strategy
    process and strategy content research? (We encourage meta-analyses and other
    systematic reviews on strategic management issues)
     How can meta-analytic evidence inform evidence-based best practice
    in strategic management and what are similarities and differences compared
    to other forms of reviews? (We encourage contributions considering
    methodological issues associated with primary and secondary empirical
    research in the field of strategic management)
     As randomized controlled trials (RCT) or even the review of RCTs are
    the “gold standard” in evidence-based medicine, how is it possible to apply
    intervention research? (We encourage experimental studies and vignette
    studies on strategic management issues)
     What methodologies can be used in evidence-based strategic
    management? What can we learn from evidence-based approaches in other
    fields? Does the context of strategic management require changes to the
    methodology used in other fields?

    Submission Instructions
    The deadline for submissions is March 10, 2013. To learn more about the
    Review of Managerial Science, including additional information on the
    submission process, please visit the RMS website at:
    www.springer.com/business+%26+management/journal/11846

    More Information
    For further information, please contact the special issue editors:
    Andreas Bausch, University of Giessen (andreas.bausch@wirtschaft.uni-
    giessen.de)
    Markus Fitza, Texas A&M University (mfitza@mays.tamu.edu)
    Or, the Editor-In-Chief of the RMS, Wolfgang Kürsten.
    The RMS is published by Springer and has been founded in 2007. It is
    included in the SSCI Index since 2011.

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