Research on international joint ventures (IJVs) typically assumes that power and control depend mainly on the resources each partner contributes. This view overlooks the role of institutions, historical influences, and individual interests. Using two case studies of Brazilian IJVs, one with a local partner in Colombia and another with a German partner in Mexico, we argue that power and control are socially constructed rather than objective. We show that power is exercised not only through hard, coercive resources but also through softer mechanisms such as manipulation and domination, which evolve over time. Our study emphasizes that power relations are particularly significant in formerly colonized countries, where social hierarchies and internalized feelings of inferiority influence organizational interactions. We contribute to IJV literature by demonstrating how historical legacies shape power dynamics, highlighting the importance of context, and portraying IJVs as dynamic political arenas where power and control are continuously created, reinforced, and transformed.

Latin American countries exhibit significant levels of informal economic activity and a low degree of trade openness. Yet, little is known about the effect of these institutional characteristics on the performance of SMEs when venturing abroad to explore international markets. Based on an institutional voids approach, we explore the effects of unfair competition, particularly related to informality, on export intensity of SMEs conditioned by tariffs, trade regulations, and taxes in Latin America. Multilevel modeling is applied to a sample of 5781 Latin American firms. We hypothesize and find that SMEs increase their exports when they compete against informal firms. Higher tariffs and trade regulations reinforce such unfair competition and thus the decision to focus on international markets.

Purpose Companies target globally mobile workers and face the war for talent, while individuals are more reluctant to engage in global mobility. This scenario led us to propose a model to understand the individuals' decision process to engage in global mobility. Design/methodology/approach Building on the self-determination theory, the theory of planned behavior and the literature on decisions for global mobility, the authors propose mechanisms through which psychological variables and assignments' factual and perceived contextual aspects (directly or indirectly) explain the decision to engage or not in global mobility. Findings This study offers a conceptual model with the authors' novel propositions to explain individuals' decision to engage in global mobility. Originality/value The model provides a more comprehensive explanation of the individuals' decision-making process to engage in global mobility than previous models and potentially yields more effective organizational practices to attract both well-established and emerging phenomena of globally mobile workers.

What insights can postcolonialism and decoloniality offer into workplace accentism? Drawing upon these two strands of literature, this article contributes to workplace research through proposing a view of accentism as an intersectional phenomenon, rooted in the historically sedimented unequal social structure and relations formed during the colonial past. Based on a qualitative study of Brazilians in Portugal, we identify two forms of workplace accentism experienced by the participants: (1) overt accentism – which involves an explicit, direct reference to a person’s accent; and (2) accent-activated stigmatisation – which occurs upon the listener’s realisation that the speaker is a member of a particular group (specifically, nationality). We theorise the experiences of accentism as contemporary manifestations of the workings of colonial power and prejudices. In addition, we distinguish between four approaches to managing workplace accentism: suppressing, confronting, marginalising and exiting. We theorise these as contemporary expressions of resistance strategies historically used by the colonised in response to colonial power. We also highlight the intersectional differences – along the axes of class, race and gender – with regard to individuals’ deployment of each of these approaches. The article enriches our knowledge about how colonial power relations continue to underpin discrimination and its consequences throughout the global economy.

The literature on expatriation typically assumes that cultural and institutional familiarity facilitates expatriate adjustment. This assumption underplays the role of the historical context, especially the influence of painful colonial pasts that often lie beneath such familiarity. In addition, seeking to capture expatriate adjustment as a single measure, such literature does not engage with the differences in the extent to which expatriates achieve cognitive, behavioral, and affective adjustment. Using a qualitative study addressing the work experiences of Brazilians living in Portugal, we argue that to fully understand expatriate adjustment, we must pay attention to the historical colonial relationship between the expatriate’s home and host country. Specifically, we discuss the importance of social representations of history for how expatriates narrate, interpret, and act in response to their experiences. Our research makes two theoretical contributions. First, we explain how historical colonial relationships affect expatriate adjustment and how this leads to adjustment only being partial. Second, we develop a nuanced understanding of expatriate adjustment by drawing attention to its three interdependent dimensions (cognitive, behavioral, and affective), showing that an expatriate may be well adjusted in one dimension but less adjusted in another. We call for organizations to engage more, and more critically, with history.

This paper examines trends, challenges and opportunities in terms of research methodologies in qualitative IB research. In particular, it examines trends for the dominant (positivism/(post)positivism) paradigm versus alternative paradigms (i.e., social constructivism, critical realism and interpretivism) and provides a comparative analysis of data collection and methods. Using mixed methods to collect and analyze data on qualitative articles published in International Business Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, and Management International Review, we examine trends and differences between the dominant and alternative paradigms and use qualitative content analysis to investigate how alternative paradigm papers are conceptualized and presented. Moreover, we interview authors of non-positivist papers to gain in-depth understanding of the findings. We reveal differences across the paradigms and provide evidence of paradigmatic fit between methods and data collection techniques for the dominant paradigm, but more variation for alternative paradigms. Lastly, we provide prescriptions for IB scholars in terms of methodology diversity and how complex IB phenomena can be pursued vis-a-vis alternative paradigms.

This issue, developed in cooperation with the Academy of International Business Research Methods Shared Interest Group, explores the importance of utilizing sound research methods when studying international business phenomena. In addition to featuring two research methods-focused articles, it also presents articles on social identity theory in the age of identity politics, Tik-tok and the splinternet, and the different value chain requirements for medical devises in the COVID-19 era.

Globalization has motivated firms to expand into foreign markets, but internationalization is inherently dynamic. Many firms have exited foreign markets for various reasons, but some later decide to re‐enter those same markets. Based on a case study of a Brazilian multinational's activities in Mexico, this study contributes to the literature on re‐entry decisions of multinational enterprises and their outcomes, focusing on the roles of institutional voids and the experiences of decision‐makers during such processes. The findings suggest that companies learn from their mistakes and reconsider how they approach re‐entry and the resources that may need to be mobilized. However, the learning process is not straightforward as it is clouded by international knowledge myopia. This study highlights how multiple actors and considerations influence re‐entry events.

We analyze methodological trends in empirical research in JIBS from 1970 to 2019. Our results point to the prevalence of the following patterns: there has been an increase in the use of (1) large-scale longitudinal, cross-national datasets, (2) complex analytical techniques, including the incorporation of multiple analytical techniques within the same study, but (3) a decline in the diversity of methods in use. We relate these trends to the underlying social, technical, and communicative conventions in the journal during the 50-year period. The observed patterns are consistent with theory that posits scientific fields entrench a dominant paradigm over time, resulting in a restricted set of methodological options being selected. Such restrictions jeopardize the quality of research because the study of any phenomenon requires the use of multiple methodological procedures to avoid the systematic biases, errors, omissions, and limitations introduced by any single option. Therefore, we propose the use of triangulation as a strategy for building methodological alternatives into research designs. Institutionalization of this principle in the field of international business has the potential to enhance both the rigor and scope of future inquiry.

This study examines the transfer of a Brazilian MNC's HR model to its subsidiaries in the UK, Canada, Switzerland and Norway. It enquires where the model was sourced from, to what extent it bore a distinct Brazilian complexion, and whether it was adapted to meet the strictures of host institutional constraints and traditions. The paper uses these questions to address an important theoretical debate in the international business literature; that is, whether the pattern of diffusion of management practices within MNCs will lead to a convergence of practices across companies and countries à la the convergence perspective, or whether this is unlikely given the variety of social and political constraints limiting such a process as suggested by the contingency perspective. We find that the MNC imposed a unitary (US-sourced) model of HR ‘best practice’ on all of its subsidiaries. Thus our empirical findings support the convergence thesis. However, we argue that these outcomes are largely explained by relations of power and economic dependence; specifically, the co-existence of dominant-country (US) practices and a dominant sectoral firm operating in economically dependent regions. Where similar circumstances are replicated one might foresee convergence within sectors across countries, but otherwise pluralism and eclecticism between sectors and across countries might be the predominant pattern along the lines envisaged in the conceptualization of “converging divergences”.

The aim of this study is to assess whether the relationship between intention to leave the job and its antecedents is quadratic or linear. To explore those relationships a theoretical model (see Figure 1) and eight hypotheses are proposed. Each linear hypothesis is followed by an alternative quadratic hypothesis. Findings from the analyses of 884 responses representing the staff of luxury hotels in India suggest that the effect of two antecedents i.e. job security, earnings and organisational loyalty were found to be linear. The two other antecedents i.e. organisational enthusiasm and stimulating job confirmed a quadratic relationship with intention to leave the job. Though one result suggesting that excessive salary or job security is no assurance to decrease staff turnover has been somewhat surprising. These results are unique within the context of human resource practices in the luxury hotels in India.

This article contributes to the growing stream of research on power and micro politics in the MNE. It is situated in the critical realist epistemology. It adopts Burawoy's extended case study method together with a context-sensitive and an actor-centered mode of explanation. The case is intriguing: a MNE from Brazil expands into Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway and imposes a new pay and performance management system, contrasting with existing host norms. The article uses this to examine interrelated questions about the influence of an emerging-economy parent business system and how this interacts with the well-developed institutional regulation of the host countries. Hence we are forced into the interesting realm of multilevel analysis about MNEs, power relations and institutional change. We argue that the transfer of HRM practices within MNEs is best explained by a consideration of institutions, organizational structures, actors' postures within and beyond the MNE, and their relational interplay. Specifically, it requires an analysis of the macro-political context (home and host institutional influences; subsidiaries' size, mode of establishment, history, value chain location; and the host economies' dependence on foreign investment) on which actors' identities and interests are formed, and on which the ensuing micro-political relations are played out.

The aim of this study is to assess whether the relationship between intention to leave the job and its antecedents is quadratic or linear. To explore those relationships a theoretical model (see Fig. 1) and eight hypotheses are proposed. Each linear hypothesis is followed by an alternative quadratic hypothesis. The alternative hypotheses propose that the relationship between the four antecedent constructs and intention to leave the job might not be linear, as the existing literature suggests. Findings from the analyses of 884 responses representing the staff of luxury hotels in India, suggest that the effect of two antecedents i.e. job security, earnings and organisational loyalty, were found to be linear. The two other antecedents i.e. organisational enthusiasm and stimulating job, confirmed a quadratic relationship with intention to leave the job, although one result suggesting that neither high salary nor job security are guarantees of improvements in staff turnover has been somewhat surprising. These results are unique within the context of human resource practices in luxury hotels. The study is distinctive with its findings based on quadratic analysis. It has implications for managers of luxury hotels to the effect that too much of a good thing may not ensure that employees will remain in the job. Secondly, there is little evidence in the literature of similar analytical approaches within the context of luxury hotels in India or elsewhere being undertaken to assess staff turnover. In this way, the outcomes have implications for both practice and theory. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Although the literature in international human resource management has developed greatly over recent years, our understanding of the dynamics of the transfer of HR practices in multinational companies (MNCs) from emerging economies with subsidiaries in advanced economies is found wanting. This study addresses this gap in our knowledge by investigating the transfer of employment policies of a Brazilian MNC to its Canadian subsidiaries. It examines interrelated questions about the influence of an emerging-economy parent-business system and how this interacts with the well-developed institutional regulation of the host country in a context of complex relations of dependence and dominance. Our prior expectation that the MNC would have had to adapt its policies to the 'Canadian way' was not borne out by the evidence. Instead the Brazilian MNC was found to be adept at capturing significant components of the host country's institutional setting in a manner that gave it the space to determine the 'rules' for its own advantage. That it was able to do so was, in large part, shaped by the market context of the firm and by Canada's dependence on foreign investment and, in turn, by the political relations of dependence that such reliance engendered. Broader lessons from the case analysis are offered.