Ritesh Kumar and Ajnesh Prasad
This study revisits the discourse on the neoliberalization of business schools and explores how accreditation-linked institutional pressures catalyze cultural change that…
Abstract
Purpose
This study revisits the discourse on the neoliberalization of business schools and explores how accreditation-linked institutional pressures catalyze cultural change that adversely impact academic labor and academic subjectivities in the Global South.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with academics from elite business schools in India.
Findings
This study shows how academics encounter institutional pressures in Indian business schools. Three major themes emerged from the data: (1) the conception of the ideal academic that existed before accreditation, (2) how the conception of the ideal academic was fundamentally transformed during and after accreditation, and (3) the challenges academics experienced in achieving the performance targets introduced by accreditation-linked institutional pressures.
Originality/value
This study offers two contributions to the extant literature on business schools located in the Global South: (1) it illustrates how organizational changes within business schools in India are structured by accreditation-linked institutional pressures coming from the Global North, and (2) it adds to the growing body of work on neoliberal governmentality by highlighting the implications of accreditation-liked institutional pressures on academic subjectivities.
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Eric Ping Hung Li, Ajnesh Prasad, Cristalle Smith, Ana Gutierrez, Emily Lewis and Betty Brown
The purpose of this paper is to consider the potential of visual (i.e. non-textual) research methods in community-based participatory research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the potential of visual (i.e. non-textual) research methods in community-based participatory research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on a case illustration of a photo- and video-voice campaign involving rural communities in British Columbia, Canada.
Findings
The authors find that visual research methods, in the form of photo- and video-voice campaigns, allow participants to form ties between their community and the broader sociocultural, natural and political milieu in which their community is located. The authors highlight the benefits of using such methodological approaches to capture an emic perspective of community building.
Originality/value
The contribution of this study is twofold. First, this study uses a photo- and video-voice campaign to showcase the role of visuals in articulating community pride – that is, how locals construct identity – and a sense of belongingness. Second, by focusing its analytical gaze on the idea of “community,” this paper revisits the importance of active involvement of research participants in the execution of empirical studies. Ultimately, the authors urge organization and management studies scholars, as well as those working in the social sciences more broadly, to further explore the value of innovative community-based research approaches in future work.
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Gabrielle Durepos, Ajnesh Prasad and Cristian E. Villanueva
The aim of this article is to encourage critical scholars of international business (IB) to engage with scholarship that turns to practice and situates knowledges. The paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this article is to encourage critical scholars of international business (IB) to engage with scholarship that turns to practice and situates knowledges. The paper contends that such undertakings have the potential to constructively politicize research in the field of international business.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses the need for future research in the field to be studied more critically so as to be able to focus attention on those subjects detrimentally impacted by the operation of IB. It further identifies possibilities for doing so.
Findings
The paper argues that turning to practice and situating knowledges represents a move towards the emancipation of subjects marginalized – and, all too often, silenced – in the ordinary functioning of IB.
Originality/value
Moving against the grain of positivist orientated approaches to research in the field, whilst simultaneously building on the critical traditions to the study of IB, we consider how future scholarship might account for marginalized subjects.
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Ajnesh Prasad and Gabrielle Durepos
The editorial introduces the special issue entitled, “Voices at/from the margins: Articulating the consequences of international business”.
Abstract
Purpose
The editorial introduces the special issue entitled, “Voices at/from the margins: Articulating the consequences of international business”.
Design/methodology/approach
The editorial begins by briefly describing how the idea for the special issue was initiated and then provides an overview of the articles included.
Findings
The editorial contains a discussion of the themes emerging from the special issue articles.
Originality/value
The editorial provides some consideration of how the collection of articles included in the special issue, both individually and collectively, contribute to listening to subjects that are situated at the margins of international business.
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The aim of this paper is to use Rawls's principles of justice to develop a system of global ethics that can be used to govern international business practices.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to use Rawls's principles of justice to develop a system of global ethics that can be used to govern international business practices.
Design/methodology/approach
A critical synopsis of Rawls's political philosophy is provided, his application in prior business ethics literature is reviewed, and a Rawlsian‐inflected ethics for conducting international business practices is outlined.
Findings
This paper concludes that Rawls's philosophical insights have significant relevance for the conduct of contemporary international business; that through critical engagement of Rawls's ideas there emerges the potential for international business to be predicated on social justice values.
Originality/value
This paper offers the first substantive attempt to elucidate the conditions under which international business is rendered to be consistent with Rawls's principles of justice.
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The purpose of this paper is to articulate the etiology of ethnic conflict in Fiji that moves beyond polemical interpretations which routinely and often erroneously apportion…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to articulate the etiology of ethnic conflict in Fiji that moves beyond polemical interpretations which routinely and often erroneously apportion blame.
Design/methodology/approach
A critical survey of ethnic conflict between in Indo‐ and indigenous Fijians is offered. The implication of British colonialism on the conflict is underscored.
Findings
The paper concludes that the first three coups that occurred in Fiji between 1987 and 2000 were, to varying degrees, the coupled result of the deterioration of indigenous paramountcy in Fijian politics on the one hand and the lack of their improvement in socio‐economic status on the other. In contrast, the 2006 coup is the product of intra‐ethnic discord amongst indigenous Fijians, which ultimately sidelines the question of indigenous paramountcy.
Originality/value
Unlike previous arguments that have largely ignored economic determinants in creating and perpetuating ethnic conflict in Fiji, this paper illustrates how such factors are crucial to conceptualize an understanding of discord between Indo‐ and indigenous Fijians.