International Business Research

Drawing on contributions from nine prominent scholars, the book reflects on global aspects of research in work, employment, leadership, management, and business. It follows current trends in global business research and recommends directions for closing the gaps between theory and practice for the benefit of executives in multinational corporations, academics, and international transients. Work and employment remain important and a core part of life, giving not only a sense of purpose, routine and meaning, but also independence and the ability to connect and contribute to the lives of others and society. Leadership styles and management behaviors in earlier multi-country studies did not demonstrate significant associative patterns regarding interpersonal leadership in different countries, and the use of mainstream single-country leadership meta-categories was invalidated. Thus, future studies of leadership should focus on investigating interpersonal leadership across national borders in combination with contemporary trends such as distance leadership, global virtual teams, and intersectionality. As more and more people seek employment across borders, various types of sojourners, specifically millions of low status international workers, with some few exceptions, have largely been ignored by scholars who study international mobility. This failure adds to the research - practice gap between scholars who investigate, and the practitioners who manage, sojourners of all status levels. This book will appeal to scholars in leadership, management, international business, cultural studies and to practicing managers. The chapters in this book were originally published in International Studies of Management & Organization.