The heavy emphasis on statistical rigor that business schools in American universities place on research is questionable in general and, for business schools in China, is not necessarily a good strategy by which either to produce useful research or to distinguish themselves from business schools in the United States. The reasons for this pertain to, first, what statistical analysis is good for in science; second, what statistical analysis is not good for in science; third, what statistical analysis is and is not good for in business research; fourth, how a large sample size is not generalizable but a single case is; fifth, how action research, design research, and Herbert Simon’s “sciences of the artificial” all demonstrate rigor without statistics; and finally, the historical context that explains the turn to statistics in American business schools but is irrelevant to China. The recommendation is for business schools in China not necessarily to reject statistical research, but rather, to also pursue other, equally scientific forms of research, including those recognized by Herbert Simon.

Cross-border M&As are important to the participating countries. I posit that mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption lowers the systemic information noise embedded in countries’ accounting standards. This reduces the associated information processing costs and enhances the economic role accounting standards play on cross-border M&A flows. After mandatory IFRS adoption, a 1% increase in accounting standards disparity suppresses bilateral M&A flows by around 2%; a decrease in accounting standards disparity helps promote bilateral M&A flows when paired countries’ governance infrastructure gaps are relatively wider. I do not find that these associations were significant prior to mandatory IFRS adoption. Overall, this paper documents an evolving economic role accounting standards play on bilateral cross-border M&A flows and sheds light on the economic benefits of adopting IFRS for policy makers.

Companies operating across borders face greater challenges in ensuring compliance with company strategy in different cultural contexts. Recent research shows the cognitive and emotional benefits of utilizing visual representations of knowledge in organizations. This study aims to test if mapping a corporate strategy visually can improve attitudes toward firm strategy and the intention to comply with it. An experiment is conducted comparing two knowledge maps to a textual version of the same company strategy. In order to measure attitudes toward the strategy, a scale was developed and tested in Europe and China. The study outcome provides a parsimonious and effective tripartite scale of attitude with cognitive, affective and behavioral components. The scale was then applied to a different sample to test the effect of mapping a company strategy visually on attitude toward the strategy, and to test if the effect is persistent in Europe and China. The results of the experiment show that subjects exposed to the visual conditions had significantly more positive affective and cognitive attitudes toward the content.

Existing studies demonstrate that corporate social capital can not only enable a firm to gain access to heterogeneous information and resources, but may also facilitate the establishment of behavioral norms, communication models and mutual-trust platforms with stakeholders in its social network. As a result, corporate social capital drives organizational changes and has the potential to boost business model innovation. This paper recognizes organizational learning as a mediating mechanism that transforms corporate social capital into business model innovation. Using survey data collected from 164 Chinese firms, we tested the relationship between corporate social capital and business model innovation, as well as the mediating effect of organizational learning. Our findings clearly show how corporate social capital flows through organizational learning efforts to business model innovation.

Although the relationship between pay level and pay satisfaction has been verified as one of the most robust relationships in the literature of pay satisfaction, scholars have not yet reached an agreement regarding its underlying mechanisms. The present paper aims to investigate the link between absolute pay level and pay level satisfaction by introducing both distributive and procedural fairness perceptions as mediators in accordance with fairness heuristic perspective. A sample of 298 employees from various types of organizations completed a survey, and a series of models were compared to evaluate if the hypothesized theoretical model fits our data. We also constructed bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals to test the hypothesized mediation effects. The suggested theoretical model is supported, and future research directions are discussed.

Researchers have noted various obvious behavioral outcomes caused by abusive supervision while overlooking hidden behaviors. We draw on self-determination theory to propose that abusive supervision leads to subordinates’ hidden destructive behavior, namely neglect. This study examines the relationship by focusing on a three way interaction model. Using multi-wave design, we collected data in a Chinese leading petrochemical corporation. We found positive associations between abusive supervision and neglect. Such associations are influenced by subordinates’ insider status and organizational support. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations and future research directions are discussed.