That's interesting

• Date: 01 March 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21963
• Published date: 01 March 2018
• Author: Mary B. Teagarden

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Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com)

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. • DOI: 10.1002/tie.21963

That’s interesting

By

Mary B. Teagarden

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Thunderbird International Business Review’s aim to

bridge the chasm between traditional academic

research and practitioner observations and search

for understanding leads me to accept some submissions

and reject others. This has been TIBR’s mandate since it

began as the first international business journal, founded

in 1961 as the International Executive. Our journal origi-

nally provided “translations” of academic research for

consumption by practitioners. As the journal evolved and

matured, we began accepting articles about practice and

articles by practitioners in addition to academic research

focused on practice. Today, I most often accept articles

that I believe are going to be interesting and relevant

to both of our readership constituencies—international

business relevance is my overarching editorial goal. This

keeps our journal focused on real-world international

business phenomena that are relevant for today’s deci-

sion makers and research that informs their efforts to

make sense of global business dynamics.

In a recent article in the Academy of International

Business’s Insights newsletter, Journal of World Business

editor Jonathan Doh (2017) argued that phenomenon-

based research in international business research can

make international business relevant again. Doh cites von

Krogh, Rossi-Lamasta and Haeflinger’s (2012) definition

of phenomenon-based research as research designed to

“capture, describe and document, as well as conceptual-

ize, a phenomenon so that appropriate theorizing and

the development of research designs can proceed” (p.

278). Doh (2015) extends thinking in this area and elabo-

rates that phenomenon-based research “takes as a princi-

pal focus the ability to accurately and insightfully inform

a real-world phenomenon or phenomena” (p. 609). In

TIBR’s review and editorial decision-making processes,

we seek accuracy and insightfulness about contemporary

international business phenomena.

Our very applied focus encourages the inclusion of

a large number of research methodologies that support

the use of phenomenon-based research, including quali-

tative research such as case studies; case-based research;

essays; and thick, description-focused articles. In our

efforts to answer relevant “big questions” for our reader-

ship, we publish articles by scholars, by practitioners, and

by practitioner-focused scholars. We publish articles that

are at or near the cutting edge to aid readers in getting

ahead of phenomena. This approach is not without criti-

cism. Qualitative research is criticized as not being subject

to the same degree of scrutiny as quantitative studies

and thus subject to data manipulation and bias. I think

these critics are missing the point. Qualitative studies are

used to identify and describe phenomena—much like an

explorer seeking and finding new terrain. Quantitative

researchers are more like cartographers who map the

nooks and crannies of that new terrain. Two approaches,

two fundamentally different outcomes. Both approaches

can be the basis for robust theory building if that is