Special Issue Theme Background

On September 27, 2018, the world said goodbye to a giant in our field, Professor James G. March. Professor March's impact on the field of organization studies is profound and long-lasting. His first major work, Organizations (1958), with Herbert Simon, reconceptualised and redefined the field of organizations. His name is associated with most of the important ideas in our field: a Behavioral Theory of the Firm, exploration and exploitation, organizational learning, garbage-can model of organizational choice, new institutionalism, ambiguity and choice, and many more. The advancement of the field is truly indebted to Professor March's brilliance and dedication to the search of truth as a scholar.

Professor March wrote the inaugural article for Management and Organization Review (March, 2005), ‘Parochialism in the evolution of a research community: The case of organization studies’. His insight is on how parochialism may limit the integration of organizational studies, but if properly balanced with cross-boundary linkages and interactions, can prevent the homogenizing tendencies of dominant scholarly groups. This article is a strong and eloquent argument that underlies the editorial structure and philosophy of Management and Organization Review and argues for the importance of contextual and indigenous Chinese management studies as necessary for developing both contextualized and universal knowledge.

The IACMR and MOR are indebted to Professor March for his insightful guidance. We have been standing on the shoulder of a giant. His legacy is part of the intellectual foundation of Chinese management research. To remember, celebrate, and advance Professor March's rich ideas on organizations, the IACMR, working with schools in Asia, calls for papers for a conference at the University of Nottingham Ningbo and for an MOR special issue.

The ‘Remembering James March’ conference will take place at the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China on June 17–19, 2019 (inclusive). Submission deadline of extended abstracts (7–10 pages including references) is March 30, 2019.

Subsequently, MOR aims to publish a collection of high-quality papers for a special issue. The invitation to submit manuscripts based on presentations at the Nottingham conference will be issued by June 21, 2019. The deadline for manuscript submission for the special issue (whether presented at the Nottingham Conference or not) is October 30, 2019.

Papers for the conference and for the MOR special issue should seek theoretical and empirical work that sheds light on the following topics related to March's scholarly traditions:

• – Behavioral theory of the firm, including but not limited to following topics

  • ◦ aspiration and organizational adaptation

  • ◦ political processes within organizations

  • ◦ role of top management or CEOs

  • ◦ micro-foundations of macro organizations studies

  • ◦ psychological processes of firm strategic decision-making

• – Exploitation and exploration

• – Organizational learning

• – Organizational routines and organizational search

• – Organizational attention

• – Organization slack

• – Foolishness and playfulness in Organizational Decision-making

• – Performance feedback

• – Garbage can model of organizational choice

• – New institutionalism

In particular, the Editors are seeking rigorous studies (theoretical or empirical) with a focus on Asian contexts or Asian perspectives given the increasing impact of this region. In Professor March's spirit, we are encouraging submissions with innovative methodological approaches and new theoretical perspectives.

Submission information:

Papers for the conference will be only accepted on the condition that the author(s) will attend the conference. Manuscripts based on the extended abstracts that do not fit the theme of the special issue will be considered for a regular issue of Management and Organization Review (with author approval).

Please email extended abstract conference submissions to the MOR Managing Editor at MORManagingeditor@cambridge.org with the subject line: Jim March Conference Proposal

Please submit full special issue papers, please via the MOR online submission website: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mor

It is important that all papers for the special issue conform to MOR's submission requirements published under the following link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/management-and-organization-review/information/instructions-contributors