Maximizing Your Success at Asia Pacific Journal of Management ChungMing Lau The Chinese University of Hong Kong Editor, Asia Pacific Journal of Management Special Panel “Globalizing Asia Pacific Journal of Management” AAoM Tokyo Conference 2006

Asia Pacific Journal of Management  Why do we accept or reject a manuscript? Sharing from my 4 years of editorial experiences at APJM.  Are we different from other journals? Yes, we have a special emphasis. No, our requirements are the same.

Asia Academy of Management  The Asia Academy of Management is designed to encourage management research, education and knowledge dissemination that are of relevance to management in Asia.  The mission of the Asia Academy is to assume global leadership in the advancement of management theory, research and education of relevance to Asia.  We therefore publishes APJM as a way to promote management research, among other activities.

Mission of Asia Pacific Journal of Management  The Asia Pacific Journal of Management publishes original manuscripts on subjects related to general and strategic management in the Asia Pacific region.  In line with the increasingly global nature of business and research, the Asia Pacific region is defined broadly, to encompass not only pacific rim countries, but also much of mainland Asia.

APJM Aims and Scope  The areas of general and strategic management are similarly viewed broadly to encompass most functional fields of management and business.  Rather than defining research by administrative or functional boundaries, the APJM believes that the research it publishes should be constrained only by impact and relevance.  In deciding relevance, the APJM focuses on the extent to which each manuscript addresses matters that pertain to the most fundamental of business questions: "What determines firm success?"

So,  Asia is the focus – we publishes articles only when it is related to Asian management issues, i.e. those research questions unique to or popular in Asia, or based on Asian samples.  The contribution of an article is defined not only by its relevance, but also its impact on Asian management research, i.e. it informs us something more about current understanding of certain issues, theoretically and empirically.  That is why we are no different from other major journals.

What does Academy of Management Journal (AMJ) require?  Mission of AMJ: to publish empirical research that tests, extends, or builds management theory and contributes to management practice. (Rynes et al AMJ)  In our case – it’s the same, except that we require an ‘Asian’ perspective or ‘context’ – both theoretically and empirically. We rejected good papers that do not have any relevance to Asia.

So, “most interesting” papers are : ( Bartunek et al., 2006 AMJ)  Major reasons given by Editorial board members:  Counterintuitive – challenges established theory; goes against folk wisdom  New Theory/finding – creates new theory, synthesizes previous theories, integrate multiple perspectives, important findings  Quality – well-crafted theory, good technical/method job, good fit of data & theory, great sample  Good writing – well framed: builds momentum

 AMJ has three pillars by which a manuscript is assessed: Theoretical contribution Empirical contribution Contribution to practice

Fail to meet empirical contribution  AMJ Use of operation measures that are not properly validated, or do not capture the constructs developed in the theory section. Inadequate research designs for testing the research question. Importance or incremental contribution of the research question is small.  This is common to all ‘good’ studies. We don’t accept invalid or unreliable data and findings.

Criterion of strong theoretical contribution  Meaningful new insights or implications for theory Falsification of conventional understanding First empirical testing of a theory Theory building through inductive or qualitative research Constructive replication that clarifies the boundaries or range of a theory Meta-analysis with theoretical implications

 Specification of underlying theoretical mechanism or logic that explains the relationships among a set of variables  APJM is also asking for these contributions.

Theory first  The most important thing is to have a good theory first – a good story about what you are going to report. The story must be an interesting one.  Examples of poor theory development: I think X is related to Y and they are not previously studied together, hence this study is the first in Asia to … Phenomenon X could be explained by RBV, so, according to RBV, P is caused by Q … The issue of X has been studied by A, B, and C but the findings are inconclusive, therefore, we studied X in Asia …

 Studying old relationships in a new setting without sufficient ‘new’ explanations doesn’t sell (Singh, Ang, & Leong, 2003; Tsang & Kwan 1999).  ‘Integrative’ does not mean adding different perspectives up.  “Extension” is the key word: Focus on giving ‘why’ and ‘how’ because of the new “context” - “contextualization” or inform the familiar with novel (Whetten, 2002)

Sound method  Asian sample itself does not sell either.  Usual requirements:  Sample: size & representativeness  Study Design: rigor  Measures: validity  Analytical method: appropriateness  Comparative data: Do not describe the data only

If given a chance to revise & resubmit  Don’t take it lightly … they mean something!!  Point-by-point feedback – Answer the questions.  Do what the reviewers want as far as possible.  Do not be too defensive.

Steps in Handling reviewers’ comments (Agarwal et al AMJ)  Read the reviews  Emote – manage feelings & emotions  Arrange comments  Parse responsibility  Revisit the manuscript  Evaluate each comment  Write responses  Argue among authors – play devil’s advocate  Rewrite manuscript  Direct reviewer attentions to responses  Submit revised manuscript & responses

Asian management research  We have a contribution in ‘contextualizing’ knowledge, and developing ‘new’ knowledge.  We should have more confidence in Asian indigenous research that it contributes to global management knowledge (Meyer, 2006; Tsui, 2004).  We should do it with rigor and relevance (White, 2002)  GOOD LUCK!!