Our 2010 Journal of International Business Studies article,“Unraveling the Effects of Cultural Diversity in Teams: A Meta-analysis of Research on Multicultural Work Groups,” attempted to take stock of existing research on cultural diversity in teams, to reconcile conflicting perspectives and past results, and provide a better understanding of the mechanisms and boundary conditions under which diversity affects team outcomes. To guide our analysis, we developed a theoretical framework outlining how cultural diversity leads to both process gains and losses in teams, and specifying the contextual conditions under which diversity contributes to effective team outcomes. We tested our hypotheses in a meta-analysis of research on cultural diversity in teams, encompassing 108 primary studies with a combined sample size of 10,632 work groups. The results suggested that cultural diversity does not have a direct impact on team performance but rather that the effect is indirect, mediated by process variables such as creativity, cohesion, and conflict; and is moderated by contextual influences such as team tenure, the complexity of the task, and whether the team is co-located or geographically dispersed. Unexpected findings raised important questions about the dynamics of diverse teams and underscored the need for further examination. In this Retrospective, we reflect on progress made in research on culturally diverse teams over the last decade, highlight remaining gaps and open questions, and propose an agenda for future research.
参考文献：Stahl, G.K., Maznevski, M.L. Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A retrospective of research on multicultural work groups and an agenda for future research. J Int Bus Stud 52, 4–22 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-020-00389-9.
Meta-analyses summarize a field’s research base and are therefore highly influential. Despite their value, the standards for an excellent meta-analysis, one that is potentially award-winning, have changed in the last decade. Each step of a meta-analysis is now more formalized, from the identification of relevant articles to coding, moderator analysis, and reporting of results. What was exemplary a decade ago can be somewhat dated today. Using the award-winning meta-analysis by Stahl et al. (Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups. Journal of International Business Studies, 41(4):690–709, 2010) as an exemplar, we adopted a multi-disciplinary approach (e.g., management, psychology, health sciences) to summarize the anatomy (i.e., fundamental components) of a modern meta-analysis, focusing on: (1) data collection (i.e., literature search and screening, coding), (2) data preparation (i.e., treatment of multiple effect sizes, outlier identification and management, publication bias), (3) data analysis (i.e., average effect sizes, heterogeneity of effect sizes, moderator search), and (4) reporting (i.e., transparency and reproducibility, future research directions). In addition, we provide guidelines and a decision-making tree for when even foundational and highly cited meta-analyses should be updated. Based on the latest evidence, we summarize what journal editors and reviewers should expect, authors should provide, and readers (i.e., other researchers, practitioners, and policymakers) should consider about meta-analytic reviews.
参考文献：Steel, P., Beugelsdijk, S. & Aguinis, H. The anatomy of an award-winning meta-analysis: Recommendations for authors, reviewers, and readers of meta-analytic reviews. J Int Bus Stud 52, 23–44 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-020-00385-z
3、超越团队文化多样性的双刃剑：进展，批判和下一步方向
十年前，Stahl等人（J Int Bus Stud 41：690–709，2010）对文化多样性和团队绩效的文献进行了元分析，旨在增进我们对“文化多样性影响团队过程的机制和背景条件”的理解（p. 691）。最新的研究仍与文章有关文化多样性的“双刃剑”的结论相呼应，指的是过程损失与收益之间的权衡。在这篇评论中，我们根据对这把双刃剑的理解，评估了过去十年的进展。我们认为，就增加新见解而言，IB作为一个领域，在理解团队内部的多样性方面取得了实质性进展，在输入过程-输出逻辑方面取得了适度的进展，在文化多样性定义方面取得的进展最小。我们建议在下一个十年中超越双刃剑的隐喻，包括将重点从文化多样性本身转移到其管理方式，从简单性转变为展现复杂性，将多样性类别扩展到文化之外，将机制扩展到知识或信息之外。
Ten years ago, Stahl et al. (J Int Bus Stud 41:690–709, 2010) performed a meta-analysis of the literature on cultural diversity and team performance, aiming to improve our understanding of “the mechanisms and contextual conditions under which cultural diversity affects team processes” (p. 691). State-of-the-art studies still echo the article’s conclusion about the ‘double-edged sword’ of cultural diversity, referring to the trade-off between process losses and gains. In this commentary, we assess progress within the past decade on our understanding of this double-edged sword. We argue that in terms of adding new insights, IB, as a field, has made substantial progress with respect to understanding diversity within teams, moderate progress with respect to input-process-output logic, and minimal progress with respect to definitions of cultural diversity. Our recommendations for moving beyond the double-edged sword metaphor in the next decade include shifting focus from cultural diversity per se to how it is managed, moving away from simplicity towards unfolding complexity, and expanding diversity categories beyond culture, and mechanisms beyond knowledge or information.
参考文献：Minbaeva, D., Fitzsimmons, S. & Brewster, C. Beyond the double-edged sword of cultural diversity in teams: Progress, critique, and next steps. J Int Bus Stud 52, 45–55 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-020-00390-2
Complex project work often is carried out by groups spanning national and cultural boundaries. This work is vulnerable to poorly understood coordination breakdowns that can lead to project delay and failure. We conceptualize coordination breakdowns to be driven by differences in cognitive and behavioral scripts for coordination of the task. We propose that script differences emerge from cultural and institutional influences on role structures, temporal structures, and cues. This conceptualization integrates theory concerning cultural differences and institutions to understand coordination breakdowns. We also propose that coordination scripts draw on overarching sociocultural templates for coordination, and we provide examples from four cultures. The concepts of coordination scripts and cultural coordination templates open new avenues of research and benefit global project coordination and mitigation of risk.
参考文献：Cramton, C.D., Köhler, T. & Levitt, R.E. Using scripts to address cultural and institutional challenges of global project coordination. J Int Bus Stud 52, 56–77 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-020-00337-7
Expatriate host country language proficiency is predominately assumed to have a negative linear relationship with expatriate social categorization – as outgroup members – by host country national (HCN) employees in foreign subsidiaries. Departing from this assumption, we use social identity theory (SIT) and SIT-based sociolinguistics to hypothesize that expatriate host country language proficiency, due to identity threat, has a curvilinear U-shaped relationship with HCNs’ expatriate outgroup categorization: at first, outgroup categorization decreases with increasing expatriates’ language proficiency, but, from a certain point onwards, it increases because “too good” language proficiency violates salient intergroup boundaries between HCNs and expatriates. Due to their key roles in social categorization, we also examine whether HCN allocentrism and uncertainty avoidance moderate the proposed curvilinear relationship. Results from data collected from 1166 HCN employees in 956 foreign subsidiaries in Japan provide support for the main curvilinear relationship and the moderating curvilinear relationship of uncertainty avoidance. Our results suggest that the language-proficient expatriate social categorization relationship is more complex than previous international business research has evoked. Our study contributes to the international business literature by casting doubt on the widely held assumption that expatriate adaptation towards the host country always carries beneficial effects. Our study cautions, in particular, against the common assumption that higher proficiency in the host country language will automatically lead to better relationships with HCNs in foreign subsidiaries.
参考文献：Peltokorpi, V., Pudelko, M. When more is not better: A curvilinear relationship between foreign language proficiency and social categorization. J Int Bus Stud 52, 78–104 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-020-00316-y
Are consumers across countries becoming more similar over time in terms of their spending across product categories? If so, what are the antecedents and consequences of convergence in consumption? These questions are of interest to scholars and managers alike. To examine them, we propose a novel empirical framework that encompasses: (1) a new measure of consumption convergence (budget allocation gap), and (2) an econometric model that links consumption convergence to its antecedents and consequences of convergence. Our empirical analyses – using data from 71 countries in 21 product categories between 1990 and 2017 – suggest that, overall, consumption patterns have been converging across countries. Yet, the speed of consumption convergence has been decelerating over time. We also show that consumption convergence is influenced by several previously unexplored antecedents, including technological advances, inward trade openness, and ethnic diversity. Of direct interest to managers and policymakers is the finding that the higher the level of consumption convergence, the higher the market concentration. These findings offer key implications for scholars, managers, and policymakers regarding global marketing strategy and audit, global demand forecasting, international market segmentation and penetration, and global competition.
参考文献：Ozturk, A., Cavusgil, S.T. & Ozturk, O.C. Consumption convergence across countries: measurement, antecedents, and consequences. J Int Bus Stud 52, 105–120 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-020-00334-w
An extensive body of international business research examines how cross-country variations in legal institutions influence corporate finance practices. Building on this literature, as well as the literature on capital structure and product market interactions, we investigate the effect of an important dimension of legal institutions – creditor rights – on the product market performance of highly leveraged firms. Using a sample of 37,422 firms from 60 countries over the 1989–2016 period, we find that strong creditor protection benefits less leveraged firms, but adversely affects highly leveraged firms by increasing the adverse responses of customers, competitors, and employees. The adverse effect of creditor rights on the costs of high leverage is more pronounced for firms in countries with developed debt markets and banking systems, but mostly insignificant for firms in countries with developed equity markets and low information asymmetry. Our study offers new insights into the international business literature and contributes to the debate on the role of creditor protection by uncovering a potential cost based on capital structure and product market interactions.
