How to do Historical Research in Business and ManagementJoin us for a Symposium at the BAM 2025 conference organized by the Management & Business History SIG!
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We will hear from Prof Stephanie Decker FBAM (University of Birmingham), who is known for her empirical and methodological work at the intersection of business history and management research, Prof Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki FBAM (University of Vienna), a well-known International Business (IB) scholar promoting contextualisation in research and unpacking the “myths” surrounding historical methods in IB, and Prof Mark Saunders FBAM (University of Birmingham) a leading voice in doctoral training and business research.
What you can expect from this Symposium:
The Symposium will offer a range of perspectives to demystify historical research for management scholars and to expand the knowledge of historical researchers in management by considering how to engage with other specialisations such as IB. It will act as a showcase for the SIG as a space for interdisciplinary research and provide an opportunity for established historical researchers to meet with scholars from other SIG with an interest in historical approaches.
Outline of session:
Prof Stephanie Decker (University of Birmingham) – How to integrate history into your management research project
After introducing this session on historical research, Stephanie will outline the different ways in which historical and archival research has become established in business research. One important driver of the increased interest in historical research is the greater availability of online resources and digital archives. While historical research is often considered synonymous with archival research, the field is actually broader in terms of how to integrate the past into research designs. She will discuss the different epistemological and theoretical orientations of research in management and organizational research and reflect on how scholars can publish different types of historical research in journal in business and management as well as in business history.
Prof Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki (University of Vienna) – Rethinking History in International Business Research: Identifying and Breaking Methodological Myths
While International Business (IB) was initially grounded in historical traditions, the field gradually shifted under the pressure of standardization, striving to emulate the natural sciences. As a result, historical research came to be perceived as lacking rigor. In this presentation, Emmanuella will explore contemporary understandings of historical methods in IB, drawing on relevant methodological literature. She will identify and critically examine three ‘mythical’ expectations that have emerged from current methodological debates and disciplinary conventions within IB. She will challenge these expectations drawing on historical studies published in Journal of International Business Studies and Business History. By comparing these theoretical expectations with actual historical research practices, she aims to bridge the gap between IB scholarship and historical approaches.
Prof Mark Saunders (University of Birmingham) – On the Uses and Abuses of Secondary Data in Business and Management Research
Taking a methodological standpoint Mark will ground historical research in the wider space of rapidly expanding variety of secondary data, its uses and abuses and issues associated with its potential availability. He will offer an overview of raw, complied, structured and unstructured data types and their increasing availability in online archives and databases. Recognising the pluralist nature of Business and Management research, he will pose questions associated with assessing the quality of these data and their suitability for different forms of and approaches to historical research. In doing so he will emphasise the importance of methodological soundness and fit when using secondary data in historical research.
Biographies of presenters:
Stephanie Decker is Professor of Strategy at Birmingham Business School and holds prestigious fellowships of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and the British Academy of Management (BAM). She is known for her work at the intersection of history and management studies and has published widely on African business history. She currently serves as the Co-Vice Chair for Research & Publications at the British Academy of Management, and previously as a co-editor and joint editor-in-chief at Business History. Her work has been published in journals such as Academy of Management Review, Human Relations, Journal of Management Studies, Organization, Business History Review, and Business History.
Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki is Chaired Professor of International Business at the University of Vienna, Austria. She is fellow of the British Academy of Management (BAM) and the European International Business Academy (EIBA). She is known for her contributions to theorizing from qualitative research in international business, as well as the internationalization of family firms and SMEs. She serves as Associate Editor at the British Journal of Management. Her work has been published in journals such as Academy of Management Review, British Journal of Management, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of International Business Studies, and Journal of Management Studies.
Mark NK Saunders is Professor of Business Research Methods at the University of Birmingham Business School and holds visiting professorships at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (University of Pretoria) and Malardalen University (Sweden). He holds fellowships of the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS), British Academy of Management (BAM) and First International Network on Trust (FINT). He is known for his contributions to research methods and trust research, his textbook Research Methods for Business Students having soldover 500,000 copies. He serves as Associate Editor (Methodology) for the Human Resource Management Journal and Consulting Editor for the International Journal of Management Reviews. His work has been published in journals such as the British Journal of Management, Field Methods, Human Relations, Human Resource Management Journal, International Small Business Journal and Work Employment and Society.
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