ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the importance of the context within which management research traditions develop. It begins by noting the well-understood dominance of a particular place, North America, known for the quantitatively oriented neopositivist tradition in management research. Less well known are the origins of this tradition in an organizational innovation, the reinvigoration of the business school in American universities. The American business school model has diffused to many other national contexts. We describe a variety of reactions to positivist hegemony at the level of research epistemology and method. We briefl y characterize the management research traditions of other places, some of which are independent of the American history (Prasad 2005).
