International Theory Research Articles

Disagreement for pluralists

ABSTRACT Internalists and externalists about moral motivation debate whether moral opinions can come without motivation to act. But it has also been suggested that no such theory is uniquely correct: Moral Motivation Pluralism is the view that different people have different concepts of moral opinions, such that an internalist theory can be correct in relation to some such concept, while externalism can be correct in relation to other people’s concept. This view has been suggested as an explanation of the intuitive deadlock in the moral motivation debate, but it has been objected that it implausibly implies that internalists and externalists do not really disagree. In this paper, we reply to this objection through rejecting the implication: we argue that there is a clear way in which internalists and externalists disagree even given moral motivation pluralism. There is also a more general conclusion: Pluralist or variantist views are sometimes suggested in other areas of philosophy too – stating roughly that certain philosophical debates can be dissolved since the disputes are due to mere conceptual differences. If our proposal is correct, such views do not have the implausible implication that the parties to the relevant debates do not disagree.

The Utilisation of Artificial Intelligence in the Export Performance of MNCs: The Role of Cultural Distance

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the internationalisation activities of multinational corporations (MNCs) through enhanced operational efficiencies and optimised decision-making; though the moderating factors influencing its impact on export-led internationalisation remain underexplored. This research adopts a Resource-Based View (RBV) approach to examine the complex relationship between AI capabilities and the export performance of Indian MNCs, with cultural distance serving as a moderating factor, analysing how AI adoption influences export intensity, trade expansion, and market penetration strategies. Data from a 2024 survey of 449 Indian exporters across various industries, analysed using Structural Equation Modelling, reveal that AI capabilities positively impact export performance particularly in markets characterised by high institutional uncertainty and complex regulatory environments. Moreover, cultural distance acts as a significant moderator, amplifying the role of AI in navigating consumer preferences, language barriers, and localised business practices. AI-powered analytics help firms better understand foreign markets, adapt to cultural differences, and optimise international operations. This study advances the scholarly understanding and contributes to internationalisation theory by integrating AI-driven trade strategies with institutional and cultural moderating factors and offers a structured framework for corporate managers and policymakers to formulate AI-based strategic decisions that leverage AI to mitigate trade-related uncertainties, improve their compliance with international regulations, and strengthen global trade competitiveness in emerging economies.

The Integrated Information Theory Needs Attention

Abstract The Integrated Information Theory (IIT) might be our current best bet at a scientific explanation of phenomenal consciousness. IIT focuses on the distinctively subjective and phenomenological aspects of conscious experience. Currently, it offers the fundaments of a formal account, but future developments shall explain the qualitative structures of every possible conscious experience. But this ambitious project is hindered by one fundamental limitation. IIT fails to acknowledge the crucial roles of attention in generating phenomenally conscious experience and shaping its contents. Here, we argue that IIT urgently needs an account of attention. Without this account, IIT cannot explain important informational differences between different kinds of experiences. Furthermore, though some IIT proponents celebratedly endorse a double dissociation between consciousness and attention, close analysis reveals that such as dissociation is in fact incompatible with IIT. Notably, the issues we raise for IIT will likely arise for many internalist theories of conscious contents in philosophy, especially theories with primitivist inclinations. Our arguments also extend to the recently popularized structuralist approaches. Overall, our discussion highlights how considerations about attention are indispensable for scientific as well as philosophical theorizing about conscious experience.

Innovation, Geographical Diversification and Tax Incentives: Impacts on Financial Performance – A Theoretical Perspective

Objective: The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between geographic diversification, innovation, and tax incentives, seeking to understand how these factors interact and influence the financial performance of companies. Theoretical Framework: Based on the Resource-Based View (RBV), contingency, and internationalization theories, this study examines the inconsistencies in the literature on the relationship between geographic diversification and financial performance. The lack of analyses that consider contingency factors and innovation efforts has made it difficult to understand this interrelationship. Companies located in less developed regions face additional challenges, requiring greater allocation of their own resources for innovation, while those located in more developed regions benefit from tax incentives. Method: The methodology adopted integrates multidisciplinary approaches, incorporating organizational and regional factors. The study proposes a theoretical framework to clarify the relationship between innovation, location, and tax incentives, analyzing how these elements affect corporate financial performance. Results and Discussion: The findings indicate that geographic diversification, when associated with favorable economic environments, drives regional development. Furthermore, tax incentives play a crucial role in fostering innovation and strengthening the financial performance of companies. Research Implications: This study provides theoretical and practical contributions by demonstrating the importance of innovation and tax incentives in organizational performance. The results can assist managers and policymakers in assessing environmental contingencies, attracting investment, and formulating strategies aimed at economic growth, job creation, and improving the quality of life. Originality/Value: By integrating contingency factors into the analysis of the relationship between geographic diversification, innovation, and financial performance, the study contributes to the literature by highlighting the impact of the regional environment and public policies on business strategies. These findings are relevant for investors and economic agents interested in formulating policies that promote innovation and sustainable development.

One another’s equals? Humanity and the state in international theory

The concept of the person is ubiquitously used in international theory, most prominently to attribute a certain character to human beings and states. While it features in discussions of how best to analyze state behavior, as well as being essential in characterizing human beings and states as subjects of international law, it is also used to answer one of international theory’s core normative questions: who in the world of international relations deserves moral consideration? This article highlights a central problem with how this concept is used in normative international theory. It argues that, since it is used to ground the moral standing of both human beings and states, it becomes remarkably difficult to deny that they should be recognized as one another’s equals, which means that normative international theorists will also find it exceedingly challenging to defend the moral priority of one over the other. The main upshot of this argument is twofold. Demonstrating the flaws of the main attempts to escape this impasse, the article establishes a serious problem with one of the main conceptual tools in the toolkit of normative international theory. But since the normatively untenable state of the equality between human beings and states only follows from the dependence upon this concept, the article also showcases where an escape route should more plausibly begin. The article thus ends by suggesting how normative international theory can free itself from its dependence on the concept of the person.

The Promoting Effect of Strategic Alliance on Enterprise Internationalization: Case Analysis and Empirical Study

This study discusses how strategic alliances can promote the internationalization of enterprises, focusing on their role in market entry, resource integration and competitive advantage promotion. Enterprises face many challenges in the process of globalization, including barriers to market entry, restrictions on technology access and the difficulty of supply chain coordination. As an important internationalization strategy, strategic alliance can help enterprises break through these obstacles and realize the optimal allocation of resources and improve their competitiveness. This paper selects the strategic cooperation between Huawei and Vodafone as a typical case to analyze in-depth its cooperation results in technology research and development, market expansion and supply chain synergy. Huawei As the world's leading communications technology company, the cooperation with European telecom giant Vodafone covers 5G network construction, application promotion of the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing service optimization. The alliance has not only boosted Huawei's deep presence in the European market, but also boosted Vodafone's innovation and competitiveness in emerging technologies. Case study shows that the strategic alliance plays a key role in the process of promoting the internationalization of enterprises, and can effectively reduce the market entry barriers, accelerate the integration of enterprise resources, and enhance the competitive advantage in the international market. In addition, based on the theory of enterprise internationalization, this paper conducts regression analysis and structural equation model (SEM) test on the data of 200 international enterprises, which further verifies the role of strategic alliance in promoting the internationalization performance of enterprises. The research results show that: (1) strategic alliance can significantly improve the overseas market share and international income growth rate; (2) technical cooperation and supply chain collaboration play an intermediary role between alliance and internationalization performance; (3) the intensity of market competition can regulate the relationship between strategic alliance and internationalization performance, that is, the greater the competition, the more obvious the strategic alliance promotes internationalization. This study not only enriches the theoretical system of enterprise internationalization, but also provides practical guidance for the strategic layout of enterprises in the global market. At the same time, the research results also have some enlightenment for the government policy formulation, and it is suggested that policy makers provide support for enterprises to establish transnational strategic alliances, and promote scientific and technological cooperation and market opening.

An Ethical Analysis of the Core Principles of Animal Rights.

The philosophical tradition concerning animals, humans, and rights often inherently excludes or limits the consideration of the animal kingdom, the concept of animality, and individual animals themselves. It's not surprising that the concept of animal rights was largely ignored for most of history. Before the seventeenth century, a well-defined doctrine of universal natural rights didn't even exist. However, the emergence of international theories led philosophers to develop ideas about international and natural rights. Ultimately, the most impactful writings on animals can be found in the works of philosophers from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, including Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, René Descartes, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant.

SCIENTIFIC-PEDAGOGICAL THEORIES OF IMPROVING PHYSICAL EDUCATION FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

In modern conditions, the problem of improving physical education of university students acquires special relevance in the higher education system. This research is devoted to the analysis of scientific and pedagogical theories aimed at improving physical education of university students. The research work is based on theoretical methods, including analysis of scientific literature, comparative analysis, classification, and synthesis of theoretical concepts. The study examines key international theories (Physical Literacy, Self-Determination Theory, Social Ecological Model, and others) and concepts common in Kazakhstan (Theory of Personal Physical Culture, Theory of Adaptive Physical Education, Theory of Sports-Oriented Physical Education, and others). The analysis aims to identify conceptual foundations, philosophical and ideological differences, target guidelines, methodological approaches, implementation principles, and expected results of the theories under consideration. The study examines in detail the differences in practical application of theoretical approaches, their philosophical and cultural foundations, and development prospects. SWOT analysis of the theories made it possible to determine strategic directions for their possible synthesis to improve the system of physical education for students. Based on the analysis, promising directions for integrating progressive elements of international experience into the context of the national physical education system are formulated, taking into account educational traditions and socio-economic realities.

Sport commitment among children and adolescent through the lens of theory of organismic integration: A systematic literature review

Introduction Most of the athletes who participate in the Olympic Games are between 20 and 30 years old. Popular sport therefore has a reserve of Olympic talent for the 2032-2044 cycles. The involvement of children and adolescents in sport contributes to their socialization, academic success and emotional stability, as well as to sustainable development goals in general. The purpose of this study is to identify potential areas for enhancing sport motivation in children and adolescents and to formulate the concept of sport identity based on organismic integration theory. Methods The scope of the systematic literature review included bibliographic sources for the period from 2014 to the present, devoted to various aspects of the motivational component of sports activities in children and adolescents. The initial data collection was conducted in the academic databases Scopus and Web of Science using formal searches. Since the documents were selected from two scientific databases, duplicate publications were excluded from the output (Pavlova, 2024). The next step of the literature review was the analysis of the formed pool of studies using the Bibliometrix library in the R-Studio environment (Aria & Cuccurullo, 2017), which allowed to identify the main headnotes related to the research topic and to characterize the temporal dynamics in the development of the research topic. For a more detailed study, 22 publications were selected, which allowed us to validate the theoretical framework of this paper. Results The bibliographic analysis identified two polar clusters: «external motivation» (related to the concepts of "game", "gamification") and «internal motivation» (related to the concepts of "coach", "media", "social networks"). The conclusion was that internal motivation is formed indirectly through multiple repetitions of external influences. This phenomenon is explained by the theory of organismic integration (OIT) and grows into the concept of III: Influence, Internalization, Identity. Thus, the emotional experience becomes part of the personality through internalization, which leads to the formation of a sport identity. Discussion/Conclusion The mechanism of internalization of external motivational influences and the factors affecting this process are still understudied. From the practical perspective, the possibilities of emotional reinforcement of motivation for sports activities at each lesson or training session (e.g., progress charts, electronic apps for individual tracking of sport success, instant feedback, gamification of the training process) can be considered promising. References Pavlova, A. (2024). Motivation for sport among children and adolescents [Data set]. Kaggle. https://doi.org/10.34740/KAGGLE/DS/6194684 Aria, M., & Cuccurullo, C. (2017). bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4), 959–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007 Pelletier, L. G., & Rocchi, M. (2023). Organismic integration theory: A theory of regulatory styles, internalization, integration, and human functioning in society. In The Oxford Handbook of Self-Determination Theory (pp. 53–83). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197600047.001.0001

The multinational enterprise, capabilities, and digitalization: governance and growth with world disorder

This essay revisits my 2014 JIBS article about the potential for integrating international business internalization theory with a strategic management capabilities perspective. It recaps the capabilities framework with an emphasis on the learning required of emerging market multinationals and illustrates this with the case of Hyundai Motor Company’s internationalization and growth. It also discusses two aspects of the global economy that have become more prominent since 2014 in shaping international business: geopolitical uncertainty and digitalization. A rise in geopolitical tensions appears to be rebalancing the relationships between multinationals and home/host governments. Digitalization facilitates international business; but it adds new vulnerabilities by (further) accelerating competition, enabling new rivals, and introducing systemic risks into digital supply chains. Implications for managers, board members, and international business scholars are drawn.

Emerging trends and critical insights in international business research: a hybrid review

PurposeThis paper aims to present a hybrid review combining the theory, context, characteristics and methodology (TCCM) framework and bibliometric analysis of international business research from 1991 to 2023, shedding light on the field’s growth, trends and key contributors.Design/methodology/approachRelevant papers were selected using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses model. Initially, this paper conducted a descriptive analysis to identify prolific institutions, countries and journals. Using bibliometric techniques and the TCCM framework, this paper analyzed theory, context and method visualized through word clouds and keyword co-occurrence. The characteristic aspect was analyzed using bibliographic coupling to identify major themes, providing a comprehensive understanding of the most significant factors in international business research.FindingsThe analysis of a data set comprising 5,644 documents reveals a steady increase in the annual growth rate of publications, highlighting the growing significance of international business in the global economy. First, this paper noticed a significant increase in publications in leading international business journals, with the Journal of International Business Studies being the most prolific. Second, using the TCCM framework, this paper discovered that the resource-based view, institutional theory, transaction cost theory and internalization theory are predominant in international business research. Most studies have concentrated on firm or enterprise-level entities, followed by country-level analyses. This paper also identified six main themes: (1) innovation and strategy, (2) market, (3) HR impact and leadership, (4) marketing, (5) internationalization and (6) entrepreneurship. Quantitative methods have been the most frequently used research design, followed by qualitative and mixed methods.Research limitations/implicationsThe study offers researchers and practitioners a roadmap for future investigations, collaboration and innovation in international business, thereby advancing the knowledge and understanding of this complex field within a globally interconnected economy.Originality/valueThis study provides insights into growth and trends, identifying journals, clustering research topics and enhancing theoretical and methodological understanding in the field of international business.

Enhancing Employee Engagement in Multinational Companies in Oman: An Exploration of Theoretical Concepts

This research establishes a theoretical framework aimed at improving employee engagement within multinational corporations (MNCs) in Oman. By leveraging established theories and models, including Kahn's Engagement Theory and Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory, the framework fuses global best practices with local considerations to confront the specific challenges confronted by Oman's varied workforce and hierarchical organizational structures. A systematic literature review is utilized to gain a thorough understanding of the topic. Key findings indicate that leadership, cultural alignment, and employee well-being are critical to enhancing engagement. The study draws on a systematic review of Scopus-indexed journals and relevant industry reports from the region, providing valuable insights for HR professionals and policymakers in Oman's MNCs. This paper aims to close the gap between theory and practice by offering a culturally tailored approach to engagement. The framework stands out by integrating international theories with strategies specifically designed for the dynamics of Oman's workforce. Furthermore, the study highlights practical implications for HR professionals in sectors such as oil and gas, retail, and tourism, presenting actionable strategies that address the socio-economic and cultural challenges faced in Oman.

Outward FDI Strategies from Indonesian Multinational Enterprises

This study explores the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) strategies of three leading Indonesian multinational enterprises (MNEs)—Indofood, Adaro, and Kalbe—from the food and beverage, mining, and pharmaceutical industries. Using a thematic analysis, the research identifies three key themes shaping their internationalization strategies: Strategic Global Expansion, Operational Integration and Synergy, and Institutional and External Market Dynamics. The findings highlight how these firms leverage global expansion to diversify markets and enhance competitiveness, employ operational integration to achieve synergies and control, and adapt to institutional and regulatory challenges to mitigate risks and maintain resilience. Classical theories such as the OLI Paradigm, Internalization Theory, and Resource-Based View (RBV) provide a foundation for understanding these strategies, while contemporary frameworks like the Linkage-Leverage-Learning (LLL) Framework and Springboard Theory offer nuanced insights into the unique dynamics of emerging market multinationals (EMNEs). This study underscores the critical role of institutional alignment, regulatory compliance, and market adaptability in ensuring successful FDI outcomes. It contributes to the literature by advancing theoretical frameworks to better capture the complexities of FDI from emerging economies and offers practical recommendations for policymakers and practitioners aiming to enhance the global competitiveness of EMNEs.

Intellectual Capital and SMEs’ Internationalization; the Relation Via (In) Tangible Resources Acquisition

This research examines if intellectual capital facilitates Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the acquisition of (in)tangible resources in the host and international market to expedite the internationalization process. We surveyed 271 Chinese SMEs and employed structural equation modelling in AMOS to test the hypothesized relationships. The results revealed that intellectual capital significantly improves internationalization process of Chinese SMEs. Moreover, we found that intellectual capital does not significantly help in acquiring national (in)tangible resource acquisition of international tangible resources while it has an insignificant influence on (in)tangible resource acquisition as well as international intangible resource acquisition. Both national tangible resources and intangible resources have an insignificant influence on internationalization while international (in)tangible resources significantly promote Chinese SMEs towards internationalization. Size of firms and educational background play a prominent role in internationalization route of SMEs. This study partially support claim that both theories can be complemented in terms of internationalization process. This study recommends SMEs to investment in intellectual capital that may help in acquisition of external resources (all types) that are essential for internationalization. This study suggests policy makers to formulate strategic policies and regulations for national resources that can be accessed by ventures easily for internationalization process. Other useful implications are discussed. This research contributes the RBV and internationalization theory in the context of SMEs. To the best of our search and knowledge, we did not find any study addresses the role of intellectual capital in domestic and foreign resource acquisition for internationalization process.

Multiplicity and the problem of ‘society’

This article seeks to address a major shortcoming of the idea of Societal Multiplicity in international theory: its lack of a worked-out definition of what counts as ‘a society’. The article supplies this definition in four steps. First, it reviews some difficulties in defining ‘society’, arguing that these arise in part from the historical separation of social and international theory. Second, it interweaves resources from both traditions to argue: (a) that societal multiplicity reflects the specifically political separation of human populations; (b) that this separation arises in part due to centripetal properties of the political as a feature of social life; and (c) that an individual ‘society’ is best defined as a unit of the resultant multiplicity: a social formation that exists simultaneously as a geopolitical sub-division of the social world. Third, the article defends this definition against a series of objections – that it is too general, that it reifies the state, that it is methodologically nationalist and that it suppresses historical variety. And finally it inserts the definition into the idea of Societal Multiplicity in order to test how far, and with what consequences in International Relations and beyond, this closes the definitional gap left by the original formulation of that idea.

Dynamic capabilities research in international marketing: a systematic literature review and direction for future research

PurposeThis study intends to (1) systematically review methodological, theoretical and empirical aspects of dynamic capabilities (DCs) research in international marketing; (2) identify problematic areas and gaps in the reviewed literature and (c) provide directions to address problematic aspects and fill the gaps in future research.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies a systematic literature review methodology and covers 97 articles published between 2001 and 2022 in peer-reviewed journals ranked 2, 3, 4 and 4* in the Academic Journal Guide 2021.FindingsThe content analysis shows that (1) methodologically, the literature is dominated by single-country studies conducted mostly in Asia and Europe on a cross-section of industries, mostly adopting survey-based approaches with a cross-sectional time emphasis; (2) theoretically, dynamic capabilities view is mainly accompanied by resource-based view, followed by institutional-, organizational learning- and internationalization theories; and (3) according to the nomological network, DCs are predicted by firm-characteristics, factors related to networks/relationship/partnerships and managerial characteristics, while they act as predictors of performance-related, strategy-related and operational change and renewal-specific outcomes. Several problematic aspects and gaps for each part of the review are diagnosed.Originality/valueThe authors provide a comprehensive assessment of current knowledge on methodological, theoretical and empirical aspects of the relevant literature, map a nomological network of variables surrounding DCs in international marketing research and offer future research directions capitalizing on the problems and gaps identified in the review.

Competent suppliers as a missing link: A supplier-centered view on cascading private labor governance in global value chains

Competent suppliers as a missing link: A supplier-centered view on cascading private labor governance in global value chains

Analysis of the Process of RMB Internationalization with Special Emphasis on the Offshore Bond Markets

With rapid economic growth in recent years, China has become the world's second largest economy. In the context of economic globalization, the process of RMB internationalization is gradually accelerating, and remarkable achievements have been made in cross-border settlement and offshore market. This paper first reviews the relevant theories of currency internationalization and analyzes the historical conditions of the development of RMB internationalization. It reveals the internal and external driving forces of RMB internationalization and sorts out its development context. Taking the offshore bond market as the research object, the currency structure in the international bond market is selected as an index reflecting the degree of currency internationalization, and the determining model of international bond proportion is established. Using the data of 28 countries from 2005 to 2019, the regression analysis shows that a country's economic size and domestic macroeconomic stability are positively correlated with the level of currency internationalization, while foreign exchange reserves are negatively correlated. According to the model, the difference between the theoretical demand and the actual issuance of RMB international bonds is nearly 10 times. Therefore, it can be inferred that the offshore RMB bond market has great development potential.

Explainable AI classification for parton density theory

Quantitatively connecting properties of parton distribution functions (PDFs, or parton densities) to the theoretical assumptions made within the QCD analyses which produce them has been a longstanding problem in HEP phenomenology. To confront this challenge, we introduce an ML-based explainability framework, XAI4PDF, to classify PDFs by parton flavor or underlying theoretical model using ResNet-like neural networks (NNs). By leveraging the differentiable nature of ResNet models, this approach deploys guided backpropagation to dissect relevant features of fitted PDFs, identifying x-dependent signatures of PDFs important to the ML model classifications. By applying our framework, we are able to sort PDFs according to the analysis which produced them while constructing quantitative, human-readable maps locating the x regions most affected by the internal theory assumptions going into each analysis. This technique expands the toolkit available to PDF analysis and adjacent particle phenomenology while pointing to promising generalizations.

Mapping the evolution and future directions of creative tourism: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis

ABSTRACT The main objective of this study is to deepen the understanding of the knowledge structure in the field of creative tourism and thereby enhance communication with advanced international theories and experiences. We utilized two visualization tools, VOSviewer and CiteSpace, to analyze 138 platform research papers from the Web of Science Core Collection, comprising 7050 references. Combining quantitative analysis (such as scientometric analysis, knowledge mapping, and keyword clustering) with content analysis (including thematic reading), this study primarily focuses on three aspects: firstly, revealing the basic characteristics of the literature, such as publication metrics, authors, and research institutions, to outline the foundational landscape of the field; secondly, identifying key research areas, content, and development trends to provide profound insights into the advancement of creative tourism and suggest directions for future research; thirdly, constructing a comprehensive knowledge framework to consolidate existing information and insights, facilitating a more structured and accessible understanding of creative tourism.