“Revisiting and Advancing the Springboard Theory: EMNEs and the Dynamics of Internationalization in the New Era”

Call for Papers – Special Issue: “Revisiting and Advancing the Springboard Theory: EMNEs and the Dynamics of Internationalization in the New Era”

Journal: Journal of International Management
Publisher: Elsevier
Impact Factor: 4.9 | CiteScore: 10.1
Submission window: 1 – 31 August 2026

This special issue marks the 20th‑year milestone of the Springboard Theory and aims to critically revisit, refine, and extend it in light of new global realities—digitalisation, geopolitical tensions, de‑globalisation, and sustainability imperatives. It focuses on emerging‑market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) and explores how they use international expansion as a “springboard” to accumulate capabilities, legitimacy, and strategic assets in the 2020s and beyond.

Why this issue matters

• The Springboard Perspective (Luo & Tung, 2007, 2018) revolutionised the study of EMNEs by showing how latecomers can leapfrog stages of development through internationalisation, especially in advanced‑economy markets.

• Recent developments—asset‑seeking CBAs, entrepreneurial agency, compositional and configurational logics, digital‑first internationalisation, and heightened geo‑economic scrutiny—have expanded but also challenged core assumptions about long‑term sustainability, integration, and innovation outcomes of springboarding.

• With rising investment‑screening regimes, decoupling trends, and pressure for ESG‑ and sustainability‑aligned growth, the SI invites research that re‑interprets springboarding for a more turbulent, digital, and sustainability‑driven era.

Core themes and research questions

The SI welcomes theoretical, empirical, and methodological work on EMNE internationalisation. Suggested themes include:

1. Theoretical extensions and boundary conditions

• When does springboarding yield sustainable, innovation‑driven advantage versus superficial learning or failure?

• How do ownership structure, digital maturity, leadership cognition, and internal governance moderate springboarding outcomes?

• How do EMNEs adjust springboard strategies under sanctions, FDI‑screening laws, and “de‑globalisation” pressures?

2. Compositional and configurational pathways

• How do EMNEs combine exploration, exploitation, and ambidexterity across different stages of internationalisation (e.g., South‑South, South‑North, platform‑based expansion)?

• Which compositional and configurational patterns (e.g., via QCA, process‑tracing) best explain successful, resilient, or failed springboarding?

3. Microfoundations, agency, and learning

• How do entrepreneurial intent, managerial learning, and dynamic capabilities underpin springboarding, especially in digital and platform‑based sectors?

• How do EMNEs develop and deploy absorptive capacity to integrate acquired assets into deep innovation and responsible‑business practices?

4. New forms of internationalisation and contexts

• How does digital internationalisation (e.g., platform‑based, API‑driven, virtual exports) generate springboard effects without traditional ownership or physical presence?

• How does springboard logic apply to state‑owned enterprises, born globals, mid‑tier EMNEs from Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, and social‑impact‑oriented firms?

5. Methodological innovation

• How can process‑tracing, configural methods (e.g., fsQCA), digital‑trace analytics, and machine‑learning capture the dynamic, non‑linear, path‑dependent nature of EMNE internationalisation?

• What multi‑level, quasi‑experimental, or mixed‑method designs can better identify causal mechanisms and boundary conditions of springboard strategies?

Guest editors

• Prof. Surender Munjal, Aston University, UK

• Prof. Jiatao (J. T.) Li, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China

• Prof. Sumit Kundu, Florida International University, USA

• Prof. Nan Zhou, Tongji University, China

• Supervising Editor: Prof. Vikas Kumar, University of Sydney, Australia

Submission details

• Submission platform: Journal of International Management via Editorial Manager:
  https://www.editorialmanager.com/intman

• When submitting, select article type “VSI: Revisiting and Advancing the Springboard Theory”.

• Submission window: 1 – 31 August 2026

• All manuscripts must follow the journal’s Guide for Authors and will undergo double‑blind peer review.

• A virtual workshop is planned for May 2026, with further opportunities for discussion at the Academy of International Business (AIB) Conference in Manchester; participation is optional and non‑binding for acceptance.

This special issue is ideal for international‑business, strategy, and EMNE‑focused scholars who wish to contribute to the next‑generation theoretical and empirical development of Springboard Theory in a digital, geopolitically tense, and sustainability‑centred global economy.

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