Building a Global Business School in the Local Language? A Knotted and Nested Paradox System in Shaping International Student Inclusion

By Hilla Back, Rebecca Piekkari, Stephanie Schrage and Janne Tienari

In Academy of Management Learning & Education

Abstract:

In this paper, we offer a study of a global business school in a university located in a non-English-speaking country. We focus on paradoxical tensions related to the use of English as the global language of higher education, and the use of the local language as a mirror of national interests. Our study shows how underlying global–local tensions manifest as a nested linguistic paradox of universalism–particularism across international and national, organizational, and group levels. This paradox is knotted to other tensions on each level, which are made salient by either–or responses to the linguistic paradox. We contribute to paradox theory by theorizing a nested and knotted paradox system, by explaining how either–or responses cause pole suppression and disempowerment that cascade across levels, and by elaborating on how paradox and power operate in language use. We also advance research on inclusion in business schools by theorizing international students’ experiences of inclusion from a paradox and language perspective. Our study indicates that in the era of rising nationalism around the world, the resurgence of local languages in business schools and universities and its consequences for student inclusion is a timely subject of inquiry.

Link:  https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2023.0560