In 2025, MOR launched an ambitious editorial series, ‘Leveraging the Chinese Organizational Context to Develop Universal Management Theories’. Since then, four thought-provoking essays have set the stage for a deeper conversation about how context-rich research can meaningfully advance global management scholarship. In this issue, we are delighted to continue this series with an insightful essay by Wang, Xie, and Greenwood (2026). The authors articulate three complementary justificatory modes – contrastive framing, extreme focusing, and indigenous exploring – which together offer a compelling framework for strengthening the theoretical rigor of qualitative research in Chinese settings.

We also feature a timely commentary by Chen (2026), written in response to the first editorial in the series, ‘Why Do We Need Phenomenon-Based Indigenous Chinese Management Research? An Evolution of Theories Perspective.’ Chen introduces a Gate-and-Expand framework that highlights two essential checkpoints – construct portability and mechanism transportability – to help ensure that theories emerging from indigenous research can evolve coherently and travel effectively across contexts.

Beyond the editorial series, this issue brings together six engaging articles that explore corporate philanthropy, firm acquisition, and innovation from fresh and often unexpected angles. Jin, Tang, Yang, and Zhang (2026) examine the intriguing question of how CEOs’ fiction reading shapes corporate philanthropy. Their findings reveal a significant positive effect among fiction-reading CEOs of non-state-owned enterprises, with empathy emerging as a key mediating mechanism. In the realm of Chinese family firms, Jin, Guo, Jing, and Shi (2026) show that when child-successors are perceived as willing to take over the business, parent-incumbents become more optimistic about transgenerational succession and more motivated to preserve socioemotional wealth – ultimately increasing their philanthropic engagement. Furthermore, Zhang, Tong, Xiang, and Guo (2026) study how higher-than-expected financial performance would influence firm philanthropic intensity and uncover a log-linear relationship: firm philanthropic donation intensity increased at a decreasing rate with firm performance above aspiration. They further demonstrate that this relationship is strengthened by state ownership and weakened by market competition.

This issue also highlights the power of qualitative inquiry. He, Khan, Wood, Tarba, Conroy, and Akhtar (2026) offer a rich case study of Chinese post-acquisition activities in the United Kingdom, revealing how managers on both sides navigate prejudice through emotional sensemaking – a process that profoundly shapes integration outcomes. Emphasizing the importance of sentiment on firm behavior, Wang, Tian, Tong, Xiao, and Zhang (2026) show that political sentiment in the home country can significantly boost cross-border venture capital investment. Finally, Wang, Shen, and Li (2026) examine how domestic technological post-acquisitions influence firm innovation. Their study illuminates the nuanced roles of geographic distance: headquarters–target distance tends to hinder innovation due to integration challenges, whereas subsidiary–target distance enhances innovation by introducing diverse knowledge. Notably, headquarters–target proximity amplifies the positive effect of subsidiary–target distance, underscoring the complementary dynamics that drive effective knowledge recombination.

Together, these contributions offer fresh insights, methodological richness, and theoretical advancement. I hope you find this issue not only informative but also genuinely inspiring to read.