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Abstract
The biggest challenges confronting Chinese management scholars today are a lack of understanding of Western society, and our own tradition. Rooted in four millennia of history, Chinese culture yet manages to be fresh and applicable to current academia. Distinct from the single-indicator paradigm in Western academics, in the Chinese context a scholar must always be engaged and caring for others and the community at large; in this way, theory is translated into practice. Mechanisms for research evaluation at Western universities often present an obstacle to Chinese academics, who face the dilemma of simultaneously hewing to tradition and following trends. The challenges, however, suggest an “ambicultural” opportunity for both East and West: an opening for each to assimilate the best of the other’s culture, while avoiding the pitfalls. Adopting an ambicultural approach in the academic sphere, anchored in a deeper understanding of our own culture while embracing practices from other parts of the world, offers promise for bridging research, teaching, and practice in both hemispheres. More importantly and in a broader sense, the application of ambicultural principles has implications for progress and resolution on many fronts, from economic to political and social, in a world badly in need of understanding and unity. Certainly ambicultural integration of East and West, or of any other perceived “opposites,” will take time and is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but in this aspiration we perceive a way to begin thinking about relationships in a fresh context.
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Received: 09 October 2015
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2016, Vol. 13 
