An ideological shift in Chandler's research assumptions : From American exceptionalism to transnational history

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze Alfred Chandler's ideological shift from American exceptionalism to transnational history in research assumptions to identify significant corollaries for the study of management history. Design/methodology/approach – Using the determinism‐indeterminism classifying framework proposed by Tucker, the paper classifies Chandler's works based on the extent to which they reflect Chandler's ideological commitment to exceptionalist versus transnational perspective. Findings – The paper found that the year of 1980 was the turning point for Chandler's ideological shift from American exceptionalism to a more transnational comparative perspective. Practical implications – The paper outlines the relevant implications of our findings for management history, calling for an emulation of Chandler's pursuit of comparative examinations of established concepts and management philosophy within the historical development of contemporary and past transnational firms and managers. It believes this holds great importance to furthering a historical perspective in relative management history, and global management, which, in turn, will further illuminate the history of American business and management as well. Originality/value – The unique contribution of this paper is that it provides the first historical analysis of the ideological assumptions underpinning Chandler's works.