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Using anchoring vignettes to study quality management across cultures

Promporn Wangwacharakul (Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden)
Bozena Bonnie Poksinska (Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden)

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences

ISSN: 1756-669X

Article publication date: 18 September 2017

184

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to suggest and demonstrate how anchoring vignettes, as a survey instrument, can be applied to study quality management (QM) across cultures. Cultural differences may create challenges in QM. Quantitative surveys are commonly used to study QM practices but do not consider the cultural bias in the survey results. An important question is how to study QM so that the results are comparable across cultures. Herein, the use of anchoring vignettes is suggested to reduce the problem of cross-cultural incomparability.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper focuses on developing and testing vignettes for studying QM. Based on previous survey studies, two vignettes for each QM dimension are developed. The vignettes are then tested with two pilot tests on the web-based survey platform.

Findings

The paper provides a concrete example of how a survey using anchoring vignettes could be designed and used to deal with cultural bias in QM survey Based on hypothetical examples from Swedish and Indian cultures, the results from pilot studies evaluating vignettes are promising and show the applicability of the proposed method. Anchoring vignettes may help to provide more accurate survey results and thereby contribute to understanding of cross-cultural differences in QM practices. One of the challenges is the design of vignettes, which requires high precision and several tests to make the method work.

Originality/value

The paper discusses the potential of using anchoring vignettes to study QM practices across cultures. This may contribute to better understanding of QM practices in an international context, and thereby help improve QM practices in multinational organisations.

Keywords

Citation

Wangwacharakul, P. and Poksinska, B.B. (2017), "Using anchoring vignettes to study quality management across cultures", International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 3/4, pp. 302-316. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQSS-04-2017-0038

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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