International and Cross‐cultural Management Research

Citation

Andersen, O. (1999), "International and Cross‐cultural Management Research", International Marketing Review, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 7-8. https://doi.org/10.1108/imr.1999.16.3.7.2

The increasing globalization of business has led to a greater need for international management research. This book is ‘‘aimed at management researchers who undertake projects with comparative and international designs involving culture as a key input for explanation′′ (p. ix). Professor Usunier starts with two underlying assumptions: first, the final aim of cross‐cultural research in business is not to find universals. Standard theoretical frameworks and research paradigms that are useful in one culture may be inappropriate in another culture. Second, cross‐cultural business studies should be based on methodological pluralism. The question is not to follow a quantitative or qualitative approach; as noted by the author such studies need both the ‘‘number crunchers′′ and ‘‘word lovers′′.

In the first chapter, the author presents a general view of international management research and methodological considerations that are important in cross‐cultural research. The author notes the predominance of US universities in management research, and the consequences of this predominance for substantive paradigms (theoretical frameworks) as well as for the research paradigms used in international management research. A large part of this chapter is devoted to how culture can be defined and how this construct is used in cross‐cultural management research.

In the second chapter, Professor Usunier contrasts different research perspectives according to the following dimensions:

expected picture (whether the researcher is looking for similarities or differences); and

underlying theories (universal or specific).

The choice of research perspective is likely to be influenced by the researcher′s own background ‐‐ including language and intellectual style. Researchers should therefore be conscious of their own ethnocentrism, stereotyping and prejudice. The rest of this chapter deals with different types of biases in cross‐cultural research, and in particular the influence of language on cross‐cultural research. While not explicitly noted by the author, most of this chapter′s content concerns the researcher′s perception of the phenomena to be studied and how this affects the problem formulation in the (cross‐cultural) research process.

The formulation of research questions is further outlined in chapter three. n order to clarify the options in research designs, the author presents a three‐dimensional figure (Figure 3.1) that ‐‐ as far as I can see ‐‐ only illustrates that researchers should avoid a too high degree of complexity in their cross‐cultural research. On the other hand, I find the discussion of the linkage between key aspects of the research design and different research instruments as presented in Figure 3.2 to be elucidating and useful for international management researchers.

Chapter 4 is dedicated to the search for equivalence across cultural context with regard to concepts used, measurement instruments and sampling and data collection procedures. Most of this chapter is focused on what should be avoided in cross‐cultural business research if one is to generate valid cross‐cultural findings. The importance of generating data that are comparable from one country to another is, of course, a central topic in all international or cross‐cultural research textbooks. The present book provides a large number of examples illustrating the problems of equivalence. Furthermore, while most textbooks are based on qualitative judgements concerning issues such as conceptual equivalence, Usunier illustrates that statistical methods can be applied as well.

Chapter 5 is devoted to strategies to improve the relevance and quality of cross‐cultural research. Three broad suggestions are forwarded, which also represent the main theses of this book:

(1) Cultural deconstruction. In order to reduce one′s own biases, the researcher should make a systematic investigation of the underlying theories and models on which the research design is based.

(2) Search for the meaning of the foreign language. Throughout his book, Usunier argues that language is an important tool for searching conceptual and functional equivalence.

(3) Combining qualitative and quantitative research. Cross‐cultural business research needs both the assessment of differences in nature (qualitative) as well as differences in degree (quantitative).

Finally, the author discusses things that should be avoided in international management research.

As the book consists of less than 200 pages, it is written in a rather compact style. The reader will find no elaborations of the various research methods and instruments or data collection methods that can be used in international management research. Nor does the book contain issues such as sampling procedures or statistical methods. In my opinion, this book should have potential to be used as a supplement to textbooks in international management (or marketing) research courses. Although the content of the book is mainly non‐technical, the practitioners may find it difficult to read due to the complexity of the topic and the lack of clear‐cut recommendations. This book is likely to be particularly useful for academics who are planning to undertake an international research project.