Methods and Methodologies in Cross-Cultural Research
Time and place: Postponed to 2025, University of Vaasa, Finland
Learning goal and objectives:
Due to globalization and higher international trade volumes there is an increasing trend in management research to conduct cross-cultural, cross-national and cross-disciplinary studies. Methods and methodology for comparative studies, however, require special knowledge and special skills. Researchers involved in cross-cultural research projects need to be familiar with the cross-cultural research methods and even be able to create novel methods and techniques in order to increase the validity, reliability, and trustworthiness of cross-cultural research. The empirical design becomes even more complicated, when studies are conducted in transitional and developing economies.
The course provides knowledge in:
- Designing theory based cross-cultural/ international studies
- Conducting cross-cultural research
- Quantitative and qualitative cross-cultural comparative methodology
- Doing cross-cultural collaborative research
- Doing research in transitional and developing economies
- Doing research outside your own home country
After the course the participants are familiar with relevant methodological literature on cross-cultural methods. They are able to use the literature as a guideline for their own methodological choices. The participants will understand the difficulties but also the opportunities of conducting cross-cultural research. The participants will receive knowledge, understanding and preparedness to independently develop skills in conducing empirical cross-cultural research.
Instruction and examination:
In order to pass the course, students are required to
- Read literature for each session (reading lists provided prior to course, preliminary list shown below)
- Be active during the sessions
- Send in for all participants a one-page research proposal with emphasis on methods one week before the start of the course
- Prepare 3 ppt slides for a brief research proposal presentation in the beginning of the course, including a figure summarizing the project
- Submit a revised research proposal focusing on cross-cultural methods one month after the course that reflects all the course literature (articles, books, and slides) as well as other information given during the course (c. 15 pages)
Credits: 6 ECTS
Grading: The teachers evaluate the research proposal (c. 15 pages) on a grading scale 1-5.
Prerequisites: Doctoral students and post doctoral researchers who are conducting or are aiming to conduct comparative cross-national/cultural or international research. The participants should be doctoral students or faculty members of universities of KATAJA or cooperation partners of KATAJA.
Admittance: Maximum 25 participants will be accepted to the course. If this course is organized with EIASM as in the past, students apply by registering online 4 months prior to the beginning through EIASM and sending in the following documents:
- the applicant’s curriculum vitae demonstrating his/her capabilities of doing research
- a letter of recommendation of his/her local faculty supporting the application
- a two-page description of his/her doctoral research, indicating the general objectives
Documents will be reviewed by host university and students are notified of acceptance 3 months prior to beginning of course.
Instructors:
- Professor Hartmut H. Holzmüller, TU Dortmund University, Germany: Culture theory, multi-centric team management, experiences from cross-cultural research, qualitative/ explorative research methodology. Harmut Holzmueller – Academic Website
- Professor Edwin Nijssen, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands: Research designs, use of borrowed scales, experiences from cross-cultural research. Edwin Nijssen – Academic Website
- Professor Thomas Salzberger, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Austria: Measurement theory, emic and etic methodology, quantitative/ confirmative cross-cultural research. Thomas Salzberger – Academic Website
Course coordinator and contact information:
Assistant Professor Tiina Leposky, University of Vaasa, School of Marketing and Communications, tiina.leposky@uwasa.fi
Preliminary Reading List:
Andersen, P.H., Skaates, M.A. (2004). Ensuring Validity in Qualitative International Business Research. Welch, C., Marschan-Piekkari, R. (Eds.) Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for International Business. Edward Elgar Publishing, p. 464-485.
Briley, D. A., & Aaker, J. L. (2006). When does culture matter? Effects of personal knowledge on the correction of culture-based judgments. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(3), 395-408.
Douglas, S.P., & Craig, C.S. (2006). On Improving the Conceptual Foundations of International Marketing Research, Journal of International Marketing, 14(1), 1-22.
Douglas, S. P., & Nijssen, E. J. (2003). On the use of “borrowed” scales in cross-national research: A cautionary note. International Marketing Review, 20(6), 621-642.
Easterby-Smith, M., Malina, D. (1999). Cross-Cultural Collaborative Research: Toward Reflexivity. Academy of Management Journal, 42(1), 76-86.
Ewing, MT., Salzberger, T., & Sinkovics, R.R. (2005). An Alternate Approach to Assessing Cross-Cultural Measurement Equivalence in Advertising Research. Journal of Advertising, 34 (1), 17–36.
Kostova, T., & Roth, K. (2002). Adoption of an organizational practice by subsidiaries of multinational corporations: Institutional and relational effects. Academy of management journal, 45(1), 215-233.
McGrath, H., & O’Toole, T. (2014). A cross-cultural comparison of the network capability development of entrepreneurial firms. Industrial Marketing Management 43, 897-910.
Punnett, B.J., Ford, D., Galperin, B. L. & Lituchy, T. (2017). The Emic-Etic-Emic Research Cycle. AIB Insights 17(1), 3-6.
Samaha, S. A., Beck, J. T., & Palmatier, R. W. (2014). The Role of Culture in International Relationship Marketing. Journal of Marketing, 78(September), 78-98.
Salmi, A. (2011). International research teams and collective case studies: an abductive approach, Piekkari, R. , Welch C. (Eds.) Rethinking the case study in international business and management research, Edwards Elgar Publishing, p. 431-451.
Salzberger, T., & Koller, M. (2013): Towards a new paradigm of measurement in marketing. Journal of Business Research, 66 (2013) 1307–1317.
Salzberger, T., Newton, F.J., & Ewing, M.T. (2014). Detecting gender item bias and differential manifest response behavior: A Rasch-based solution. Journal of Business Research, 67 (2014) 598–607.
Schaffer, B. S., & Riordan, C. M. (2003). A review of cross-cultural methodologies for organizational research: A best-practices approach. Organizational Research Methods, 6(2), 169-215.
Sinkovics, R.R., Penz, E., Ghauri, P.N. (2008). Enhancing the Trustworthiness of Qualitative Research in International Business. MIR, 48(6), 689-714.
Steenkamp, Jan-Benedict, and Hans Baumgartner (1998), “Assessing Measurement Invariance in Cross-National Consumer Research,” Journal of Consumer Research, 25 (1), 78–90.
Steenkamp, J. B. E., Hofstede, F. T., & Wedel, M. (1999). A cross-national investigation into the individual and national cultural antecedents of consumer innovativeness. The Journal of Marketing, 55-69.
Taras, V., Kirkman, B. L., & Steel, P. (2010). Examining the impact of Culture’s consequences: A three-decade, multilevel, meta-analytic review of Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(3), 405.
Taras, V., Rowney, J., Steel, P. (2009). Half a century of measuring culture: Review of approaches, challenges, and limitations based on the analysis of 121 instruments for quantifying culture. Journal of International Management, 15, 357-373.
Teagarden et al. (1995). Toward a theory of comparative management research: An idiographic case study of the best international human resources management project. Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1261-1287.
Watkins, L. (2010). The cross-cultural appropriateness of survey-based value(s) research. International Marketing Review, 27(6), 694-716.
Welch et al. (2011). Theorising from case studies: Towards a pluralist future for international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 42, 740-762.
Wulf, K. D., Odekerken-Schröder, G., & Iacobucci, D. (2001). Investments in consumer relationships: a cross-country and cross-industry exploration. Journal of marketing, 65(4), 33-50.
Yaprak, A. (2008). Culture study in international marketing: a critical review and suggestions for future research. International Marketing Review, 25(2), 215-229.
Preliminary Syllabus
| Preliminary Programme | ||||||||
| Day | Time | Room | Subject | Readings | Learning objectives/ tasks | Instructor | ||
| Monday
Jun 3
|
13.00-13.30
13.30-14.15
14.15-18.00 |
Welcoming words
Brief round of introduction (instructors and participants) – Poster Session
Starting lecture: Defining cross cultural research a. Introduction to the international /cultural domain b. Explanation of the course structure and topics
Slot A: Short presentations of participant projects – Beginners (max. 3 ppt slides, e.g. Background +gap/RQ; Theory/perspective; Method/ Empirical steps; Cultural challenge you face) |
Research proposals | Creating cultural awareness/ sensitivity
|
Leposky
Holzmueller, Nijssen, Salzberger |
|||
| Tuesday
Jun 4 |
8.30-9.30
9.30-10.30 |
First step: Specification of international focus
a. Culture, b. Perennial problems, c. 8 steps framework to solid cross-cultural research
Slot B: Short presentations of participant projects – Advanced students (max. 3 ppt slides, e.g. Background +gap/RQ; Theory/perspective; Method/ Empirical steps; Cultural challenge you face) |
Singh, Nijssen, and Holzmüller (2006);
Taras, Rowney, and Steel (2009)
|
Create awareness for culture, and providing a process framework of cross-cultural research | Holzmueller | |||
| Tea and coffee | ||||||||
| 11.00-12.15 | Second step: Conceptualization/ Operationalization of international domain, typology of culture related research
|
Wulf, Odekerken-Schröder, and Iacobucci (2001); Steenkamp, ter Hofstede and Wedel (1999);
Samaha, Beck, and Palmatier (2014) |
Create awareness for the difference between cross-national versus cross-cultural research | Nijssen | ||||
| Lunch | ||||||||
| 13.00-14.30 | Slot C: Short presentations of participant projects – Advanced students (max. 3 ppt slides, e.g.
Background +gap/RQ; Theory/perspective; Method/ Empirical steps; Cultural challenge you face)
|
|||||||
| Tea and coffee | ||||||||
| 15.00-16.00
|
Third and fourth step: Modeling of international & substantive mechanism/ Inclusion of competing explanations & effects
a. Multicultural minds experiments b. Institutional theory |
Yaprak (2008);
Briley and Aaker (2006); Kostova and Roth (2002)
|
When does culture matter?
Familiarize participants with alternative approaches to comparative research in the international arena. |
Nijssen | ||||
| 16.15-17.15 | Workshop: Conceptualization of culture and identification of a theoretical basis for participant projects and doctoral work
Please, discuss and prepare in teams a revision of your research proposal which reflects the input of the prior sessions of the day (steps 1 to 3) |
– | Applicability to my own research | All | ||||
| 19.00 | Course dinner (On your own cost) | |||||||
| Wed
Jun 5 |
8.30-10.00 | Fifth step: Implementation of cultural sensitivity and fighting hidden bias/ Research paradigms in cross-cultural research
a. Emic, etic; anthropology/ethnography vs. management/market oriented ethnography b. Combined emic-etic c. Pseudo etic (borrowed scales)
|
Taras, Kirkman, and Steel (2010);
Schaffer and Riordan (2003); Douglas and Nijssen (2003) |
Increase emic sensitivity and sensibility | Nijssen | |||
| Tea and coffee | ||||||||
| 10.30-11.00 | Sixth step: Handling substantive differences and idiosyncrasies/ Multinational collaborate research | Easterby-Smith & Malina (1999); Teagarden et al. (1995), Salmi (2011)
Bagire and Punnett (2017) |
Create awareness for challenges and pitfalls in international research teams. | Holzmueller | ||||
| 11.00-12.00 | Seventh step: Qualitative field work and data collection (Basics) | Watkins (2010);
Welch et al. (2010); McGrath & O’Toole (2014) |
Create understanding of weaknesses and strengths in doing research in alien cultures | Holzmueller | ||||
| Lunch | ||||||||
| 12.45-14.15 | Seventh step: Quantitative field work and data collection execution (Basics) | Douglas and Craig (2006); Hult et al. (2008);
Salzberger et al. (2009); McKenna et al. (2013) |
Track B: Create basic understanding of equivalence concepts and the resulting complexity of doing quantitative research cross-culturally | Salzberger | ||||
| Tea and coffee | ||||||||
| 14.45-16.15
|
Seventh step: Cross-cultural field work and data collection execution (Advanced issues) – Qualitative paradigm (Track A) | Eighth step: The role of culture in quantitative data analysis I: Assessment of measurement equivalence (Traditional test theory, Factor Analysis) (Track B) | Track A: Watkins (2010);
Welch et al. (2010); McGrath & O’Toole (2014) Belk, Ger, and Askegaard (1997) |
Track A: Create an advanced understanding of weaknesses and strengths in doing research in alien cultures | A: Holzmueller | |||
| Track B: Schaffer and Riordan (2003); Steenkamp and Baumgartner (1998); Salzberger and Sinkovics (2006) | Track B: Create basic understanding of the concept of measurement equivalence and the standard method to assess comparability | B: Salzberger | ||||||
| 16.30-17.30 | Workshop: Re-thinking research designs for participants’ projects / doctoral work | – | Applicability to my own research | All | ||||
| Thursday
Jun 6 |
08.30-10.00 | Eighth step: Equivalence assessment and data analyses after data collection – Qualitative
(Track A) |
Eighth step: The role of culture in quantitative data analysis II: Assessment of measurement equivalence (Modern test theory Theory)
(Track B)
|
Track A : Sinkovics, Penz, and Ghauri (2008); Andersen and Skaates (2004) | Track A: Create understanding of and preparedness for comparability and potential of qualitative data in cross-cultural research | A: Holzmueller | ||
| Track B: Salzberger and Sinkovics (2006); Ewing, Salzberger and Sinkovics (2005); Singh (2004); Baumgartner and Steenkamp (2001), Salzberger and Koller (2013) | Track B: Create basic understanding of alternative methods to assess comparability
Learn how culture can be incorporated in quantitative analysis |
B. Salzberger | ||||||
| Tea and coffee | ||||||||
| 10.30-12.00 | Workshop: Review and assessment of good practice studies in explorative cross-cultural research (Track A) | Eighth step: The role of culture in quantitative data analysis III: Actual consideration of equivalence in empirical research. Modeling culture in a structural model;
Addressing measurement equivalence in the course participants’ projects (Track B)
|
Track A: Punnett, Ford, Galperin and Lituchy 2017, McGrath & O’Toole (2014)
. |
Track A: Develop skills which allow identifying strength and weaknesses of published work. | A: Holzmueller
|
|||
| Track B: He, Merz, and Alden (2008); | Track B: Applicability to course participants’ projects | B. Salzberger | ||||||
| Lunch | ||||||||
| 12.45-14.15 | Group discussion/ Workshop I: Revision of individual research proposals which reflect the insights gained through the lectures and discussions in Track A
Please, discuss and prepare in teams a further advanced version of your research proposal. Present and discuss it with the peer group. |
Eighth step: Workshop: Applicability to your own research project, Assessment of measurement equivalence using a data set from an empirical study (Track B)
|
|
Track A: Use peers and the whole group of participants to further advance research designs of doctoral work | A: Holzmueller | |||
| Track B: Practice assessment of measurement equivalence | B: Salzberger | |||||||
| Tea and coffee | ||||||||
| 14.45-16.15 | Group discussion/ Workshop II: Revision of individual research proposals which reflect the insights gained through the lectures and discussions in Track A | Workshop: Review and assessment of good practice studies in confirmative cross-cultural research (Track B) | Track A: Use peers and the whole group of participants to further advance research designs of doctoral work | A: Holzmueller
|
||||
| Track B: Develop skills which allow identifying strength and weaknesses of published work | B. Salzberger | |||||||
| Friday
Jun 7 |
08.30-09.45 | Future steps: Emerging themes in cross-cultural marketing research | Create awareness for new concepts and research trends with regard to cultural research (Heterogeneity, individual multi-culturalism, cultural constructivism) | Holzmueller | ||||
| Tea and coffee | ||||||||
| 10.15-12.15
12.15-12.30 |
Workshop in small groups in 3×45 minutes carrousel format, allowing student to discuss take-home aspects for their PhD proposals
Closing the course |
Holzmueller, Nijssen, Salzberger,
Leposky |
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