Methodological challenges and insights for future international business research

Journal of International Business Studies - Tập 54 Số 2 - Trang 219-232 - 2023
Herman Aguinis1, Donald D. Bergh2, José F. Molina‐Azorín3
1Department of Management, School of Business, The George Washington University, 2201 G St. NW, Washington, DC, 20052, USA
2Department of Management, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, 2101 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO, 80208, USA
3Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Alicante, Campus San Vicente, Ap. 99, 03080, Alicante, Spain

Tóm tắt

AbstractGiven the diverse, interdisciplinary, and multilevel nature of international business (IB) research, it is critical to address methodological challenges prior to data collection. Thus, we suggest that an ounce of methodological prevention is worth a pound of cure. We describe the following challenges: (1) researching an important and relevant issue; (2) making meaningful theoretical progress; (3) recognizing, anticipating, and resolving dilemmas in research design and execution decisions; (4) integrating quantitative and qualitative research by using mixed methods; and (5) reducing the “distal proxy fallacy” through measurement error management. We then offer specific and actionable recommendations and implementation guidelines for authors, journal editors, and reviewers for addressing each of these methodological challenges with the overall goal of advancing IB theory.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Academy of International Business. 2022. About AIB. Retrieved 20 September, 2022, from https://www.aib.world/about/.

Aguinis, H., Cascio, W. F., & Ramani, R. S. 2017. Science’s reproducibility and replicability crisis: International business is not immune. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(6): 653–663.

Aguinis, H., & Gabriel, K. P. 2022. International business studies: Are we really so uniquely complex? Journal of International Business Studies.. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-021-00462-x.

Aguinis, H., Ramani, R. S., & Cascio, W. F. 2020. Methodological practices in international business research: An after-action review of challenges and solutions. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(9): 1593–1608.

Aguinis, H., & Vandenberg, R. J. 2014. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: Improving research quality before data collection. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1): 569–595.

Bergh, D. 2021. Book review: Research methods in international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 52(6): 1225–1228.

Bergh, D. D., Boyd, B. K., Byron, K., Gove, S., & Ketchen, D. J. 2022. What constitutes a methodological contribution? Journal of Management, 48(7): 1835–1848.

Beugelsdijk, S., Kostova, T., Kunst, V. E., Spadafora, E., & Van Essen, M. 2018. Cultural distance and firm internationalization: A meta-analytical review and theoretical implications. Journal of Management, 44(1): 89–130.

Birkinshaw, J., Brannen, M. Y., & Tung, R. L. 2011. From a distance and generalizable to up close and grounded: Reclaiming a place for qualitative methods in international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 42(5): 573–581.

Buckley, P. J., Doh, J. P., & Benischke, M. H. 2017. Towards a renaissance in international business research? Big questions, grand challenges, and the future of IB scholarship. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(9): 1045–1064.

Busenbark, J. R., Yoon, H., Gamache, D. L., & Withers, M. C. 2022. Omitted variable bias: Examining management research with the impact threshold of a confounding variable (ITCV). Journal of Management, 48(1): 17–48.

Cho, E. 2016. Making reliability reliable: A systematic approach to reliability coefficients. Organizational Research Methods, 19(4): 651–682.

Cho, E., & Kim, S. 2015. Cronbach’s coefficient alpha: Well known but poorly understood. Organizational Research Methods, 18(2): 207–230.

Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. P. 2018. Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Sage.

Cronbach, L. J. 1951. Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3): 297–334.

Cuypers, I. R., Ertug, G., Heugens, P. P., Kogut, B., & Zou, T. 2018. The making of a construct: Lessons from 30 years of the Kogut and Singh cultural distance index. Journal of International Business Studies, 49(9): 1138–1153.

Cuypers, I. R., Ertug, G., Cantwell, J., Zaheer, A., & Kilduff, M. 2020. Making connections: Social networks in international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(5): 714–736.

Eden, D. 2017. Field experiments in organizations. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 9(1): 91–122.

Eden, L., Nielsen, B. B., & Verbeke, A. (Eds.). 2020. Research Methods in international business, JIBS Special Collections. Palgrave Macmillan.

Edwards, J. R., & Christian, M. S. 2014. Using accumulated knowledge to calibrate theoretical propositions. Organizational Psychology Review, 4(3): 279–291.

Fabregues, S., & Molina-Azorin, J. F. 2017. Addressing quality in mixed methods research: A review and recommendations for a future agenda. Quality and Quantity, 51(6): 2847–2863.

Fetters, M. D., Curry, L. A., & Creswell, J. W. 2013. Achieving integration in mixed methods designs. Principles and practices. Health Services Research, 48(6): 2134–2156.

Fetters, M. D., & Freshwater, D. 2015. The 1+1=3 integration challenge. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 9(2): 115–117.

Grant, A. M., & Wall, T. D. 2009. The neglected science and art of quasi-experimentation: Why-to, when-to, and how-to advice for organizational researchers. Organizational Research Methods, 12(4): 653–686.

Grøgaard, B., Sartor, M. A., & Rademaker, L. 2022. What merits greater scholarly attention in international business? Journal of International Business Studies, 53(7): 1508–1518.

Hurmerinta-Peltomäki, L., & Nummela, N. 2006. Mixed methods in international business research: A value-added perspective. Management International Review, 46(4): 439–459.

Kogut, B., & Singh, H. 1988. The effect of national culture on the choice of entry mode. Journal of International Business Studies, 19(3): 411–432.

Lance, C. E., Butts, M. M., & Michels, L. C. 2006. The sources of four commonly reported cutoff criteria: What did they really say? Organizational Research Methods, 9(2): 202–220.

Li, J., Ding, H., Hu, Y., & Wan, G. 2021. Dealing with dynamic endogeneity in international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 52(3): 339–362.

Lonati, S., Quiroga, B. F., Zehnder, C., & Antonakis, J. 2018. On doing relevant and rigorous experiments: Review and recommendations. Journal of Operations Management, 64(1): 19–40.

McGrath, J. E. 1981. Dilemmatics: The study of research choices and dilemmas. American Behavioral Scientist, 25(2): 179–210.

McNeish, D. 2018. Thanks coefficient alpha, we’ll take it from here. Psychological Methods, 23(3): 412–433.

Meyer, K., van Witteloostuijn, A., & Beugelsdijk, S. 2017. What is in a p? Reassessing best practices for conducting and reporting hypothesis-testing research. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(5): 535–551.

Murphy, K. R., & Aguinis, H. 2019. HARKing: How badly can cherry picking and question trolling produce bias in published results? Journal of Business and Psychology, 34(1): 1–17.

Nielsen, B. B., Eden, L., & Verbeke, A. 2020a. Research methods in international business: Challenges and advances. In L. Eden, B. B. Nielsen, & A. Verbeke (Eds.), Research methods in international business, JIBS Special Collections: 3–41. Palgrave Macmillan.

Nielsen, B. B., Welch, C., Chidlow, A., Miller, S. R., Aguzzoli, R., Gardner, E., Karafyllia, M., & Pegoraro, D. 2020b. Fifty years of methodological trends in JIBS: Why future IB research needs more triangulation. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(9): 1478–1499.

O’Cathain, A. 2010. Assessing the quality of mixed methods research: Towards a comprehensive framework. In A. Tashakkori, & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Sage handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research: 531–555 (2nd ed.). Sage.

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., & Podsakoff, N. P. 2016. Recommendation for creating better concept definitions in the organizational, behavioral, and social sciences. Organizational Research Methods, 19(2): 159–203.

Reeb, D., Sakakibara, M., & Mahmood, I. P. 2012. From the editors: Endogeneity in international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 43(3): 211–218.

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. 1996. Measurement error in psychological research: Lessons from 26 research scenarios. Psychological Methods, 1(2): 199–223.

Shapiro, D. L., Kirkman, B. L., & Courtney, H. G. 2007. Perceived causes and solutions of the translation problem in management research. Academy of Management Journal, 50(2): 249–266.

Shaver, J. M. 2021. Evolution of quantitative research methods in strategic management. In I. M. Duhaime, M. A. Hitt, & M. A. Lyles (Eds.), Strategic management: State of the field and its future: 83–97. Oxford University Press.

Simon, H. 1996, 1969. The sciences of the artificial (3rd edition). MIT Press.

Tsui, A. S., & McKiernan, P. 2022. Understanding scientific freedom and scientific responsibility in business and management research. Journal of Management Studies, 59(6): 1604–1627.

Tung, R. L. 2023. To make JIBS matter for a better world. Journal of International Business Studies. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-022-00569-9https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41267-022-00569-9

Withers, M. C., & Li, C. H. 2021. Natural experiments in business research methods. In Bergh, D. D (Ed) The Oxford research encyclopedia of business and management. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.302