Conducting Research Across Cultures: Overcoming Drawbacks and Obstacles

Abstract

This article discusses some of the methodological and practical difficulties that cross cultural researchers experience in their studies, from the issues concerning understanding and studying other people's culture and separating its influence from that of the workplace culture, to the culture-specific nature of some supposedly universal managerial concepts such as HRM (human resource management) and the choice of appropriate research tools and paradigms. Building on the author's similar commentary on the subject a few years ago, the article draws a rather optimistic picture for the future while pointing out some avoidable methodological inadequacies still observed in many published reports of international comparative studies. The article also cites examples of recent studies which have made an effort to avoid these.

Differentiating Asian working holiday makers from traditional backpackers on the basis of accommodation preferences

“…However, interpreters attended the focus groups. This ensured that both the researcher and the participants fully understood the discussions and the participants could express their opinions in their native language if they were uncomfortable speaking in English (Tayeb, 2001).…”

Leveling Differences and Reinforcing Similarities: The Interaction between Information and Communication Technologies and National Culture

“…Following Smith's advice (2002), we think it is appropriate to use individual accounts as the unit of analysis when samples are drawn from two, or just a few, nations. As Tayeb (2001) argues, "The main advantage of breaking down culture into its constituents characteristics is that it facilitates comparison across cultures; one looks at the same trait and observes similarities or differences among the nations under investigation or even notes its absence from some culture altogether" (p. 93). Similarly, Hofstede (1991) argues that his framework "can serve to explain and understand observed similarities and differences between matched phenomena in different countries" (p. 14).…”

Patient Reactions to Staff Apology after Adverse Event and Changes of Their Views in Four Year Interval

“…Although a number of studies, but few Japanese, have been made of patients' views and requirements following an adverse event (e.g., [5]- [8]) little is known about patient priorities. Moreover, several studies show that differences in national culture make it questionable to transfer results across cultural borders (e.g., [9], [10]). …”