Language in International Business

One of the first barriers that companies face on the path of internationalisation is differences in natural languages. Surprisingly though, language in international business remains an ignored research field.

  • Part of the reason may be that business researchers and linguists alike have been deterred by the cross-disciplinary nature of the subject.
  • Another factor may be the pre-eminence of Anglophone researchers who have a reduced perception of the importance of language.
  • A third factor might be the enormous influence of Hofstede. His work has dominated cultural research for the past decades and has been developed into a system for measuring cultural distance (Kogut & Singh, 1988, see The International Research Process) thereby providing international researchers with a practical, easy to use and "reliable" measure of culture. Sadly, the Hofstedian dimensions make no reference to language and the Kogut and Singh scale has eclipsed the earlier but more cumbersome cultural measure of Psychic Distance in which language difference was a crucial component.

However, perhaps the most serious barrier to language research in business has been the absence of clear conceptual frameworks and operationalisations. Researchers will not be able to dissect the nature and implications of language problems until they have answers to the questions "what exactly is it about language that creates the problem", "how can it be defined" and "how can it be measured"?

These questions can only be answered within the context of the socio-linguistic theory that explains how the language barrier actually works. An early version of this work was presented at the 2002 Academy of Management meeting. A paper focusing on HQ-subsidiary relationships was presented at the 2004 AoM Meeting and subsequently published in Cross-cultural Management: An International Journal. A paper on language management in MNCs was also published in Cross-cultural Management.

In 2005 I started a new project that investigates the impact of language on management practices within MNCs, funded by an ARC Discovery Grant of more than A$190,000. Using a critical incident technique data have been collected with MBA students in 20 different countries. These data have so far been used to compare ranking and rating to study cross-cultural differences (published in International Business Review, 2009). A further paper - published in a special issue of the Journal of World Business in 2011- examines whether managerial reactions to specific leadership scenario-based situations change as a consequence of the language they use.

In addition, an experimental study showed that language impacts the competitive behaviour of students. A prisoner’s dilemma game played in English leads to significantly more competitive behaviour than when the same game is played in Dutch. The resulting paper has been published in Management International Review in 2010.

A second phase of this project aimed to further develop and test the language barrier model developed by Alan Feely and myself. An interview-based study in Japanese subsidiaries of German MNCs has led to an article with Kathrin Köster and Ulrike Mayer, identifying a range of solutions to overcome the language barrier in HQ-subsidiary relationships.

The third phase, a large-scale cross-sectional survey in a wide range of host countries (Australia/NZ, China, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, Spain, UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway & Sweden) has so far resulted in an article that proposes four home country clusters (Anglophone, Asian, Continental European and Nordic) that show substantial differences in terms of language competencies, policies and practices. Further papers dealing with language and communication, and the role of langue in knowledge transfer are in progress. Finally, work with Helene Tenzer and Markus Pudelko looks at the impact of language barriers on trust in a multinational team context.

Selected publications

Online papers - Full list of publications

  1. Reiche, B.S., Harzing, A.W., & Pudelko, M. (2013) The sensitivity of subsidiary knowledge in- and outflows to language proximity, paper presented at the 70th Academy of Management annual meeting, August 9-13, in Lake Buena Vista (Orlando), Florida, USA.
  2. Harzing, A.W.; Pudelko, M. (2013) Language competencies, policies and practices in multinational corporations: A comprehensive review and comparison of Anglophone, Asian, Continental European and Nordic MNCs, Journal of World Business, vol 48, no. 1, pp. 87-97. Available online...
  3. Tenzer, H.; Pudelko, M. & Harzing, A.W. (2012) Cognition, emotion and identification: The influence of language barriers on trust in multinational teams, paper presented at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM) 10th Workshop on International Strategy & Cross-Cultural Management, October 19-20, Reykjavik, Iceland.
  4. Harzing, A.W.; Pudelko, M. (2011). Language policies, competencies, and problems in multinational companies: Comprehensive evidence from nine countries/regions, conference proceedings of the 37th EIBA conference, Bucharest, 8-10 December.
  5. Harzing, A.W.; Köster, K.; Magner, U. (2011) Babel in Business: The language barrier and its solutions in the HQ-subsidiary relationship, Journal of World Business, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 296-304. Available online...
  6. Zander, L.; Mockaitis, A.; Harzing, A.W. et al. (2011) Standardization and contextualization: A study of language and leadership across 17 countries, Journal of World Business, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 279-287. Available online...
  7. Akkermans, D.; Harzing, A.W.; Witteloostuijn, A. van (2010) Cultural accommodation and language priming. Competitive versus cooperative behavior in a prisoner’s dilemma game, Management International Review, vol. 50, no 4, pp. 559-584. Available online...
  8. Harzing, A.W.; Köster, K.; Magner, U. (2010) Babel in Business: The language barrier and its solutions in the HQ-subsidiary relationship, conference proceedings of the ANZIBA annual meeting, 15-17 April 2010, Sydney, Australia.
  9. Zander, L.; Mockaitis, A.; Harzing, A.W. et al. (2009) Don't just say what you mean - contextualize it: A leadership study across 17 countries, paper presented at the 68th Academy of Management annual meeting, August 7-11, 2009 - Chicago, Illinois.
  10. Zander, L.; Mockaitis, A.; Harzing, A.W. et al. (2009) Why do leaders do what they do? A 22-country study on leadership behavioral intent, paper presented at the 2009 Academy of International Business annual meeting, June 27-30, San Diego, California.
  11. Harzing, A.W.; and 26 collaborators (2009) Rating versus ranking: what is the best way to reduce response and language bias in cross-national research?, International Business Review, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 417-432.
  12. Zander, L.; Mockaitis, A.; Harzing, A.W.; et al. (2008) Getting closer to the action: Examining leaders’ behavioral intent with Globe’s leadership dimensions across 22 countries, conference proceedings of the Australian New Zealand Academy of Management, Auckland, 2-5 December 2008.
  13. Zander, L.; Mockaitis, A.; Harzing, A.W.; et al. (2008) Explaining cross-national differences in leadership behavior with cultural syndromes: a 22-country study, paper presented at the Academy of International Business annual meeting, Milan, 30 June – 3 July 2008.
  14. Akkermans, D.; Harzing, A.W.; Witteloostuijn, A. van (2008) Cultural accommodation and language priming. Competitive versus cooperative behavior in a prisoner’s dilemma game, conference proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the UK Chapter of the AIB, Portsmouth, 28-29 March.
  15. Harzing, A.W.; Feely, A.J. (2008) The language barrier and its implications for HQ-subsidiary relationships, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 49-60. Available online...
  16. Harzing, A.W.; and 26 collaborators (2007) Ranking and rating in native-language versus English-language questionnaires: A methodological comparison, conference proceedings of the EIBA annual meeting, 13-15 December, Catania, Italy.
  17. Harzing, A.W.; and 26 collaborators (2007) Ranking versus rating: What is the best way to reduce response and language bias in cross-national research?, conference proceedings of the ANZIBA annual meeting, 8-10 November 2007, Newcastle, Australia.
  18. Harzing, A.W. (2005) The language barrier and its implications for HQ-subsidiary relationships, paper presented at the third JIBS frontiers conference, Rotterdam, 28-30 September.
  19. Feely, A.J.; Harzing, A.W. (2004) The language barrier and its implications for HQ-subsidiary relationships, paper presented at the 64th annual meeting of the Academy of Management, New Orleans, August 6-11. Available online...
  20. Feely, A.J.; Harzing, A.W. (2003) Language management in multinational companies, Cross-cultural management: an international journal, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 37-52. Available online...
  21. Feely, A.J.; Harzing, A.W. (2002) Forgotten and neglected - Language: The orphan of International Business research, paper presented at the 62nd annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Denver, 9-14 August. Available online...