Experimental research in international management
New book chapter on how experimental research can advance language research in international management
Ever since conducting a study on the role of language in cooperation vs. competition (Compete or cooperate: does it depend on the language?) I have been interested in the use of experimental research. My former PhD student - Shea Fan - also used experimental research very effectively in her PhD (Managing expatriates' identity: subtle desire, big impact). I was therefore delighted to be asked to contribute a chapter to a new edited book on language research, which will come out next year.
- Fan, S.X.; Harzing, A.W. (2020): Moving beyond the baseline: Exploring the potential of experiments in language research, in: Horn, S. , Lecomte, P. and Tietze, S. (eds) Understanding Multilingual Workplaces: Methodological, Empirical and Pedagogic Perspectives, Routledge, pp. 9-28. Available online... - Related blog post
Abstract
Over the last 10 years, the use of experimental methods has received an increasing level of attention in the field of Management and International Business. Editors of major journals have encouraged its use. However, experimental research is still under-represented in the field of International Management and is even rarer in language research. Having said this, the topic of language has been studied in Cross-cultural Psychology, Psycho-linguistics, International Marketing and Cognitive Science, where experiments are used frequently. The current experimental language research in International Management has been influenced by these disciplines.
The objective of this chapter is not to explain how to design experimental research per se. Readers can identify many books and articles that offer detailed explanations on how to conduct experimental research. Instead, we first review the present use of experimental design in language research and then provide some explanations as to why experiments are rarely used. Using this information as the baseline for the present application of experimental methods in language research, we then illustrate how this method can be applied more broadly to advance research in the field.
Related blogposts
- Challenges in International survey research: illustrations and solutions
- Language effects in international mail surveys
- What if fully agree doesn't mean the same thing across cultures?
- Should we distance ourselves from the cultural distance concept?
Further resources
Journal of International Business Studies articles on methodological issues [From the AIB SIG Research Methods website: https://rmsig.aib.world/resources-2/jibs-methods-editorials/]
- Science’s reproducibility and replicability crisis: International business is not immune
- What’s in a p? Reassessing best practices for conducting and reporting hypothesis-testing research
- Beyond categorization: New directions for theory development about entrepreneurial internationalization
- Can I trust your findings? Ruling out alternative explanations in international business research
- Experimental designs in international business research
- Restriction of variance interaction effects and their importance for international business research
- Explaining interaction effects within and across levels of analysis
- How to write articles that are relevant to practice
- Multilevel models in international business research
- Endogeneity in international business research
- Explaining theoretical relationships in international business research: Focusing on the arrows, NOT the boxes
- From a distance and generalizable to up close and grounded: Reclaiming a place for qualitative methods in international business research
- Common method variance in international business research
- Student samples in international business research
Copyright © 2022 Anne-Wil Harzing. All rights reserved. Page last modified on Sun 24 Apr 2022 10:22
Anne-Wil Harzing is Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London and visiting professor of International Management at Tilburg University. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.
