The declining share of primary data and the neglect of the individual level in international business research

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cerar, Jelena; Nell, Phillip C.; Reiche, B. Sebastian
• 署名单位: Vienna University of Economics & Business; Copenhagen Business School; University of Navarra; IESE Business School
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/s41267-021-00451-0
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 1365-1374
• 关键词: primary data; secondary data; individual-level research; level of analysis; methods diversity; methodological rigor; methodological trends; IB paradigm

摘要

Complementing Nielsen and colleagues' (2020) analysis of methodological trends in the Journal of International Business Studies over the past 50 years, we examine similar data on methods published in a wider range of leading international business (IB) journals. Our analysis shows a clear decline of studies based on primary data relative to secondary data, and a persistently low level of individual-level studies among the growing body of research using secondary data across all IB journals considered. We discuss the main mechanisms driving these trends and identify the problems of IB's increasing exposure to the risks inherent in secondary data. We also discuss the implications related to neglecting individual-level data for theory advancement in IB, such as a disregard for novel secondary data opportunities at the individual level and the risk of reduced theoretical pluralism. In doing so, we substantially extend the debate initiated by Nielsen and colleagues (2020).