Methodological practices in international business research: An after-action review of challenges and solutions

• 成果类型: Review
• 署名作者: Aguinis, Herman; Ramani, Ravi S.; Cascio, Wayne F.
• 署名单位: George Washington University; Morgan State University; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Denver; Children's Hospital Colorado; University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/s41267-020-00353-7
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 1593-1608
• 关键词: methodology; research methods; theory advancement; theory progress; epistemology; research design

摘要

We combine after-action review and needs-assessment frameworks to describe the four most pervasive contemporary methodological challenges faced by international business (IB) researchers, as identified by authors ofJournal of International Business Studiesarticles: Psychometrically deficient measures (mentioned in 73% of articles), idiosyncratic samples or contexts (mentioned in 62.2% of articles), less-than-ideal research designs (mentioned in 62.2% of articles), and insufficient evidence about causal relations (mentioned in 8.1% of articles). Then, we offer solutions to address these challenges: demonstrating why and how the conceptualization of a construct is accurate given a particular context, specifying whether constructs are reflective or formative, taking advantage of the existence of multiple indicators to measure multi-dimensional constructs, using particular samples and contexts as vehicles for theorizing and further theory development, seeking out particular samples or contexts where hypotheses are more or less likely to be supported empirically, using Big Data techniques to take advantage of untapped sources of information and to re-analyze currently available data, implementing quasi-experiments, and conducting necessary-condition analysis. Our article aims to advance IB theory by tackling the most typical methodological challenges and is intended for researchers, reviewers and editors, research consumers, and instructors who are training the next generation of scholars.