Introduction
Cross cultural research has gotten great attention for the past few years because of globalization. The number of studies done across cultures produced in various fields has increased. For instance, the number of cross cultural marketing research published in advertising, ethics, business communication and brand extension has increased due to changes in the market. Majority of the cross cultural marketing research studies that have been published are cross national studies.
The studies compare variables that are obtained from various countries using statistical methods. The differences in the variables are attributed to cultural differences among the nations. The marketing research should be conducted in different countries or cultures for the research to be cross cultural instead of conducting across different ethnic groups.39% of the cross cultural marketing research is conducted in United States while 40% is done in Europe. Only 9% of cross cultural marketing research is conducted in Japan.
Most of the studies in Europe are conducted in UK, Spain and Italy. Despite the growth in cross cultural marketing research in past decades, the growth and development of cross cultural and global marketing study is being hindered by methodological problems and level problems. Though the development of theory in global marketing has shown substantial growth for the last one decade, the development in research methodologies has lagged behind.
Research designs established in the US have been adopted in other countries without any modification and this has affected cross cultural research. Researchers have identified various methodological issues linked with studies done across different cultures. The researcher study country of origin researches to identify methodological problems and determine how they affect cross cultural studies. Cross cultural marketing researchers should be sensitized on the methodological problems so as to ensure the research findings are generalizable. The methodological problems are organized around the marketing research process.
The marketing research process is made up of different steps. That is identifying the problem, developing research approach, creating a research design, analysis data, preparing report, presenting findings etc. Researchers need to understand such issues to avoid making mistakes when conducting cross cultural and international marketing research. They should be able to define the research problem according to information from the cultures being examined and analyze data appropriate. Most of the researchers are not able to define the problem according to the cultures as they do not understand the cultures. They should use the suitable method when collecting data as the methods used affect the results of the research and the validity.
The methods should be inline with the cultural differences. Also, the measurements and scales should be based on the cultures being evaluated as the cultural difference affects the results. Taking into consideration the measures listed above will promote cross cultural and international marketing research globally. This paper examines the values in cross cultural and international marketing research. The steps followed when carrying out cross cultural and global marketing research will be analyzed to help investigators understand what is considered right and wrong in studies done between different cultures. The problems linked with the steps named above will be highlighted and solutions provided (Peterson &Jplibert, 1995).
Values in cross cultural and global marketing research
Problem definition
Being unfamiliar with the cultural factors and the environment of the nations being carried makes it hard to evaluate cultures and countries. The subject being studied should have similar and different features so as to compare them. Researchers can achieve comparability by adopting universals from different disciplines and show equivalences of concepts and data from the different groups. For example, researchers can use cultural components that are common to the groups from anthropology like language. Also, the investigator can adopt functions from sociology like differentiation of roles in the society.
Comparability is important in cross cultural and international marketing research as it ensures the comparison of different cultures is valid. Most of the international marketing efforts do not do well because the issues of comparability are not met. Researchers fail to address comparability when defining the research problem and this affects the marketing research as it does not meet the beliefs, traditions and values of different cultures. In order to attain comparability, researchers should differentiate and evaluate the effect of the “self reference criterion” or “the unconscious reference” of their cultural values. Researchers should follow the following steps when defining the research problem to ensure they take into consideration environmental differences and cultural differences.
First, researchers should define the research problem according to the home environment and cultural factors. They should identify economic, values, qualities and needs that are relevant to the study being conducted and include them. Second, they should define the problem according to the oversea environment and cultural factors. Investigators should identify qualities, values, economic and needs they consider relevant. Researchers should work with researcher’s conversant familiar with the foreign environment to be able to define the problem well. Working together with researchers ensures the investigators get the necessary input and hence makes the research reliable.
Third, researchers should eliminate the “self reference criterion” as it influences the problem. Then they should evaluate it to see how it affects the problem. Investigators should evaluate differences noted in the definition of home environment and foreign environment. The differences are as a result of the “self reference criterion”. After identifying the differences, one should redefine the research problem without the impact of the “self reference criterion” and then address the problem in the foreign market. This is evidenced by the example below (Peterson &Jplibert, 1995).
When carrying out cross cultural and global marketing research on marketing of coca cola in India and US one has to follow the steps above to define the problem. The researcher should understand the environment and culture of the two countries to ensure the research is valid. People in United States take soft drink with meals unlike in India. People in India prefer to take water with meals instead of soft drinks. In this case, the investigator will increasing existing market for soft drinks in US by increasing consumption of the drink (Malhotra,2001).
However, he will not be able to increase the market share for soft drinks in India as this is a different problem. In this example, the “self reference criterion” is the belief US citizens have that soft drinks can be taken with meals and at any time. The researcher should concentrate on getting a large percentage of the Indians to take soft drink as the drink is consumed during special occasions.Therefore, the researcher should understand the Indian culture and American culture before conducting the research to be able to identify the differences and similarities between the two cultures. Failure to understand the cultures will affect the definition of the problem and make it hard to compare the two cultures (Peterson &Jplibert, 1995).
Research design
Researchers are supposed to consider the cultural differences when identifying the research design. In developing research design, researchers must encourage comparability and equivalence of primary and secondary data gotten from the cultures can be compared and it is equal. Evaluating secondary data is more important in studies done across different cultures and countries than domestic research and researchers should be careful as different countries have different data. For instance, the gross domestic product differs from one country to another because of the way it is measured.
The correctness of secondary data differs from one nation to another. Data from developed nation is more correct than data from third world countries (Sin, Hung &Cheung, 2001). For example, countries can try to attract foreign investors by giving exaggerated figures that make the economy look good than it is. On the other hand, some countries can give a lower value of specific factors than expected and make their economic conditions appear bad than it is. Business and income information vary from one country to another as they are affected by the taxation system implemented in the country.
In addition, census data differs from one nation to another. Hence, researchers should be aware of the differences so as to ensure the cross cultural research is valid and reliable. They should not treat the secondary data equally as this can affect the marketing research. Researchers should get secondary data from different sources like ethnographic records as they describe different cultures. Ethnographic researches are aimed at outlining the culture of a society by stating what members in the society have learned so as to take part in social activities (Malhotra, Agarwal &Peterson, 1996).
Primary data
Data collection is a big issue in cross cultural and international marketing research as researchers do not know the method to use when gathering data in cross cultural and global marketing research and this has affected the development and validity of the research. Researchers can use qualitative data collection methods to gather data. There are a wide range of qualitative data collection methods including focus groups, interviews and observation.
The methods have limitations and are used in different situations. The data collection methods also differ from one country to another. Some of the data collection methods work well in some countries compared to others. Therefore, researchers should be able to select the most appropriate data collection method for cross cultural and global marketing research depending on the country being studied (Malhotra, Agarwal &Peterson, 1996).
Qualitative research
The best method to use when collecting data in cross cultural and global marketing research is qualitative research. The method can be used if the investigator is not conversant with the foreign market that is being evaluated. Qualitative research enables the investigators to understand the problem and also generate research questions that are relevant to the problem being examined. Qualitative research also enables the investigator to create hypothesis and models .Researchers can only understand the difference between overseas markets and domestic markets by carrying out a qualitative research.
Apart from showing the difference between the two markets, qualitative research brings the investigator and participants close and hence the research collects relevant information for the study. Hence, researchers should utilize qualitative research method as it is more effective in studying two markets or countries. Though qualitative research method has advantages, it also has disadvantages. Using qualitative research methods in developing nations might not be effective because of accessibility of the participants and sampling problems.
The investigator might find it hard to sample the participants when carrying out research in developing countries because of the demographic factors like religion. Also, the research might be influenced by difference in time concept. Many researchers either use quantitative research method when carrying out cross cultural and global marketing research and this affects the study results and findings. This is because the investigators are not able to show the differences between the two countries being studied and also their similarities (Malhotra, Agarwal &Peterson, 1996).
Investigator can use focus groups when conducting cross cultural and global marketing research. Researchers should be familiar with the culture, language and interaction patterns that are found in the country before conducting research. The results of the focus groups should be obtained from verbal and non verbal cue like facial expressions, body expressions etc. However, the research should understand people in the country as countries have different cultures. People in different countries express themselves differently and also behave differently. For example, people from the Middle East do not talk about their feelings in a group and this might affect the study if the research uses focus groups as the participants will not be able to give information freely. In this case, the researcher should use in-depth interviews (Malhotra, Agarwal &Peterson, 1996).
Survey methods
In addition, researchers can use survey methods to collect data. There are different survey methods that can be used to gather data including telephone interview, personal interview, mailing interview etc. carrying cross cultural and global marketing research in foreign countries is not easy and researchers should use the right interview methods to gather data. The interview methods used differ from one country to another.
Telephone interviews are commonly used in United States, Canada and some of the countries in Europe. Telephone interviews are not common in majority of the countries in Europe like Finland and Portugal. Only few developing countries use telephone interviews. Telephone interviews are an effective method to gather data from different countries as the researcher can conduct study from a single location. Telephone interviews save time and cost linked with organization of research and control (Malhotra, Agarwal &Peterson, 1996).
Further, personal interviews are not used in United States because of the high cost. This is in contrast to Europe and developing nations where many people in Europe use personal interviews to collect data. Researchers in Switzerland and Portugal use personal interviews to obtain data. Face to face interviews are common in Europe especially Portugal. 77% of the interviews carried out in Portugal are face to face interviews.
Most of the surveys are carried out from door to door. Marketing firms in North Americahave facilities located in malls that are well equipped with interviewing facilities and other tools to enable them gather data. Therefore, researchers should be familiar with the interview methods used in each country to avoid impacting the culture of the country and also get data easily (Sin, Hung &Cheung, 2001).
Another method that researchers can use is mail interview. Mail interviews are used in developed countries such as US and Canada as they are cheap and also the level of literacy is high (Sin, Hung &Cheung, 2001). However, mail interviews are commonly used in developing countries as the level of illiteracy is high. Developing countries rarely employ mail interviews. Mail interviews are effective when carrying cross cultural and global marketing research in developed nations. Mail panels are widely used in United Kingdomand other countries in Europe.
The use of mail panels will increase in future with development of new technology. Researchers give incentives to the participants to improve the response rate for mail surveys. Though providing incentives has worked in United States and United Kingdom, it might not work in other nations according to Malhotra, Agarwal and Peterson (1996). The researchers compared the use of incentives in Japan and Hong Kong by analyzing studies that had been done before.
The researcher noted that the response rate of participants from Hong Kong was lower when the researchers used incentives, but improved to 13% without using incentives. On the other hand, the response rate in Japan increased by 50% after using incentives and reduced to 22% after the researchers failed to use incentives. Though financial incentives can increase response rate in different cultures, the type of the currency and amount given affect the response rate. Hence, the researcher should be aware of the impact of using incentives when collecting data as incentives work differently in different countries (Malhotra, Agarwal &Peterson, 1996).
Observation method can also be used in cross cultural and global marketing research. Though observation method is fit for cross cultural and global marketing research, it is well suited for cross cultural study that focuses on a sensitive issue. Participants are not able to provide correct information when the researcher is examining sensitive issues because of cultural constrictions, social factors and other factors.
Problems that affect observation methods used in domestic research are also applicable to observation methods used in cross cultural research. Some of the problems are context effects resulting from variation in natural setting, personal differences and relationship between different variables in a given time. Researchers can eliminate the problems mentioned above by using time and event sampling. Cross cultural differences enlarge differences present by individuals. There are other observation methods employed in cross cultural studies like content analysis, audit etc. The methods are commonly used in marketing research. Content analysis has been utilized used extensively in global marketing research though it is effective (Malhotra, Agarwal &Peterson, 1996).
When selecting survey questionnaires, researchers should ensure comparability and equivalence across the cultures being analyzed. Different methods may be suitable in different cultures. Mail surveys may be suitable in one country, but not the other. Home interviews might be suitable in another country. Thus, home interviews should be used in this country as they are acceptable and can yield high response rate (Malhotra, Agarwal &Peterson, 1996).
Experimental design
Researchers can employ experimental design when conducting cross cultural and global marketing research. Carrying out experimental design in cross cultural and global marketing research is not easy as researchers face challenges. First, investigators are not able to control the individuals who get cultural treatment and also are not able to manipulate the treatment without changing other cultural variables like in experiments. Second, majority of the studies done across cultures are based on quasi experimental design because the cultural groups are not equivalent and exchanging subjects across different treatments is low. Researchers should validate the differences using human relations area files.
Third, the researcher is only able to make “post hoc inference “as he is not able to control the impact of cultural factors on behaviors. In this case the researcher should study the cultural variables differently to examine the differences. So, researchers should use different methods of data collection when gathering primary data. Using one method to collect data affects the study results as it is biased. Using multiple methods will eliminate biasness and ensure the results are valid and reliable. This is because different cultures have different beliefs, traditions and values and the researcher should consider them when collecting data. An investigator can use various methods like qualitative research, experiments, interviews and observation (Sin, Hung &Cheung, 2001).
Measurements and scales in cross cultural and global marketing research
The measurements and scales used in cross cultural and global marketing research determine the reliability and validity of the research findings. Investigators should determine whether the measure they want to use and the theoretical concepts are compatible (Singh, 1997). They should use direct measures where necessary as they are effective .Indirect measures should be the last option. Additionally, they should consider the construction of the scale, reliability, validity and equivalence when determining the scale and measurement.
Equivalence is important in establishing whether the measures and scales utilized to get data from various cultures are equal. Researchers should evaluate construct equivalence. Construct equivalence is aimed at determining whether the marketing constructs have similar meaning and importance in various cultures. For instance, when studying a product brand in different countries, researchers should determine construct equivalence.
The brand might be limited in some nations and considered a generic label that represents the product category in another. Also, brand loyalty can differ from one country to another because of the factors above. When examining construct equivalence, investigators should determine different kinds of equivalence such as functional, conceptual, instrument and measurement (Yu, Keown &Jacobs, 1993).
Functional equivalence determines whether a behavior has similar purpose in various countries. Functional equivalence is vital in cross cultural research and global marketing research as it shows why some cultures prefer some things compared to others. Some countries prefer to use bicycles as a means of transport unlike others. The investigator should determine the motives, attitudes and behaviors that affect the use of different products like bicycles in different countries.
Conceptual equivalence determined if the concept is expressed in a similar attitude and behavior in different cultures. People in different countries have different views about concepts. People in US have different views on promotional sales from people in developing countries. High sales in US might mean the product is of good quality unlike people in developing countries. Instrument equivalence determines whether the items on a scale, response categories and stimuli are interpreted the same way in different cultures.
Measurement equivalence determines whether the items on the scale measure the construct equivalence in data gathered from every culture. Investigators can address the problem of equivalence in studies done across cultures by assuming the indicators of constructs that are similar are shown differently in various cultures. They should use a third variable to moderate the effect. So, the measures should consist of a collection of “cross national etic indicators” and “culture specific emic indicators”. Combining the “etic and emic indicators” results in a reliable and valid scale that can be used in diverse cultures.
The scales should be developed well to ensure the scales are not culturally biased. The investigators should consider the literacy level of the participants when developing the scale (Yu, Keown &Jacobs, 1993).There are different methods used to develop scales and only the semantic differential scale has been considered to be free from cultural biasness. The method has been evaluated in different cultures and generated same results. Likert scales and semantic differential scales are specific to cultures and are not effective even in countries that share common.
Researchers should test the significance and appropriateness of Likert scales and semantic differentiation scales when carrying out research. They should test the scale anchors to determine whether the participants or people in the countries understand them. For instance, using agree/ disagree might affect study results if the participants do not understand the anchors. In order to avoid such issues, researchers should select the anchors well or allow the participants to state their position. This method is suitable for evaluating attitudes defined according to rules in the country.
Researchers should use verbal rating scales so as to ensure the participants who have low levels of education understand them. Researchers should use dichotomous scale when measuring the perception of the customers. Reliability and validity is essential in cross cultural and global marketing research. Reliability and validity are important in comparing different cultures. Similar scales have different reliabilities in various cultures. The difference in reliability is attributed to the assessment method used and the construct. Thus, the relationship between constructs should be adjusted for difference in reliabilities before making valid inferences (Yu, Keown &Jacobs, 1993).
Questionnaire design
Questionnaires play an important role in collecting data in cross cultural and global marketing research. However, designing questionnaires is difficulty for researchers. Research instruments including questionnaires should be adapted to the culture being studied and should not be culturally biased. Researchers should consider differences in different factors like behaviors of the customers, demographic variables and life style. When using demographic information, the researcher should be careful as the information differs from one country to another. Different nations have different literacy levels and income information.
The definition of household and size differs greatly from one country to another due to family structures. The questionnaires should be administered using more than one method to enable the researcher to use them in different countries. The investigator should ensure the questionnaires have simple questions that the participants can understand. Participants from different countries might understand the subject being studied differently and so the researcher should consider the differences. Participants from developing countries might be less informed about various issues unlike participants in developed countries and hence the researcher should ensure all participants understand the subject.
The investigator should use open ended questions if he does not have knowledge about factors that determine responses in different cultures. Using open ended questions eliminates cultural biasness as they do not encourage alternative responses. Unstructured questions also have limitations as they are impacted by differences in level of education more than structured questions. Open ended questions should be utilized carefully in nations that have low levels of education. The questions should be converted for use in diverse cultures to ensure the researcher gets relevant data from the cultures being studied.
In addition to that, investigators should offer redundancy and add content for phrases that are hard. Redundancy helps the participants understand the phrases and provide proper information. It also helps the translator understand the meaning of phrases and identify mistakes. They should also show the equivalence of the questionnaires that are translated to the original questionnaires. The cross cultural difference is as a result of the non equivalent questionnaires that might confound the study findings(Yu, Keown &Jacobs, 1993).
Sampling
Sampling problems are also common in cross cultural and global marketing research. identifying cultures and languages hard. The method of analyzing culture must be stated clearly. Researchers use a country or state as a culture when carrying out research and this is not appropriate for nations that have many cultures. Researchers can overcome this problem by using cultunit as a unit of analysis.
Cultunit refers to people who talk one language and form a single group or state. Moreover, researchers can use behavioral setting to compare two cultures. Behavioral setting shows all forces that influence the behaviors of members in the society. The selection of the cultures for the study should be based on the objectives of the research. Most researchers conducting cross cultural and global marketing research have selected cultures according to convenience instead of research objectives. It is vital to select more than one culture for analysis as studies that analyze one culture are not useful.
Selection of persons within a culture when doing cross cultural and global marketing research is also a problem. Researchers are not able to select persons within a culture well and this affects the research. The sampling frames that are developed to choose persons should be equal in different cultures. Researchers should consider various factors when defining the population to be examined. First, they should consider the participants as they differ from one nation to another. For instance, when examining how gender roles influence purchasing of products, the researcher should analyze the role of every member in each culture. Children in US play a crucial role when buying children cereal, but in authoritarian society mothers buy cereals.
Second, the researcher should consider the ability to reach to participants as it differs from one nation to another. Developing the right sampling frame is hard. The researcher might not be able to get secondary data about the cultures being studied from secondary sources and hence affect the sampling frame. The research might be unable to get information from government site. The investigator should adopt a random walk plan if the secondary data is not available. He can also identify a starting point and determine the sampling unit based on the pattern (Yu, Keown &Jacobs, 1993).
The quota method has been used in many countries both developed and developing to prevent sampling bias, but it has limitation. Using quota method to sample the participants affects the sample as the researcher is only able to get individuals of a certain group and they do not represent the population being studied.
Researchers might not be able to estimate the sample size using statistical methods as the variance might differ from one nation to another. So, the sample size is determined by determining the significance of the decision, the nature of the study, number of research variables, sample size used in other studies and resources available. It is also selected based on the analysis method, incidence and completion rate. Investigators should use different sampling methods to attain comparability and ensure the sample represents the population. When sampling individuals from a subgroup of the entire population, the research should hold some variables constant (Terpstra& Sarathy, 1990).
Data analysis and preparation in cross cultural and global marketing research
Cross cultural and global marketing research is aimed at determining the differences and similarities from different samples. The data analysis problems in cross cultural marketing research are preparation of data, standardization and comparison of samples. Other issues are methodological fallacies, level analysis and construct equivalence. Researchers should identify influential responses. They should identify outliers or values that are far from the data being gathered as they can affect the results (Merritt, 2000).
The outliers show a sampling problem. The outlier can result from errors when entering data and when a value indicator is missing. The outlier can be a member of the population being studied or a from the target population, but strange member of the populating. The researcher can delete the outlier, but this is the last option and if he deletes he should state in the report. The data can be standardized or not. The researcher should take into account different things when planning to standardize data. Investigators choose to standardized the variables in every culture according to how the arguments are interpreted and emic comparison.
Standardized data is easier to interpret compared to data that is not standardized. Standardization changes the variables that are being evaluated on a scale to a single measure and allows the researcher to compare the independent variables. The analysis of data that has been standardized shows an emic comparison standard if the data for every culture are been standardized differently. Coefficients that have been standardized have similar measures within a particular group, but not in different cultures as the regression coefficients have been adjusted according to the sample variability. Standardized data prevents difference in variances in different cultures (Chan, 2010).
On the other hand, statistics based on data that is not standardized are important in evaluates diverse cultures, structural variance and “etic comparison standard”. Researchers can only carry out a valid comparison of statistics from different cultures if the statistics are derived from data that is not standardized. Statistics that are derived from unstandardized data show an “etic comparison standard” as they aren’t adjusted within the variability of the respondents.
Conversely, etic comparison across cultures using unstandardized data has construct equivalence. Hence, etic comparison across different cultures should be done using standardized data so long as “construct equivalence” has been attained. Emic comparison within a culture must be conducted using standardized data (Chan, 2010).
Further, the samples should be equal. The researcher should examine the samples to determine whether they are equal or not. If the samples cannot be compared, the researcher should carry out an analysis on different sub samples to determine the effect of the differences in terms of the variables identified. Investigators can analyze data at 3 levels when carrying cross cultural and global marketing research (McDonald, 2000). They can analyze it at individual level, within culture and country, across culture and country. When analyzing data at the individual level, one should ensure data from every participant is analyzed separately. The researcher should gather enough information from every participant to analyze it at the individual level.
Researchers should be aware of the customer in every culture when doing cross cultural and global marketing research. The investigator can understand the customer by conducting an individual analysis. When analyzing data within culture or country, one analyzes data for every country and culture differently. This enables the researcher to understand the relationships and patterns found in every country or culture. Data from different countries is analyzed at the same time. Data for all participants can be brought together and then analyzed. In addition, data from each country can be aggregated and the statistics analyzed. The investigator should identify the differences and similarities between the countries. He should determine differences in distribution and variance (Chan, 2010).
Methodological fallacy
Researchers who concentrated on understanding culture are interested in different cultural dimensions. There are four dimensions that explain the difference between two countries. That is power distance, avoidance of uncertainty, collective and individualistic and masculinity versus femininity. Another dimension is long term orientation and short term orientation. Some of the dimensions were developed to describe societies instead of individuals according to Hogsede (1994). For instance, collectivism and individualism were developed to describe societies. Using such dimensions to describe an individual affects the study as what characterizes the culture in the society does not necessary characterize the individual within the culture. Thus, the correlation between different variables at the cultural level is different from correlation of the similar variables at the personal level(Chan, 2010).
The variables can lead to one dimension at the cultural level and many dimensions at the personal level. This can result to an ecological fallacy. In ecological fallacy, the investigator uses the cultural level correlation without carrying out an individual level analysis to determine the behaviors depicted by the person. A reverse ecological fallacy happens when the researcher carries out an individual analysis to understand the behaviors without doing a cultural level analysis.
To show how the dimensions differ from one person to another, the researcher should do standardization before aggregating the data into a pan cultural data set and analyzing the factors. The investigator should do a within subject standardization to eliminate response effect. He should also do a within culture standardization to set the mean and standard deviation to 0 ad 1 respectively (Chan, 2010).
Preparation of reports and presentation
Interpreting and presenting data gathered poses a challenge in cross cultural and global marketing research poses. The researcher can affect data gathered and hence the results when interpreting data collected from two culture or more. The values that are found in one culture might not be understood in other cultures. Thus, researchers can interpret the data differently depending on how they interpret the values. Additionally, researchers can report data according to their belief system in journals from their home country.
To overcome such issues, investigators from every country should interpret the data separately. They should consider various things when interpreting data. They should consider the limitation of the research especially data collection limitations. Second, they should consider generalization of the results as generalizing the findings to other cultures that are not used in the study might not be acceptable even if the sample was diverse. When preparing reports, investigators should prepare different reports each targeted to different audience (McDonald, 2000).
Conclusion
In conclusion, cross cultural and global marketing research is not similar to domestic research as the research faces numerous challenges. The investigator faces methodological problems when conducting cross cultural and global marketing research. Many researchers experience problems when doing cross cultural and global marketing research because they do not understand what is right and wrong concerning the study. Data collection issues, report presentation issues, data analysis issues and problem identification issues have affected the growth of cross cultural and global marketing research. Many researchers do not know how to define a research problem when doing such kind of studies. Researchers do not define problem of the study according to the cultures being studied.
The cultural values, traditions and beliefs affect problem definition. Investigators should consider such the cultural traditions, values and beliefs when defining the problems. Defining the problem according to the cultures makes it easy to compare the two cultures. Though there are different methods that are used to obtain data from the participants, only few methods are effective in collecting data in cross cultural marketing research. Qualitative research is important in gathering information from the participants as it enables the researcher to understand the culture if he or se is not familiar with it. This in turn helps the investigator to compare the cultures. Focus groups, telephone interviews and mail interviews function different in different nations. Some cultures like using focus groups, telephone interviews and mail interviews and others do not.
Moreover, observation method differs from one country to another as the cultural beliefs and values affect collection of data using the method. Some countries encourage use of observation method when gathering data unlike others as they affect participant’s privacy and confidentiality. So, the research should be aware of the culture before identifying the data collection method. The measurements and scales used in cross cultural and global marketing research should be similar in all cultures. This is to eliminate biasness and ensure the study results are valid and reliable.
Methodological fallacies are also common when carrying out cross cultural research as researchers use variables that define a culture to define the individuals. As a result, researchers should be careful when conducting cross cultural and global marketing research to avoid such issues. This will enhance development of studies across cultures and nations. They should take the precautions outlined above when conducting research to avoid the issues that have been identified above. Following the procedure above when carrying out cross cultural and international marketing research will ensure the research findings can be generalized and also the research is not affected by cultural biasness.
Cultural biasness results from use of instruments that give different results when used in different cultures. The researcher can also affect the research including findings when presenting the results. This is because the researcher makes decisions about the research findings based on his or her values. The investigator should understand different cultures well before conducting research to avoid researcher biasness.
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