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

Herman Aguinis (), Ravi S Ramani and Wayne F Cascio
Additional contact information
Herman Aguinis: The George Washington University
Ravi S Ramani: Morgan State University
Wayne F Cascio: University of Colorado Denver

Journal of International Business Studies, 2020, vol. 51, issue 9, No 13, 1593-1608

Abstract: Abstract 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 of Journal of International Business Studies articles: 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.

Keywords: methodology; research methods; theory advancement; theory progress; epistemology; research design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41267-020-00353-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:jintbs:v:51:y:2020:i:9:d:10.1057_s41267-020-00353-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/41267/PS2

DOI: 10.1057/s41267-020-00353-7

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Business Studies is currently edited by John Cantwell

More articles in Journal of International Business Studies from Palgrave Macmillan, Academy of International Business
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().