Abstract
Distinction and usage of etic/emic approaches in social sciences research has a long history of discussion, dating back to 1950s, where etic/emic are perceived mainly as a methodological approach. In business studies, scholars predominantly applied an etic approach, which has been often treated as synonymous to functionalistic perspective. Whereas the need for more emic or a combined emic/etic research has been highly emphasized by international business scholars during the last decade. Cross-cultural research is seldom found in business marketing research. However, we postulate that incorporation of emic and combined etic-emic approaches in cross-cultural business marketing studies, as a way to theorize about constructs, may be beneficial for shifting towards a more practice approach.
Our study focuses on a literature review of top international business and business marketing journals in order to understand how emic/etic approaches are applied in those studies; whether these approaches should be as diametrically different epistemologies or forming a continuum and what are the implications for further research. The results show that most of the articles discuss and use etic/emic approaches on a conceptual level and still propagate the use of emic or combined emic-etic approach, thereby further empirical research is highly required. The theoretical contribution of this review lies in advancing the discussion on emic/etic approaches and encouraging a more practice approach to cross-cultural studies in business marketing research through application of a combined etic-emic approach.
Our study focuses on a literature review of top international business and business marketing journals in order to understand how emic/etic approaches are applied in those studies; whether these approaches should be as diametrically different epistemologies or forming a continuum and what are the implications for further research. The results show that most of the articles discuss and use etic/emic approaches on a conceptual level and still propagate the use of emic or combined emic-etic approach, thereby further empirical research is highly required. The theoretical contribution of this review lies in advancing the discussion on emic/etic approaches and encouraging a more practice approach to cross-cultural studies in business marketing research through application of a combined etic-emic approach.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 11 |
Publication status | Published - 4 Dec 2022 |
MoE publication type | O2 Other |
Event | IMP ASIA 2022 - Sheraton Sunmarina Resort, Okinawa, Onna, Japan Duration: 4 Dec 2022 → 7 Dec 2022 https://www.impasia2020.com/ |
Conference
Conference | IMP ASIA 2022 |
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Abbreviated title | IMP Asia 2022 |
Country/Territory | Japan |
City | Onna |
Period | 04/12/22 → 07/12/22 |
Internet address |
Keywords
- Cross-cultural research
- B2B marketing
- International business
- Epistemology