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Most traditional research approaches emerge from the position that all “good” research is “objective.” While this is critical for conducting scholarly inquiry, we contend that it is equally important to acknowledge the significant impact social, cultural, and political contexts have on the research process. That is, research is a malleable process informed and influenced by broader socio-political forces. Because research is not conducted in a vacuum, researchers have a duty to consider the context within which one engages in research. It also requires the researcher to understand their position or status along with their participants’ power and expertise when undertaking research studies, particularly in cross-contexts. In this chapter, we explore the nuances – some overt others subtle – that have informed and influenced how our cross-cultural team navigated our research spaces. The authors of this chapter are a cross-cultural team comprised of a White American and a Black African academic. Both the United States and South Africa have complex histories of race relations and racial identity within their broader socio-political context which must be considered when conducting research. Therefore, to dissociate and compartmentalize aspects of our identity when conducting research in these contexts may in fact compromise scholarly insights which might emerge from these contexts.

Previous research on international negotiations has primarily examined cross‐cultural differences in behavioral styles. Supplementing this prior research, we focused on outcome in negotiations. The study examined relationships between culture and outcome in contract negotiations, and analyzed how negotiation behavior mediates between culture and outcome. Sixty Mexican and Norwegian subjects participated in a negotiation simulation with potentially integrative outcomes. The study included 12 Mexican dyads, 12 Norwegian dyads, and 6 cross‐cultural dyads. Two aspects of outcome: joint benefit and distribution of benefit between negotiators, and two aspects of process: progression of offers and verbal communication, were examined Results indicated an effect of culture on integrative results, but not on distribution of benefit. Process differences found were related to the progression of offers over time, and not to verbal communication. Managerial implications are discussed and directions for future research indicated.

This paper aims to consider the role and influence of social capital (SC) on knowledge management (KM) and sets out to develop an understanding of the importance of the impact of the cross-cultural environment on this relationship.

According to the notion, in this study, the relationship between two essential aspects in management and business, SC on KM practices, has been analyzed. By applying a descriptive and correlational method, the impact of various dimensions of SC on KM in a cross-cultural setting has been investigated, and required data has been obtained through questionnaires consist of 30 items, which is prepared for a sample of 232 people.

Although the findings are varied, the results indicated that there is an important relationship between SC dimensions and KM in the research environment, which is cross-cultural.

First, as the data derived from different branches of a big company in Iran, its results cannot be easily extended to other contexts. Therefore, future streams of research can expand the scope of this paper into other contexts with different characteristics. Moreover, the sample of this paper is taken from different communities (branches) which increase the variety of personality features in distinct cultures. Thus, further research can stress a particular organization/ branch to avoid the problem of cultural variation and focus on a more homogenous sample. Finally, this study targeted a big organization in the IT sector. However, future studies can investigate another type of firm (e.g. small and medium firms) in different sectors (e.g. manufacturing, food sector, etc.).

In this research, using scientific and practical methods, the impacts have been examined carefully and deliberately to assist the managers of organizations in theoretically and managerially as these outcomes contribute to the development of a new concept called cross-cultural in knowledge management and social capital, and support organizations to cope with the implications of this concept.

There is not much empirical research on cross-cultural settings and its effects on management, finance and business, especially on correlations between KM and SC. This investigation tries to fill this gap and explain the ways, which companies can use SC for enhancing their effectiveness of KM by considering culture diversity impacts.

Globalisation means that more and more construction projects involve participants from different cultural backgrounds. Besides the obvious language barrier, people may also have different faiths, assumptions and behaviour norms which can and do cause conflicts. This challenges previous approaches and is creating a new context for the construction industry. This research aims to explore how practitioners can work more effectively in cross‐cultural situations.

The paper uses real‐life experience and personal construct theory to understand the problems in interpretation, communications, emotion and trust. It uses methods of participatory action research and experiential research, and an analysis based on dialogue and reflection between the researchers with different cultural backgrounds.

The paper concludes that, to work effectively in cross‐cultural situations, one needs to work with one's personal constructs and pay more attention to informal communications. It is also necessary to recognise and deal with emotions explicitly. It is very important yet difficult to build and maintain trust in cross‐cultural cooperation.

This approach inevitably brings some personal or even biased subjective judgement on certain cultural phenomena. There are others involved who do not have a voice.

The research provides a new approach to facilitate practitioners to tackle the problems of cross‐cultural projects.

The paper applies personal construct theory to cross‐cultural analysis using a novel methodology of cross‐cultural dialogue. This develops a practical approach to situations and establishes the importance of emotion in cross‐cultural cooperation.

This paper aims to investigate the adverse effects of addiction to social media usage on expatriates' cultural identity change in cross-cultural settings.

A questionnaire survey was conducted in two public universities in China. Among the questionnaires distributed, 333 useful responses were obtained from international students for data analysis.

Regression results show addiction to social media usage exerts adverse effects by negatively moderating the relationship between associations with locals and the three dimensions of cultural intelligence. Addiction to social media usage impairs expatriates from developing cultural intelligence from associations with locals, which in turn affects their cultural identity change.

Research findings suggest that expatriates, administrators and educators should be highly aware of the adverse effects of addiction to social media usage in complex cross-cultural settings wherein expatriates are more dependent on information technology. The important role of cultural intelligence should also be highlighted for its bridging role in managing cultural identity change for acculturation purpose. No causal relationships between variables can be established considering the cross-sectional design of the research. Longitudinal or experimental design could be a promising methodology for future efforts.

The current research contributes to the knowledge on information management applied to cross-cultural settings. The present study combines an IT contingent view with cross-cultural study to explore the adverse effects of addiction to social media usage on the development of expatriates' cultural intelligence from associations with locals, thereby influencing cultural identity change. The research provides new perspectives to expand the nomological framework of cross-cultural studies by combining the enabling roles of information technology.

The study investigates extreme response style (ERS) in cross‐cultural research. Through a four‐country application of the Greenleaf ERS measure, finds that ERS varies between cultures and across response formats. Evidence is also found that the acquiescence response style (ARS) varies between cultures and response formats. Through a series of ANOVAs, it is shown how a post hoc response style adjustment can be used to minimize between‐group differences for ERS and ARS. Finally, this study illustrates how cross‐cultural market researchers, using a marketing‐oriented survey instrument like the CETSCALE, could reach erroneous conclusions by failing to adjust for between‐group difference in ERS. Implications for cross‐cultural marketing research are discussed.

This paper aims to introduce the concept of compassion to the field of international business studies. As international business activities continuously intensify and hence generate a work environment characterized by cultural heterogeneity and pluralism, the notion of compassion in a cross-cultural context can be regarded a key skill for employees in internationally operating firms to enable coping with potential cross-cultural conflicts.

In this narrative-oriented type of review, the authors discuss compassion in a cross-cultural context by drawing on the literature in the management and international business studies. By connecting prior research on compassion with the typical research interests in the IB domain, the authors identify and define potential future research foci for a research agenda centering on the role that cross-cultural compassion plays.

The authors argue that the conventional approach to learning about other national cultures, their value and norm systems, needs to be complemented by the acquisition of compassion skills. In todays culturally diverse business environment where employees increasingly work in virtual teams, cultural complexity is hardly manageable alone by developing expert knowledge about respective cultural contexts to prevent cross-cultural conflicts.

By drawing on extant research on compassion conducted in neighboring disciplines of the social sciences, the authors conceptualize compassion in the context of international business research. Because compassion in a cross-cultural context is new to international business research, this study suggests directions for future research consisting of four research streams to guide future research on compassion in a cross-cultural context in international business studies.

Drawing on image theory, the authors investigate how and when cross-cultural experience cultivates two core entrepreneurial sensing capabilities: opportunity recognition and creative behavior.

The authors develop and test a second-stage moderated mediation model across two studies. Study 1 consists of a sample of prospective entrepreneurs from the UK using perceptual scale measures (n = 153). Building on this, core findings are replicated using task-based measures on a sample of US participants (n = 342).

Results show that cross-cultural experience is positively related to both entrepreneurial sensing capabilities through the mediating role of self-image fluidity. No support is found for the moderating role of regulatory focus orientations.

These findings contribute to the burgeoning literature on multicultural experience and initiating skills in nascent venturing by providing insight on the mechanisms and boundary conditions relevant for entrepreneurial capabilities to emerge.

The results reinforce the need for educators, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to facilitate and encourage opportunities for cross-cultural and overseas experiences as they are influential for stimulating entrepreneurial skills.

Positive linkages between international mobility and entrepreneurial activity are of continued interest, yet individual-level mechanisms that explain this have been limited. The authors find that exposure to foreign cultures is potent for entrepreneurship as it can stimulate flexibility and exploration of the self-image and break frames of reference. This fosters greater tendencies for opportunity recognition and creative behaviors.

The paper aims to conceptually explore customer‐to‐customer interaction (CCI) in a cross‐cultural context; and to identify research opportunities in the field of cross‐cultural CCI.

The paper analyses consultations both with CCI experts and cross‐cultural management experts.

Cross‐cultural customer‐to‐customer interaction (CC‐CCI) is shown to have received very little research attention. The relevance of CCI to hospitality management is highlighted and opportunities for future investigations are identified. CC‐CCI is shown to be conceptually quite complex.

For hospitality management practitioners and researchers, a variety of perspectives on how CC‐CCI can influence the customer experience are provided. Service managers are provided with a new dimension to incorporate into their strategic and operational plans for managing CCI in an increasingly globalised environment.

The article contributes towards developing a scientific approach towards understanding a phenomenon which is a widespread feature of social life. It also provides a fresh focus for cross‐cultural research.

The paper addresses an important and original issue in hospitality management. Many illustrations of the new concept are provided and directions and methods for conducting research into CC‐CCI are put forward. The article also contributes to the hospitality management literature by broadening the discussion of the customer as an operant resource.

While quantitative survey design represents a default research method in the field of hospitality and tourism, qualitative approaches remain largely sidelined. This is particularly true for netnography, a novel method of scientific enquiry that targets the online interactions of various actors. The present chapter seeks to introduce the netnographic approach, outline its implementation in hospitality and tourism, as well as demarcate it from other methods, such as survey, text mining and content analysis. By giving an overview of recent studies employing netnography, the chapter demonstrates applied examples of ethnographic research online, presents a cross-cultural study on disappointing travel experiences and suggests further research avenues, such as cross-cultural investigation. It concludes by discussing strengths and weaknesses of the netnographic approach. The value of this chapter lies in its reflection of state-of-the-art research in hospitality and tourism based on netnography and the proposition of further directions of research.