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In business and management, cross-national and cross-cultural comparisons between countries have been a topic of interest for many decades. Not only do firms engage in business in different countries around the world but also within countries. The population has become more diversified over time, making cross-cultural comparisons within country boundaries increasingly relevant. In comparisons across cultural groups, measurement invariance (MI) is a prerequisite; however, in practice, MI is not always attained or even tested. Our study consists of three parts. First, we provide a bibliometric analysis of articles on cross-cultural and cross-national topics in marketing to provide insight into the connections between the articles and the main themes. Second, we code articles to assess whether researchers follow the recommended steps as outlined in the multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) approach. The results indicate that MI testing is incorporated in the toolbox of many empirical researchers in marketing and that articles often report the level of invariance. Yet, most studies find partial invariance, meaning that some items are not comparable across the cultural groups studied. Researchers understand that MI is required, but they often ignore noninvariant items, which may decrease the validity of cross-cultural comparisons made. Third, we analyze the dissemination of MI in the broader literature based on co-citations with Steenkamp and Baumgartner (1998), a widely cited article on MI in the field of marketing. We conclude by noting methodological developments in cross-cultural research to enable addressing noninvariance and providing suggestions to further advance our insight into cross-cultural differences and similarities.

Notes that methodological problems are hampering the growth of cross‐cultural marketing research and presents a review of methodological issues to address these problems. Organizes these issues around a six‐step framework which includes elements such as problem definition, the development of an approach and research design formulation. Notes that the marketing research problem can be defined by comparing the phenomenon or behaviour in separate cultural contexts and eliminating the influence of the self‐reference criterion. Discusses issues in data analysis such as treatment of outliers and standardization of data. Concludes with an interpretation of results and report presentation.

Cross-cultural research constitutes a pivotal topic for marketing; however, the literature indicates that there are a few studies analyzing social media reviews from a cross-cultural perspective using cultural proximity (supra-national level) as a proxy of culture. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify cross-cultural differences in service evaluations and specifically, in hotel appraisals among tourists from Central, Eastern (including Post-Soviet States), Northern and Southern Europe.

A quantitative approach has been taken by studying online user-generated ratings of hotels on Trip Advisor. In total, 1,055 reviews of five hotels in Greece were used for the study.

Multivariate analysis of variance and analysis of variances results confirm cultural differences in overall service evaluations and attributes (value, location, sleeping quality, rooms, cleanliness and service) of tourists from various European regions. Specifically, Eastern Europeans uploaded more reviews than any other European group, whereas Northern Europeans were more generous in their appraisals than Eastern, Southern and Central Europeans.

The results of the study could be used for segmentation purposes of the European tourism market and for recognizing, which aspects of their services need to be improved based on the segments they serve. Moreover, managers should encourage Northern and Eastern Europeans to upload their reviews as both groups are more generous in their evaluations. Moreover, the findings are useful to marketers of other services.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that examines cross-cultural differences in hotel appraisals from a supra-national perspective including developed (Northern and Western Europe), developing (Southern Europe) and emerging tourism markets (Eastern Europe).

The purpose of this paper is to examine recent patterns and developments in the literature on cross‐cultural advertising research.

Citation analysis was performed for cross‐cultural advertising articles published in major marketing and business journals from 1995 to 2006.

Cultural values were the most studied topic area in cross‐cultural advertising research. Content analysis was the most widely employed methodology, followed by surveys. North America and the original European Union (EU) member states were the most frequently investigated, whereas there appears to exist a paucity of research in newer EU countries, and in Latin American, Middle Eastern, and African markets.

Based on findings from the citation analysis, the authors outline future directions for the advancement of cross‐cultural advertising research in theoretical foundations, methodological issues, and countries to be explored.

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.

It is a great honor to be selected as a marketing legend, and 117 of my refereed journal articles are published in nine volumes by Sage India as part of the Legend series. In this chapter, I discuss my preparation for an academic career and the trajectory my research has followed. I reflect on my research contributions to marketing by selectively summarizing the key contributions in each of the nine volumes and draw out some lessons and principles I have learned in the process.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to identify the relationship, if any, between customers’ perceptions of justice (functional element) and employee effort (symbolic element) and their effects on satisfaction and loyalty in the context of service recovery and, second, to determine the impact of cross-cultural differences on these relationships.

Survey data from actual customers were gathered in three countries (n = 414) and analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results demonstrate the role of the constructs of perceived employee effort and perceived justice in influencing post-recovery satisfaction and loyalty across cultures. While perceived justice is valued across cultures, customers from feminine (masculine) cultures require more (less) employee effort to influence post-recovery satisfaction positively. Customers from low (high) uncertainty cultures are more (less) willing to give the provider another chance after a service recovery.

The study shows that both functional and symbolic elements of service recovery are important determinants of customer satisfaction and loyalty and that their influence can be significant in a cross-cultural context.

International service managers must consider the nature of cultural differences in their markets to develop and implement tailored recovery strategies that can result in satisfied customers.

This study is the first to integrate the functional and symbolic elements of service recovery, their impact on customers’ behavioral responses and the influence of cultural variations.

Most of the cross-cultural empirical research in hospitality has focused on Western and Eastern differences and has neglected cultural diversity in Europe. As cultural differences in Europe do exist and have important implications for managers operating in hotel industry, the purpose of this paper is to examine perceived quality in upscale (four- and five-star) hotels in two Mediterranean countries: Italy and Croatia.

Data were collected among 335 guests in upscale hotels in Italy and 475 hotel guests in Croatia. This work adopts a cross-cultural approach in two different ways. First, perceived quality is assessed in hotels in two different countries. Second, national culture of guests is considered in their evaluations of perceived quality in each country.

Surprisingly, hotels in Croatia, an emerging tourist destination, performed better than hotels in Italy, a top worldwide destination. The results show significant differences in perceived quality evaluations according to national cultures of hotel guests in each country. However, while in Croatia domestic guests perceived higher levels of quality than other guests, in Italy, perceived quality was rated lower by Italians than by their American counterparts.

The results of this study contribute to better understanding of perceived quality in cross-cultural research in hospitality.

Implications are discussed for both Italian and Croatian hotel managers, two direct competitors in the Mediterranean area.

This paper covers several research gaps: lack of cross-cultural research in hospitality marketing, poor examination of perceived quality in hotels from the cross-cultural perspective, and poor consideration of cultural diversity within European countries.

In this age of the global economy, cross‐cultural negotiation is becoming an increasingly important part of the management and marketing process for nearly every firm. Compares the cross‐cultural negotiation behaviour and differences in the perceived processes between those firms which consider themselves North American‐focused and those firms which report a worldwide or international outlook. Proposes several hypotheses, reports significant differences between the two groups and provides analysis.

Global marketing is based on cross‐cultural similarities instead of cross‐cultural differences. For a company encountering markets with similar cultural values it is easy to standardise the marketing program. Typically, however, most markets have different cultural values. The global marketer therefore has to decide how to coordinate its marketing program in the best way possible. This case study shows how a global retailer has coordinated its marketing program in an industry which has resisted the forces of globalisation more than most other industries.