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The purpose of this paper is to establish under which conditions researchers should use the constructs cultural intelligence (CQ) and global mindset (GM). The authors further seek to understand the process through which these constructs emerge to a higher level and link unit-level knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) capital to pertinent firm-level outcomes.

This paper is a conceptual study with a multilevel model.

This paper differentiates two similar lines of research occurring concordantly on the CQ and GM constructs. Next, the authors develop a multilevel model to better understand the process through which CQ and GM emerge at higher levels and their underlying mechanisms. Finally, this paper adds meaning to the firm-level KSAs by linking firm-level KSAs capital to pertinent firm-level outcomes.

The conclusion implies that researchers should use CQ when the context is focused on interpersonal outcomes and GM when focused on strategic outcomes. The multilevel model is a useful tool for scholars to select which rubric to use in future studies that have international managers as the subjects. The authors argue that if the scholar is interested in an individual’s ability to craft policy and implement strategy, then GM may be more parsimonious than CQ. On the other hand, if the focus is on leadership, human resources or any other relationship dependent outcome, then CQ will provide a more robust measure.

For practitioners, this study provides a useful tool for managers to improve individual-level commitment by selecting and training individuals high in CQ. On the other hand, if the desired outcome is firm-level sales or performance, the focus should be on targeting individuals high in GM.

This is the first theoretical paper to examine how CQ and GM emerge to the firm level and describe when to use each measure.

A dilemma exists in that many view offshoring as a tradeoff between cost efficiency and innovation. The purpose of this paper is to reconcile this dilemma by showing how and why offshoring to institutionally distant host countries may result in innovation. The authors introduce an institutional lens in order to understand how offshoring to institutionally distant locales affects innovation outcomes of multinational enterprises. This lens is aimed to provide an analytical tool that is less coarse and less overwhelmingly focused on institutional distance (ID) as a harsh and certain harbinger of reduced innovation performance.

The authors use primary data from the Offshoring Research Network as well as secondary data from the Frasier Institute on Economic Freedom, and Hofstede’s cultural value survey to empirically assess the distinct effects of distance on innovation at the firm level.

The authors have developed a model of distance and innovation which goes beyond the traditional assumption of distance as overwhelmingly negative. Whereas in some cases, the positive effect of formal and informal distances outweigh the negative effects stimulating innovation; in other cases, the negative effects of distance hamper innovation. Finally, some elements of distance may not have an impact on innovation outcomes at all.

While previous research stresses the negative effects of distance in general, the authors provide an ID model which, in the context of offshoring, takes into account potential positive, negative, or no effects.

The study presents global supply chain managers with a reference framework for making strategic offshoring relationships decisions.

By unbundling the inherently confounding formative construction of distance measures, eschewing the reflexive assumption that distance is always negative, and mapping theories specific to the application of distinct institutional logics to specific value-enhancing business activities (i.e. innovation), this study offers a more accurate and complete institutional picture that helps reconcile institutional theory with an empirical record that often fails to find what it predicts.

The purpose of this paper is to understand when, how, and why service employees adapt the service encounter to meet the values and expectations of culturally disparate customers.

The authors tested the hypothesized framework utilizing a scenario-based experimental study. In total, a sample of 296 prospective restaurant service employees were asked to evaluate their willingness to adapt their behavior when faced with cultural differences as well as out group status. Furthermore, respondents were asked to assess their level of metacognitive cultural intelligence.

The authors found that both perceived cultural differences and out group status positively affect the service employee’s willingness to adapt their behavior. Further, cultural intelligence (CQ) positively moderates one of those two direct relationships.

The authors extend the literature on the service-adjustment process, as well as the managerial implications of service adjustment. The study is among the first to introduce the role of the service employees’ CQ in adaptation to an intercultural service encounter.

The purpose of this study is to examine cultural intelligence's (CQ) influence on international business travelers' ability to deal with the strain caused by institutional distance (ID).

The methodology begins with a literature review to establish a framework for discussion by bringing together international business travel, stress, distance, and CQ. A total of 841 participants from Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport were surveyed in order to test the hypotheses.

Results reveal that CQ partially moderates the relationship between ID and travel and job strain.

Furthermore, the research implies that an increase in CQ is not positive in all situations.

This is the first empirical study to examine CQ in the short‐term context of international business travel.

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence that firms that are more committed to internationalization, systematically differ from firms that are less committed to internationalization in their future intention to engage in foreign direct investment (FDI). The authors analyzed data from 42 large Brazilian multinational enterprises (MNEs) and found that results support previous research on the degree of satisfaction with prior internationalization efforts and future intent to internationalize, such that the relationship between the two is positive. Yet contrary to existing literature, the degree to which a firm was committed to internationalization has a negative influence on the positive relationship between satisfaction and intent.

All Brazilian firms that have entered foreign markets via FDI were surveyed to measure the firm’s: intent to internationalize; satisfaction with prior internationalization; and commitment to internationalization. Intent to internationalize is future based while both satisfaction and commitment reflect previous year’s activities. The potential response pool included publically traded companies listed on the Bovespa (São Paulo Stock Exchange) and private limited companies (Ltda.). The authors conducted a hierarchical moderated regression analysis to test the moderating effect of commitment to internationalization on the relationship between international satisfaction and intent to internationalize.

This study adds to the literature by examining how past international satisfaction and commitment affect the future intent to internationalize for large Brazilian MNEs. The results confirm that the degree of past satisfaction regarding a firm’s international business is positively related to the firm’s future intent to internationalize. However, the results diverge from past research in two important ways. First, contrary to the organizational behavior literature, past commitment to internationalization does not have a significant relationship with future intention to internationalize. Second, the results show the relationship between satisfaction and intent is weakened by a high degree of international commitment.

A limitation of this study is the small sample size. While it encompasses the vast majority of large MNEs in Brazil, the authors still do not have enough data points to test more hypotheses such as the effects of firm size, number of countries the firm is in, and age of the firm. Future studies should attempt to expand the work done here by examining these effects. Another limitation of this study is that it is based on solely one country; Brazil. Future studies should attempt to replicate these findings in other emerging market countries.

These results have three main managerial implications. First, international strategists analyzing the trajectory of a firm’s future intentions to internationalize should focus on how satisfied the firm has been with its past efforts. Second, managers should not assume that just because their firms have a large presence abroad that this will subsequently lead to future plans to internationalize. Finally, for emerging market MNEs in a period of the financial crises, committing more to internationalization may reduce the positive relationship between satisfaction and intention.

The purpose of this study is to add to the small but growing work on large MNEs from Brazil in order to better understand their internationalization strategies. While there are literally hundreds of articles investigating the individual-level relationship between satisfaction and the intent to do something, there are a dearth at the firm level (see Wood et al., 2011, as a notable exception). The authors therefore attempt to extend the literature on internationalization by discussing how satisfaction at the firm level affects a firm-level decision.

Purpose – Cultural distance (CD) reflects differences in cultural values across countries. Many studies have used CD to explain strategies and outcomes in international business practices, although often with limited success. This chapter demonstrates previously unrecognized problems with the conceptualization, analysis, and interpretation of CD measures and suggests methods for improvements in CD research.

Design/methodology/approach – Problems with traditional methods in CD research are demonstrated analytically and illustrated with correlation and regression analyses of secondary data. One analysis shows that individual cultural dimensions may provide alternative explanations for hypothesized effects of distance. Two other examples illustrate the incorrect conclusions that traditional analysis approaches may suggest.

Findings – The difference scores that are implicit in measures of CD usually imply unrealistic constraints on relationships between variables. Analyzing CD at the level of organizations rather than countries exaggerates the available sample size and may result in inaccurate statistical tests.

Research limitations/implications – The empirical examples illustrate problems with methodology for CD research. They are not proposed as substantive, generalizable tests of hypotheses.

Originality/value of the chapter – This chapter provides original arguments to augment existing criticisms of CD research. It shows that findings from extant CD studies may not support the conclusions that have been reported in the literature. Future research should use methods that lead to correct interpretations of CD effects.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how the individual difference of other orientation affects the rational calculation between team input and anticipated performance.

Data were collected from 222 junior and senior level undergraduate business students. Of those students, 176 chose to take a scheduled exam as a team endeavour. Individuals were the unit of analysis in order to determine the individuals' motivation for working in teams. Other orientation was measured using the Comparative Emphasis Scale (CES). Students were asked to report their anticipated exam grade and anticipated total team hours studied. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to determine the main effects and moderation.

Other orientation moderated the relationship between the decision to take an exam with a teammate and anticipated performance. Other orientation also moderated the relationship between the anticipated amount of effort studying and anticipated performance. In both situations, business students with higher levels of other orientation calculated the rational cost‐benefit relationship less than business students with lower levels of other orientation.

The findings will help educators and managers understand the process by which individuals prefer to work in teams and the perceptions of increased performance when working in a team.

The study extends the theoretical application of other orientation into the team performance context. The moderating effect of other orientation on the relationship between team input and performance has been studied for the first time and is documented in this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of cultural intelligence (CQ) on the job performance of global managers.

In total, 332 global managers were surveyed from multinational companies operating in Brazil. The mediating effect of job satisfaction was tested on the CQ-job performance relationship.

The findings suggest that job satisfaction transmits the effect of CQ to job performance, such that global managers high in CQ exhibit more job satisfaction in an international setting, and therefore perform better at their jobs.

Results imply that global managers should increase their CQ in order to improve their job satisfaction and ultimately perform better in an international context.

The authors make three primary contributions to the international business literature. First, the authors introduce job satisfaction as a possible outcome variable of CQ. Thus, this work is the first empirical study to test the effect of CQ on the job satisfaction of global managers. Second, although the job satisfaction-job performance relationship is recurrently discussed in the organizational behavior literature, it is not often explicitly associated with global managers that are working in cross-cultural settings. Finally, the authors posit that job satisfaction mediates the relationship between CQ and job performance.

“Garbage in, garbage out” is a common expression that academics and practitioners use to emphasize that empirical analysis is only as good as the basis on which it relies. Although the importance of sound data and valid measures has long been acknowledged, it is nevertheless often problematic to follow required quality standards in concrete research situations. Potential sources of error are usually unknown, methods to ensure data quality are unavailable, and existing methods for scale development, index construction, data collection, and data analysis are insufficient or erroneously applied. This is especially true of international marketing research, which often makes great demands on the data and measures used, as well as on the research methodology applied. Against this background, this volume addresses issues pertaining to measurement and research methodology in an international marketing context. Thanks to the efforts of authors and reviewers, we are pleased to present nine articles that deal with cutting-edge topics such as formative measurement, response-bias in cross-cultural research, marketing efficiency measurement, and segmentation methods.