Conducting Multinational Research (PDF)

Researchers conducting multinational organizational studies face considerable challenges. They must not only understand psychological variables, but also translate measures across several languages and administer those measures across several countries and organizational settings. Furthermore, once the data are collected, the researchers must determine whether the measures operate in a similar statistical manner across cultures in terms of their factor structure, reliability, and predictive validity. The entire process can be daunting. This book presents accessible models and real-world examples of large-scale, multinational research within organizations. The contributors describe their own successful research projects, highlighting the challenges they have faced and how they have overcome them. Psychometric, ethical, and methodological concerns are explored, as well as the personal and professional rewards of conducting this type of research. This book will help organizational researchers ensure that their studies are both generalizable and relevant to today's global and diverse work force. It will also help consumers of multicultural research in organizations (e.g., managers, practitioners, and policymakers) obtain a multicultural perspective on important research problems.