Abstract
Choosing a methodology determines what we can study as well as the range of possible results and conclusions. This study took an instrument that had been developed in the west and used extensively in Europe and North America to investigate managerial behavior in the people's Republic of China. For a number of reasons, it failed to produce a valid and reliable description of Chinese managerial behavior. This paper investigates some of the methodogical issues involved in extending western organizational knowledge to the East. It raises some fundamental questions about being “outside, looking in”.
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*Nancy J. Adler is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Cross-Cultural Management at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Dr. Adler received her MBA and Ph.D. from UCLA. Her research focuses on international management issues and cross-cultural management issues. She has published numerous articles, produced the film, ‘A Portable Life,’ on the role of the spouse in overseas moves, and written books on the International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior (Kent Publishing, 1986) and Women in Management Worldwide (M.E. Sharpe 1987).
**Dr. Nigel Campbell is Director of the China Research Unit and a Lecturer in Strategic Management. He spent twelve years in international business before joining the staff of the Manchester Business School in 1980. Dr. Campbell first visited the Asia-Pacific Region in the 1960s and has been a regular visitor to China in the last four years.
***Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD, André Laurent is a graduate of the Ecole de Psychologues Praticiens de Paris, the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Degree in Sociology and Doctorate in Psychology) and Harvard University (International Teachers Programme). He was an industrial psychologist with Péchiney in West Africa, spent three years with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan as Research Associate and Study Director before joining INSEAD in 1970.
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Adler, N., Campbell, N. & Laurent, A. In Search of Appropriate Methodology: From Outside The People's Republic of China Looking In. J Int Bus Stud 20, 61–74 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490351
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490351