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Multilevel Models in International Business Research: Broadening the Scope of Application, and Further Reflections

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Book cover Research Methods in International Business

Part of the book series: JIBS Special Collections ((JIBSSC))

Abstract

In order to broaden the scope for the use of multilevel models (MLMs) in international business research, I review conditions and solutions for the estimation of MLMs where the dependent variable (criterion) is not continuous, but rather follows a binary, ordinal, multinomial, or count distribution. Several powerful and well-documented software packages allow the estimation of such models, although authors should be aware that guidelines for appropriate use of MLM are less well documented and that sample size requirements are generally more demanding.

I am grateful for feedback from Jean-Luc Arrègle, Lorraine Eden, Bo Bernhard Nielsen, and Mark Peterson on earlier drafts. All errors remain mine.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I thank Mark Peterson for raising the issues discussed in this paragraph.

  2. 2.

    In particular, guidance for the number of level-2 groups in a three-level model is lacking. This is often critical in designing IB studies, where level 2 may refer to the parent company (which is the typical sample starting point) while level 1 refers to subsidiary or firm-year and level 3 refers to country. I thank Mark Peterson for pointing this out.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Xavier Martin

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  1. Xavier Martin
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Correspondence to Xavier Martin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Lorraine Eden

  2. The University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Bo Bernhard Nielsen

  3. Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Bo Bernhard Nielsen

  4. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Alain Verbeke

  5. University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Alain Verbeke

  6. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Alain Verbeke

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Martin, X. (2020). Multilevel Models in International Business Research: Broadening the Scope of Application, and Further Reflections. In: Eden, L., Nielsen, B.B., Verbeke, A. (eds) Research Methods in International Business. JIBS Special Collections. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22113-3_25

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