Conceptual Openness and Actor Focus in Research on International Business Relationships

Abstract

In this paper, I take a broad perspective on research on international business relationships and argue that a conceptual opening-up and methodological zooming-in can produce deeper insights into the formation and maintenance of business relationships across national and cultural borders. Hence, this chapter serves as a reminder that the definitions we use in empirical research should resonate with how concepts are understood in the field. Fieldwork in particular needs to be open to how actors use concepts in terms that differ from definitions that have become established in distinct research traditions. This openness can only be realized through a close analysis of actors' practices and interpretations in the field. Especially work referring to the concepts of culture, institutions, trust and performance – which I use for illustration here – will make the most of an international research setting by avoiding rigid models and becoming more ethnographic, in the sense of studying definitions-in-use and observable actions across borders. The definitions actors actually use in practice may differ from formal definitions (such as legal or scientific definitions of “property” or “justice”). This can affect the validity of research findings, for example when the absence of control is read as a sign of trust by researchers but understood as a sign of disinterest by actors in the field. A more immediate concern in international settings, though, is that actors from different contexts use concepts differently and lack familiarity with the definitions-in-use of their counterparts.