ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that further advancement in cross-cultural management is in part contingent on the integration of both approaches with rigorous research methodology. It presents methodological concerns both etic and emic approaches in cross-cultural management research. The chapter introduces a combined approach that takes into consideration both the universal and culture-specific aspects in management dynamics. It presents a framework of bias and equivalence, key concepts in cross-cultural research, with examples from management studies, and suggest how the peoples can use this framework to increase the ecological validity of studies. Emic studies can help to identify the cultures and conditions of applicability of etic studies. Emic and etic studies of similar topics are not comparable with each other but provide their own, complementary perspectives on management. Cross-cultural management research would benefit from going beyond the long preoccupation with aggregate models of culture and cultural differences.
