Professor Anne-Wil Harzing, Middlesex University, London Web: www.harzing.com, Twitter:@AWHarzing
Overview
• Whirlwind tour through my research interests in this field, for details see the original papers (references all included in this presentation) or my inaugural lecture
• http://www.harzing.com/blog/2016/04/babel-in-business-the-role-of-language-in-international-business
• Research on the role of language in International Business (HQ-subsidiary relationships) 2000-2017
• Research on language and cross-national research methods (2000-2012): • Language and questionnaire response • Language and response styles
• Recent quasi-experimental research: • Language and competitive behaviour • Language and negotiation (ESCP Berlin)
• Future research plans: • Foreign Language use and competitive behaviour • Foreign Language use and innovation • Foreign Language use and business ideologies
Language in IB (1) 3
Language in IB (2)
• Focuses mostly on the HQ-subsidiary relationship in multinational companies
• Studies topics such as corporate language policies, as well as the impact of language choice on power balance, trust, and knowledge transfer
• Level of analysis: mainly company level • Research methods
• Conceptual/review (Feely & Harzing, 2003, 2008, Tenzer, Terjesen & Harzing, 2017)
• Cross-sectional survey in 13 countries (Harzing & Pudelko, 2013 & 2014, Reiche, Harzing & Pudelko, 2015)
• Interview data (Harzing, Koester & Magner, 2011; Tenzer, Pudelko & Harzing, 2014; Zhang & Harzing, 2016)
Language in IB (3)
• Feely, A.J.; Harzing, A.W. (2003) Language management in multinational companies, Cross-cultural management: an international journal, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 37-52.
• Harzing, A.W.; Feely, A.J. (2008) The language barrier and its implications for HQ-subsidiary relationships, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 49-60.
• Harzing, A.W.; Köster, K.; Magner, U. (2011) Babel in Business: The language barrier and its solutions in the HQ-subsidiary relationship, Journal of World Business, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 296-304.
• Harzing, A.W.; Pudelko, M. (2013) Language competencies, policies and practices in multinational corporations: A comprehensive review and comparison of Anglophone, Asian, Continental European and Nordic MNCs, Journal of World Business, vol 48, no. 1, pp. 87-97.
• Harzing, A.W.; Pudelko, M. (2014) Hablas vielleicht un peu la mia language? A comprehensive overview of the role of language differences in headquarters-subsidiary communication, International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 696–717.
• Tenzer, H.; Pudelko, M.; Harzing, A.W. (2014) The impact of language barriers on trust formation in multinational teams, Journal of International Business Studies, vol. 45, no. 5, pp. 508-535.
• Reiche B.S.; Harzing, A.W.; Pudelko, M. (2015) Why and how does shared language affect subsidiary knowledge inflows? A social identity perspective, Journal of International Business Studies, vol. 46, no.5, pp. 528-551.
• Zhang, L.E.; Harzing, A.W. (2016) From Dilemmatic Struggle to Legitimized Indifference: Expatriates’ host country language learning and its impact on the expatriate-HCE relationship, Journal of World Business, vol. 51, no. 5, pp. 774-786.
• Tenzer, H.; Terjesen, S.; Harzing, A.W. (2017) Language in International Business: A review and agenda for future research, in press for Management International Review
Toaccesspapers,see:http://www.harzing.com/publications/by-typeandhttp://www.harzing.com/publications/online-papers
Language, questionnaire response & response styles (1)
Language, questionnaire response & response styles (2)
• How does language influence the content of responses to questionnaires, e.g. cultural value questions
• How does language influence response styles (ERS, MRS, ARS) and usefulness of rating vs. ranking
• Level of analysis: individual, country (25+ countries)
• Research methods • Quasi-experimental • Data collection in class • Class split into two language treatments
Language, questionnaire response & response styles (3)
• Harzing, A.W.; Maznevski, M.; and country collaborators (2002) The interaction between language and culture: A test of the cultural accommodation hypothesis in seven countries, Language and Intercultural Communication, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 120-139.
• Harzing, A.W.; and 32 country collaborators (2005) Does the Use of English-language Questionnaires in Cross-national Research Obscure National Differences?, International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 213-224.
• Harzing, A.W. (2006) Response styles in cross-national mail survey research: A 26-country study, The International Journal of Crosscultural Management, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 243-266.
• Harzing, A.W.; and 26 collaborators (2009) Rating versus ranking: what is the best way to reduce response and language bias in cross-national research?, International Business Review, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 417-432.
• Harzing, A.W.; Brown, M.; Köster, K., Zhao, S. (2012) Response style differences in cross-national research: dispositional and situational determinants, Management International Review, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 341-363.
Toaccesspapers,see:http://www.harzing.com/publications/by-typeandhttp://www.harzing.com/publications/online-papers
Recent research: language and negotiation
• ESCP Berlin (with Hannah Nagler, Robert Wilken) • Tri-lingual German and French students negotiating in
one of three languages: German, French, English • How does the language of negotiation influence
negotiation outcomes and satisfaction with the process? • Do negotiations using a bridge language (English) differ
from negotiations in which one party uses their mother tongue
• Data collection with dyads in business-to-business negotiation ongoing; coding of negotiation scripts
Recent research: Language & competition
• Choice between collaboration and competition between two firms in a prisoner’s dilemma setting
• Dutch students behave more competitively when playing in English • But only if they had lived in
an Anglophone country for at least three months
30%
32%
34%
36%
38%
40%
42%
44%
46%
48%
50%
Lived in Anglo Country
Not lived in Anglo country
51% 48%
37%
45%
Percentage cooperative choices
Dutch English
Formoreinfosee:Akkermans,D.;Harzing,A.W.;Witteloostuijn,A.van(2010)Culturalaccommodationandlanguagepriming.Competitiveversuscooperativebehaviorinaprisoner’sdilemmagame,ManagementInternationalReview,50(5):559-584.
Future research (1)
• FWO funding application with academics from University of Antwerp and Tilburg University
• Foreign Language use and competition • Extending our prior research to include: Belgium,
Netherlands, France, Finland, China, UK • In-class data collection through prisoner’s dilemma game
+ pre- and post-survey
• Foreign Language use and creativity • Belgium, Netherlands, France, Finland, China, UK • In-class/lab data collection: Alternate uses task, Remote
associations task + pre- and post-survey
Future research (2)
• Leverhulme research grant application • Foreign language use and key business concepts and
their underlying ideologies • Data collection in 15+ countries through online
surveys with targeted audience (MBA students) • English vs native + Spanish/Chinese/Japanese vs
native (USA/UK) • Three stages:
• exploratory associations • negative/positive feelings & implicit association task • business scenarios
Example words (based on HBR analysis)
Interdisciplinary Conceptual framework
Any questions or comments?
The End!