Combining interpretivism and positivism in international business research: The example of the expatriate role |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, United States;2. Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain;1. Full Professor of Marketing, EDHEC Business School, 24 avenue Gustave Delory – CS 50411, 59057 Roubaix Cedex 1, France;2. Full Professor of Business Analytics, IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9221 - LEM - Lille Economie Management, 3 Rue de la Digue, Lille, F-59000, France;3. Associate Professor of Sales Management, IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9221 - LEM - Lille Economie Management, 3 Rue de la Digue, Lille, F-59000, France;4. Full Professor of Strategy and International Business, Tongji University, School of Economics and Management, 1500 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China (at the time of preparing the article);1. Deparment of Economics, European University of Rome, Via degli Aldobrandeschi, 190, 00163 Rome, Italy;2. IPAG Entrepreneurship & Family Business Center, IPAG Business School, 4 bd Carabacel, 06000 Nice, France;3. Department of Business and Management, LUISS University, Viale Romania 32, 00197 Rome, Italy;4. Control, Audit, Risk Management and Entrepreneurship Department, University of Mons, Place Warocqué, 17, 7000 Mons, Belgium;5. FABULA – Family Business Lab, Università Cattaneo - LIUC, Corso Matteotti 22, 21053 Castellanza, Italy;6. CeFEO (Centre for Family Entrepreneurship and Ownership), Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden;7. LUISS Business School, LUISS University, Via Nomentana, 216, 00162 Rome, Italy;8. McCaig Chair in Management, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, Scurfield Hall 418, 2500, University Drive N.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada;9. Solvay Business School, University of Brussels (VUB), Belgium;10. Henley Business School, University of Reading, United Kingdom;1. University of Auckland Business School, Sir Owen G Glenn Building, 12 Grafton Rd, Auckland 1142, New Zealand;2. University of Technology Sydney, UTS Business School, PO Box 123 Broadway NSW 2007, Australia;3. Tulane University, A.B. Freeman School of Business, 7 McAlister Drive, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA;1. School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China;2. School of Business, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China;4. School of Business and Management, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China |
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| Abstract: | We illustrated how multi-paradigm research that combines the phenomenological interpretive and the positivist paradigms in sequential studies helps problematize questionable assumptions in international business research. While observing the phenomenological principle of epoché (i.e., suspension of researchers’ pre-conceived categories), we interpreted accounts of their lived experience amongst expatriates working in foreign subsidiaries. A follow-up positivist study further led us to conclude that, unlike Edström and Galbraith's (1977) reasons for an international assignment, expatriates hardly see themselves as headquarters’ control agents, but as dual agents in charge of balancing both headquarters and subsidiary's interests. |
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