Tine Köhler

Brains and Games Applying Neuroeconomics to Organizational Research

Organizational research has seen several calls for the incorporation of neuroscience techniques. The aim of this article is to describe the methods of neuroeconomics and the promises of applying these methods to organizational research problems. To this end, the most important neuroeconomics techniques will be described, along with four specific examples of how these methods can greatly benefit theory development, testing, and pruning in the organizational sciences. The article concludes by contrasting the benefits and limitations of neuroeconomics and by discussing implications for future research.

The Meeting Genre Across Cultures Insights From Three German–American Collaborations

The current study examines cross-cultural differences in norms for meetings. Following Eisenhardt, we used a broad set of conceptual dimensions for analyzing meetings as a genre of organizational communication (Yates & Orlikowski) to guide a within- and cross-case analysis of meetings in two cultures. Our goal was to discover the possible existence of patterns and interpretations within cultures, and contrasts and explanations across cultures. Data from three different data sets were analyzed encompassing a total of 10 teams each with German and U.S. American subgroups. Findings show that Germans and U.S. Americans have different expectations and practices concerning the purpose, content, structure, and timing of meetings, and the roles of participants. The underlying meaning of these differences is explored. Theoretical and practical contributions of the work are discussed.

Are We Correcting Correctly? Interdependence of Reliabilities in Meta-Analysis

The formulae for attenuation correction in meta-analysis treat reliabilities as if they were independent of each other. The current study puts this assumption of independence to the test by empirically examining the correlation among predictor and criterion reliability estimates across studies. Interdependence of reliabilities would result in either overestimation or underestimation of population correlations depending on the direction of the relationship between the reliabilities. We conducted two studies to examine the extent to which predictor and criterion reliabilities correlate across studies. Study 1 is based on 628 pairs of reliability estimates from 518 studies published in the Academy of Management Journal and the Journal of Applied Psychology between 2004 and 2011, while Study 2 is based on 564 pairs of reliability estimates from 347 studies included in a meta-analysis on perceived organizational support (POS) and some of its antecedents and outcomes. The findings in both studies show substantial correlations between predictor and criterion reliability coefficients across studies. Our article discusses important implications from these findings for future research and for the future conduct of meta-analyses.

Bringing the World into our Classrooms: The Benefits of Engaging Students in an International Business Simulation

VIBu – Virtual Teams in International Business – is the name of a training concept, which is aimed at familiarizing participants with collaborating in a virtual environment. Based on the online business simulation RealGame™, participants are assigned to multicultural virtual teams that represent different companies. These companies are either competing with or depending on each other in typical business processes of an internationally operating manufacturing company. Interaction and negotiation are required throughout the whole simulation. All communication takes place via information and communication technology, mainly Skype and Skype chat. The main challenge in the environment is that participants are located in different countries and time zones all over the world. The book chapter first outlines some of the challenges of global teamwork that organizations face. We argue that students need to learn how to navigate in global teams before they leave university as they are bound to become involved in organizational global teamwork sooner rather than later. We draw on frameworks for experiential learning (e.g., Kolbs learning model, Kolb, 1984) and the constructivist learning paradigm (Lainema, 2009) to outline the learning experiences that students need to gather in order to become effective global team members. In addition, we highlight the potential for learner engagement that this approach offers. The chapter concludes by highlighting the key learning and teaching outcomes from incorporating this cutting-edge simulation technology. Furthermore, we direct the readers attention to ways in which the simulation can be used for research purposes, international inter-university collaborations, and multidisciplinary research on teaching practices and engaged learning.

If It Were Only That Easy: The Use of Meta-Analytic Research by Organizational Scholars

This paper evaluates how researchers are currently citing meta-analytic results and provides specific recommendations for interpreting the information provided by meta-analysis (MA). The past four decades have seen a proliferation of MA research across the organizational sciences and myriad improvements to how MA is conducted. MAs are cited more frequently than individual primary studies and have a substantial influence on subsequent research and theorizing. Yet the consumption of meta-analytic results in organizational scholarship remains superficial. We evaluate citation practices for four seminal MAs and find that authors predominantly interpret meta-analytic findings in the simplest way possible: as evidence of the existence of a relationship between variables. In focusing only on this basic finding, citing authors neglect the complexity and rich detail provided by MA. We offer advice for how researchers can more effectively leverage the strengths of meta-analytic findings to inform subsequent research by taking advantage of the benefits that meta-analytic methodology can provide for the explanation of organizational phenomena.

How you see me, how you don’t: ethnic identity self-verification in interactions between local subsidiary employees and ethnically similar expatriates*

Abstract Multinational corporations often assign expatriates who share an ethnicity with host country employees (termed ethnically similar expatriates) to work on international assignments. Although sharing an ethnicity with local employees can be an advantage, it also creates a unique identity challenge. In this article, we develop the argument that ethnic similarity might in fact threaten expatriate-local employee interactions if the two parties hold divergent views towards the importance of expatriates’ ethnic identity in their interactions. Drawing on self-verification theory, we explain why people desire to achieve congruence between how they view their own identity and how others view this identity. Subsequently, we identify key cultural and personal constraints affecting expatriates’ efforts to achieve ethnic identity self-verification. We also illustrate how unfulfilled ethnic identity self-verification affects ethnically similar expatriates, local employees and their interactions. Our study, thus, introduces a new angle to understand expatriate-local employee interactions and advances self-verification research by demonstrating the challenges in achieving ethnic identity self-verification when two social parties share an ethnicity.

Book Review: Köhler: Mann, C., & Stewart, F. (2000). Internet Communication and Qualitative Research: A Handbook for Researching Online. London, UK: Sage

‘‘In Internet Communication and Qualitative Research the Internet is considered not simply as a technological tool but as a wholly new, constructed environment with its own code of practice.’’ With this sentence, Mann and Stewart introduce very briefly and concisely the context and purpose of their book, namely to give advice and recommendations for doing qualitative research in this unique environment. Given the increasing use of the Internet as a platform for working, socializing, advertising, and much more over the past decades, this book attempts to introduce the Internet as consisting of a myriad of social contexts that provide opportunities for qualitative research. Mann and Stewart offer many research examples that demonstrate how a qualitative methodology used in the social context of the Internet can contribute uniquely to our knowledge. For example, studies that involve collecting data from hard-to-access populations (e.g., cross-cultural samples, disabled participants, minority participants) might be more successful when conducted with Internet recruitment and data collection strategies. Research topics that are socially awkward or potentially stigmatizing (e.g., physical or mental abuse, drug use, criminal behaviors) might benefit from the anonymity of the Internet context. These and other advantages can be beneficial for qualitative studies that have traditionally been conducted face-to-face. Given the increase in Internet-based communication in work and personal life, qualitative Internet studies can explore and capture the rules and norms of communication unique to the social context of the Internet. For example, many qualitative studies of virtual teams involve data collection and analysis of the team’s online communication (e.g., Cramton, 2001; Köhler & Berry, 2008; Maznevski & Chudoba, 2000). Because team interaction in virtual teams mostly occurs online, qualitative Internet data collection might be one of the most feasible and immediate ways to study virtual teamwork. Along similar lines, virtual realities such as Second Life or World of Warcraft mirror ‘‘real’’ social settings in which individual and group behavior can be directly observed, manipulated, and recorded much more easily than in face-to-face settings. Given my own research on teamwork in teams that rely exclusively on communication via the Internet, I picked up the book to learn more about qualitative data collection techniques that might work well online and about the uniqueness of Internet-based communication that could extend and enrich our current knowledge and research. Mann and Stewart’s book provides information with regard to both of these interests. The first part of the book (chapters 1-6) is concerned with practical issues of online qualitative research, while the second part (chapters 7-9) talks about the unique environment that the Internet provides for online research, which can create new research contexts and opportunities for data collection. The book assumes that readers are already familiar with traditional face-to-face qualitative Organizational Research Methods 13(4) 831-833 a The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav http://orm.sagepub.com