5 Bringing National Culture to the Table: Making a Difference with Cross‐cultural Differences and Perspectives

Abstract

Cross‐cultural research has achieved a front‐and‐center role in management and social psychology. In this chapter, we attempt to address the fundamental issue of what makes cross‐cultural research valuable. In doing so, we first summarize major methodological and conceptual themes across recent reviews. We then raise the question about the criticality of cross‐cultural differences, i.e., whether cross‐cultural differences are required for research in this domain to matter. Most efforts exerted by cross‐cultural researchers have been directed toward uncovering and explaining cross‐cultural differences, or finding better ways to do so. However, differences per se do not necessarily make an important difference in advancing knowledge. Instead, we argue that a more fundamental value of cross‐cultural research is the diverse perspectives it offers for theoretical innovation. Using Wagner and Berger’s (1985) typology, we examine how the inclusion of “other cultural” perspectives has contributed to knowledge growth in social psychology and organizational behavior. We conclude with suggestions for how the field can further realize the inherent benefits of diverse cultural perspectives in future research.

Acknowledgments

We thank Marilynn Brewer for her intellectual input to various ideas in the early development of this chapter. We also thank Arthur Brief and James Walsh for their constructive comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.