RESEARCH PROPOSAL. Symbolic use of export information KOROBILIS MAGAS EVAGELOS

Transcription

1 RESEARCH PROPOSAL Symbolic use of export information KOROBILIS MAGAS EVAGELOS

2 Title Symbolic use of export information An expansion, measurement and testing on the conceptual development of Rakhee Vyas and Anne L. Souchon. Introduction It is generally admitted that we experience the era of information, and marketing scholars have described our society as an information society. (Menon and Varadarajan, 1992 and Zotos, 1999). A review of the literature on the topic reveals a plethora of different aspects, categorisations and types of information patterns in general, which find appliance when its broad meaning and context is attempted to be focused and narrowed to the export field. However, it should be mentioned that, within the conditions imposed by globalisation and the modern transformations of the economic system, exporting tends to be the most common form of internationalisation (Adams-Florou and Leonidou, 1999), as it provides the firm with high levels of flexibility and a cost-effective way of penetrating new foreign markets quickly (Leonidou, 1995). As a consequence, the main obstacle to first-stage internationalisation that the vast majority of the exporters experience is the uncertainty due to lack of knowledge (Reid 1984; Crick et.al. 1994) of the potentially unfamiliar and complex foreign environment. In order to reduce uncertainty, the organisation needs to acquire and use information. According to Souchon and Diamantopoulos, (1997), page 46, in any discussion on information, it is useful to begin by considering the relationship between its acquisition and its use. Information acquisition refers to the processes by which information is obtained, the various sources used in its collection, and the flow of information generated from provider to user. In an export context, three major modes of acquisition can be distinguished, namely export marketing research, export assistance and export market intelligence. Once export information has been acquired, decision makers need to determine how to use it. Moorman et. al., (1992), defined information use as the extent to which research influences user s decision making. Most of the literature agrees that three types of use can be distinguished: instrumental, conceptual and symbolic. According to Caplan et. al., (1975), instrumental use of information occurs when someone is seeking to directly apply research findings for the solution of policy problems, whereas conceptual use provides general enlightenment and is not gathered in order to directly find appliance to a specific problem s solution. Symbolic use of information on the other hand, involves the use of partial or distorted information for essentially political purposes, such as justifying actions already taken on the basis of instinct or intuition, or legitimising views already held (Williams, 2003, page 47). Up to this point, two crucial issues should be kept in mind. First of all, export information use is seen as directly affecting the decision-making process and, through it, export performance (Piercy 1987). Secondly, according to Williams (2001), although it is evident that the level of instrumental and/or conceptual use may be, either directly or indirectly, related to performance, there is no investigation on the

3 possible linkages solely between export performance and symbolic use, of information. The most important and comprehensive research on this area is conducted by Vyas and Souchon (2003). In their work, they have managed to provide a multidimensional conceptualisation of symbolic use of export information, anchored in a crossdisciplinary review of the literature. More specifically, they identified eight very important dimensions of this type of information use and suggested that while some dimensions of symbolic use of export information are likely to be beneficial to export performance, others are most likely to move exactly towards the opposite direction. Furthermore, they highlighted the moderating effect that some variables exert to the performance outcomes of some types of symbolic use of export information. However, as it is claimed in their article, while measures already exist for some of the symbolic use dimensions: These scales would need adaptation to an export marketing context; and Many symbolic use dimensions would require a full-scale measure development approach Furthermore, the same article underlines that further study into the influences on symbolic use should provide valuable insights into what causes exporters to use information in symbolic ways. Another suggestion for future research, deriving from the context of the under discussion article, could be the measurement of the impact of symbolic use of export information on export performance. Therefore the ambition of this research is reflected by the effort of fulfilling the following objectives: 1. To develop psychometrically sound measures 2. To examine what drives aspects of symbolic use (antecedents) 3. To assess the impact on performance Exactly at this point, the innovative contribution of this particular study exists, on the basis of the previously identified gap, since it is true that such an effort has not been yet attempted. A potential success of the proposed study to meet the above objectives is most likely to offer a significant contribution to the already existing body of knowledge and to derive some important managerial implications. The current study, for example, by seeking to ascertain exactly how the eight dimensions of symbolic use are inter-related (Souchon and Vyas, 2003), could bring into the surface the cumulative effects, if any, of using information symbolically in different ways. Such cumulative effects could potentially be disastrous for the export function (Souchon and Vyas, 2003, page 88). Moreover, in case this study reveals any significant impact of symbolic use on performance, it is very likely to lead to the increase of the awareness and responsiveness, as far as the managers are concerned. In other words, since this topic is relatively unexplored yet, revolving around a theoretical axis so far, it is reasonable not to have attracted the attention of the managers or at least not as much as the academics. Therefore, if a transformation of

4 this theoretical concept into concrete, functional and countable conclusions is achieved, it seems likely that it could bring the managers face to face with a new reality and challenge, probably so far underestimated or even ignored. Conceptual Framework In this part, using the Vyas and Souchon (2003) paper as a basis for the current conceptualisation, and after a preliminary literature review on marketing information use, there is an effort to refine and investigate the links and connections of the antecedents to the dimensions of symbolic use, and then to assess their impact on performance. This effort aims at the provision of some further details and information about the aforementioned components, the steps that are going to be followed and the general esoteric structure, in order for the reader to be able to get a clear picture of the subject. This simplification is essential because of the complexity of the specific topic and the existence of a plethora of aspects in which it could be captured. The diagram presented here, initially adopted from Vyas and Souchon, (2003), comprises the conceptual model of this research proposal after it has been enriched and modified in such a way as to serve the needs of the current study. Hence, some further details and explanations need to be provided for a better understanding and clarification of the under discussion issues.

5 As far as the identified antecedents are concerned, it should be noted that after a more thorough and spherical knowledge is gained by the researcher while ongoing with the particular research, it is likely that more antecedents or an alteration of those presented here, might occur. Therefore, the four antecedents of symbolic use presented below play an indicative role, at least at a preliminary stage of analysis. As for the information acquisition, it is the vaulting horse for the use of information. More specifically, since information cannot be used until it is acquired (Weitzel 1987), export information acquisition plays the role of antecedent to export information use. Culture on the other hand is possible that moderates the relationship between export information use and export performance (Souchon et. al. 2003, page 34). Cultural differences between information providers and users sometimes lead their exchanges and relationships to be fraught with misunderstandings (Dunn 1980). Last but not least, examples of antecedents of symbolic use of information could include environmental and/or organisational variables which facilitate or hinder such use (e.g. inter-functional coordination (Cadogan et.al. 2001); environmental turbulence (Souchon and Diamantopoulos, 1996); or variables which generally increase the individual propensity for such use (e.g. the intrinsic motivations of the decision maker (Strieter et.al. 1999). Another issue that needs to be illuminated has to do with how to measure the export performance. This is a thorny issue, for there is no uniform definition of export performance in the literature (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994, page 4) and exporting performance varies according to the dimension of export performance being measured (Yeoh 1994, page 60). The conclusion from the above is that export performance is a multidimensional construct and, as such, characterised by complexity when inserted in any model. Indeed, single measures have been widely criticised (Reid 1981, Cooper and Kleinschmidt 1985), and, therefore, most studies tend to use multidimensional measures of export performance (e.g. Matthyssens and Pauwels 1995), including measures of export sales, export growth, export profitability (e.g. Madsen 1987), and also other subjective and comparative measures. Symbolic use of export information, on the other hand, is related to export performance, but the direction of the relationship has been found to vary with the source of the export information used (Souchon and Vyas, 2003, page 71). However, this varying direction of their relationship may also lie in the fact that symbolic use is a multifaceted construct as well (Larsen, 1980). In order to avoid this complexity, the researcher has tried to link symbolic use of information and export performance through export market orientation. It is true that many authors have characterised export market orientation as the generation of, dissemination of and organisational response to information and this implies that information plays an important role and is the foundation of market oriented organisations. In line with the above, market orientation is positively related to business performance (Kohli and Jaworski 1990, Kwaku, 1995). From the aforementioned, it becomes obvious that export market orientation is intended to play the role of a mediating variable between symbolic use and performance. The researcher is confident that it can correspond successfully in such a role, since market orientation is an information-specific construct, positively related to performance, as shown above.

6 However, instead of using export market orientation as a mediator, organisational learning could probably serve equally the specific scope. This is because, according to Hult et.al., 2000, organisational learning is increasingly branded a key to organisational performance. Furthermore, the fact that as a result, the avoidance of learning which has the potential to occur from information acquisition and use would in turn be reflected in lower performance outcomes (Souchon and Vyas, 2003, page 83), provides a paradigm of the connection between organisational learning and performance. Of course all the above are only indications of the researcher s initial approaches on the topic. Epigrammatically, it should be mentioned that it is within his intensions, this general presentation of the specific proposal to be enriched and purified with the cooperation and guidance of the potential supervisor. Methodology This research will use a combination of methods and it will be both of qualitative and quantitative nature. The first task to be achieved is for specific and directional hypotheses to be developed, linking the different dimensions of symbolic use to both antecedents and outcomes. What is important here is that the hypotheses will not only be based upon the literature but also upon a stage of preliminary exploratory research. This exploratory work will take the form of in depth interviews with export decision makers in the UK. The data collected in this exploratory phase will be analysed through the use of within-case and cross case displays as per Miles and Huberman (1992) and will be used not just for hypothesis development, but also to create pools of items for the development of symbolic use measures. Apart from the measure development, this is also important in order to complement the literature. More specifically, in order to: Identify potential outcomes of using information symbolically in specific ways Identify influences on the different dimensions of symbolic use Furthermore, in order to lessen interviewee reluctance to discuss sensitive issues related to symbolic use of export information or indeed the possibility of obtaining only socially desirable answers, questions could be angled at what other people can do, rather than what the respondent does, in order to obtain a richer item pool. All the aforementioned have obviously a very significant purpose; to fine tune the conceptual model. As for testing the model that will emerge from the literature and the qualitative interviews, a quantitative mail survey of export decision makers will be conducted in the UK. A minimum sample of 200 respondents will be sought and all the appropriate response rate enhancement techniques will be used (including pre-notification of targeted respondents and follow-up of non-respondents). In order to develop the measures, psychometric testing will be undertaken, for example, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, the model will be tested via moderated hierarchical regression.

7 At this point it should be mentioned, that according to the researcher s estimations, a three-year horizon (at least) would be required in order for this work to be completed. Furthermore, it is within the researcher s intensions, the outcome of this work to be published in a scientific journal (e.g. the Journal of International Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, International Marketing Review, etc.). Another consideration is for this study to be divided into two or three phases and the outcome of each phase to be published every time, in order for the researcher to consolidate and secure the topic.

8 Bibliography Adams-Florou A.S., Leonidou L.C., (1999) Types and Sources of Export Information: Insights from Small Business, International Small Business Journal, volume 17, No. 3, p.p Cadogan J.W., Paul N.J., Salminen R.T., Puumalainen K., Sundqvist S., (2001) Key Antecedents to Export Market-Oriented Behaviours: A Cross-National Empirical Examination, International Journal of Research in Marketing, volume 18, p.p Caplan N., Morrison A., Stambaugh R.J., (1975) The Use of Social Science Knowledge in Policy Decisions at the National Level, Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI Cavusgil S.T., Zou S., (1994) Marketing Strategy Performance Relationship: An Investigation of the Empirical Link in Export Market Ventures, Journal of Marketing, volume 58, p.p Cooper R.G., Kleinschmidt E.J. (1985) The Impact of Export Strategy on Export Sales Performance, Journal of International Business Studies, volume 16, p.p Crick D., Jones M., Hart S., (1994) International Marketing Research Activities of UK Exporters: An Exploratory Study, Journal of Euromarketing, volume 3, No. 2, p.p Dunn W.N., (1980) The Two Communities Metaphor and Models of Knowledge Use: An Exploratory Case Survey, Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization, volume 1, No. 4, p.p Hult G.T.M., Hurley R.F., Giunipero L.C., Nichols E.L. Jr, (2000) Organisational Learning in Global Purchasing: A Model and Test of Internal Users and Corporate Buyers, Decision Sciences, volume 31, No. 2, p.p Kwaku A.G., (1995) An Exploratory Analysis of the Impact of Market Orientation on New Product Performance, Journal of Product Innovation Management, volume 12, p.p Kohli A.K., Jaworski B.J., (1990) Market Orientation: The Constuct, Research Propositions, and Managerial Implications, Journal of Marketing, volume 54, p.p Leonidou L.C., (1995) Export Barriers: Non-Exporters Perceptions, International Marketing Review, volume 12, No. 1, p.p Matthyssens P., Pauwels P., (1995) Measuring Success in Export Marketing Strategy A Critical Review, CIMaR Conference, p.p Menon A., Varadarajan P.R., (1992) A Model of Marketing Knowledge Use Within Firms, Journal of Marketing, volume 56, p.p

9 Moorman C., Zaltman G., Deshpande R., (1992) Relationships Between Providers and Users of Market Research: The Dynamics of Trust Within and Between Organisations, Journal of Marketing Research, volume 24, p.p Piercy N., (1987) Developing Marketing Information Systems, In the Marketing Book, edited by M.J. Baker. London: Heinemann, 1987 Reid S.D., (1981) The Decision Maker and Export Entry and Expansion, Journal of International Business Studies, volume 12, No. 3, p.p , (1984) Information Acquisition and Export Entry Decisions in Small Firms, Journal of Business Research, volume 12, p.p Souchon L.A., Diamantopoulos A., (1996) A Conceptual Framework of Export Marketing Information Use: Key Issues and Research Propositions, Journal of International Marketing, volume 4, No. 3, p.p , , (1997) Use and Non-use of Export Information: Some Preliminary Insights into Antecedents and Impact on Export Performance, Journal of Marketing Management, volume 13, p.p Souchon L.A., Diamantopoulos A., Durden R.G., Axinn N.C., Holzmuller H.H., (2003) Towards an Understanding of Cross-National Similarities and Differences in Export Information Utilization, International Marketing Review, volume 20, No. 1, p.p Souchon L.A., Vyas R., (2003) Symbolic Use of Export Information: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Conceptual Development and Key Consequences, International Marketing Review, volume 20, No. 1, p.p Strieter J.C., Celuch K.G., Kasouf C.J., (1999) Market-oriented Behaviours within Organisations: An Individual-level Perspective, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practise, volume 7, No.2, p.p Weitzel J.R., (1987) Strategic Information Management: Targeting Information for Organizational Performance, Information Management Review, volume 3, No. 1, p.p Williams J., (2001) The Role and Uses of Market Research in Small and Medium- Sized Exporting Companies, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Plymouth, Plymouth , (2003) Export Information Use in Small and Medium-Sized Industrial Companies, International Marketing Review, volume 20, No. 1, p.p Yeoh L., (1994) Entrepreneurship and Export Performance: A Proposed Conceptual Model, In Advances in International Marketing. (ED). Cavusgil S.T., (Greenwich, CT), volume 6, p.p Zotos E., (1999) Principles of Marketing, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

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