Title: That leader is hard to beat: why words matter in international qualitative research

Authors: Timothy C. Dunne; Joshua R. Aaron; William C. McDowell; Raj V. Mahto; Jack Marr

Addresses: College of Business and Economics, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 83725, USA ' Jones College of Business, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfeesboro, Tennessee 37132, USA ' McCoy College of Business, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA ' Anderson School of Management, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA ' College of Business and Economics, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 83725, USA

Abstract: In our highly interconnected global economy, cultural heterogeneity across regions and countries has a significant impact on management practices in organisations. This has prompted researchers to design and assess studies involving multi-culture or multi-countries samples to either gain a deeper understanding of culture or establish generalisability of their findings. We believe that cultural heterogeneity may hinder a cross-culture study due to deep inherent underlying differences in participants from different cultures. The impact of culture heterogeneity amplifies especially in qualitative studies, where participants are engaged in interviews. Thus, in this paper we investigate the differential effects of culture on the phenomenon of priming during qualitative interviews. Utilising a qualitative analysis of responses to open ended questions from a sample of US and Chinese managers, two languages with very different etymological, cultural and historical roots, we find that US and Chinese managers conceptualise various business terminology somewhat differently, therefore suggesting a difference in how priming impacts qualitative research conducted across those two samples. Our findings have significant implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to engage in multicultural work environments.

Keywords: interview priming; cultural heterogeneity; qualitative research.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2026.151607

European Journal of International Management, 2026 Vol.28 No.3, pp.537 - 553

Received: 17 Jun 2020
Accepted: 13 Jan 2021
Published online: 10 Feb 2026 *

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