Problems of Equivalence in Cross-Cultural Marketing Research

Abstract

Cultural diversity can impede the standardization of marketing programs and increase the complexity of marketing research efforts (see Assael, 1992; Cateora, 1996; Douglas and Craig, 1992). In the context of marketing research, the cross-cultural comparability of research results is a particularly thorny topic which is frequently ignored by researchers. Yet, neglecting cross-cultural comparability issues may render marketing research input for international marketing decisions meaningless (Manrai and Manrai, 1996).