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Effect sizes and the interpretation of research results in international business

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  • Paul D Ellis

    (Department of Management & Marketing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong)

Abstract

Journal editors and academy presidents are increasingly calling on researchers to evaluate the substantive, as opposed to the statistical, significance of their results. To measure the extent to which these calls have been heeded, I aggregated the meta-analytically derived effect size estimates obtained from 965 individual samples. I then surveyed 204 studies published in the Journal of International Business Studies. I found that the average effect size in international business research is small, and that most published studies lack the statistical power to detect such effects reliably. I also found that many authors confuse statistical with substantive significance when interpreting their research results. These practices have likely led to unacceptably high Type II error rates and invalid inferences regarding real-world effects. By emphasizing p values over their effect size estimates, researchers are under-selling their results and settling for contributions that are less than what they really have to offer. In view of this, I offer four recommendations for improving research and reporting practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul D Ellis, 2010. "Effect sizes and the interpretation of research results in international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(9), pages 1581-1588, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jintbs:v:41:y:2010:i:9:p:1581-1588
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    Cited by:

    1. Dimitratos, Pavlos & Buck, Trevor & Fletcher, Margaret & Li, Nicolas, 2016. "The motivation of international entrepreneurship: The case of Chinese transnational entrepreneurs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 1103-1113.
    2. Chetty, Sylvie & Johanson, Martin & Martín Martín, Oscar, 2014. "Speed of internationalization: Conceptualization, measurement and validation," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 633-650.
    3. Wang, Danny T. & Gu, Flora F. & Tse, David K. & Yim, Chi Kin (Bennett), 2013. "When does FDI matter? The roles of local institutions and ethnic origins of FDI," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 450-465.
    4. Child, John & Narooz, Rose & Hsieh, Linda & Elbanna, Said & Karmowska, Joanna & Marinova, Svetla & Puthusserry, Pushyarag & Tsai, Terence & Zhang, Yunlu, 2022. "External resource provision and the international performance of SMEs – A contextual analysis," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(3).
    5. Wulf, David & Bertsch, Valentin, 2016. "A natural language generation approach to support understanding and traceability of multi-dimensional preferential sensitivity analysis in multi-criteria decision making," MPRA Paper 75025, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Sharma, Revti Raman, 2019. "Cultural Intelligence and Institutional Success: The Mediating Role of Relationship Quality," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 1-1.
    7. Phookan, Himadree & Sharma, Revti Raman, 2021. "Subsidiary power, cultural intelligence and interpersonal knowledge transfer between subsidiaries within the multinational enterprise," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(4).
    8. Wu, Yan & Yang, Yong & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2023. "Corruption, the digital sectors, and the profitability of foreign subsidiaries in emerging markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    9. Kim, Jae H. & Ji, Philip Inyeob, 2015. "Significance testing in empirical finance: A critical review and assessment," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-14.
    10. Eisend, Martin & Tarrahi, Farid, 2014. "Meta-analysis selection bias in marketing research," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 317-326.
    11. Venkateswaran, Ramya Tarakad & George, Rejie, 2020. "When does culture matter? A multilevel study on the role of situational moderators," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 99-122.
    12. Gupta, Deepika R. & Veliyath, Rajaram & George, Rejie, 2018. "Influence of national culture on IPO activity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 226-246.
    13. Crespo, Cátia Fernandes & Lages, Luis Filipe & Crespo, Nuno Fernandes, 2020. "Improving subsidiaries' innovation through knowledge inflows from headquarters and peer subsidiaries," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(4).
    14. Michael Nippa & Jeffrey J Reuer, 2019. "On the future of international joint venture research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(4), pages 555-597, June.
    15. Robert Rieg, 2018. "Tasks, interaction and role perception of management accountants: evidence from Germany," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 183-220, August.
    16. Gyeongcheol Cho & Christopher Schlaegel & Heungsun Hwang & Younyoung Choi & Marko Sarstedt & Christian M. Ringle, 2022. "Integrated Generalized Structured Component Analysis: On the Use of Model Fit Criteria in International Management Research," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 569-609, August.
    17. Gary Knight & Agnieszka Chidlow & Dana Minbaeva, 2022. "Methodological fit for empirical research in international business: A contingency framework," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(1), pages 39-52, February.
    18. Peter H Sandal & David Kim & Leonie Fiebig & Andrew Winnard & Nick Caplan & David A Green & Tobias Weber, 2020. "Effectiveness of nutritional countermeasures in microgravity and its ground-based analogues to ameliorate musculoskeletal and cardiopulmonary deconditioning–A Systematic Review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-20, June.
    19. Olivier Bertrand & Marie-Ann Betschinger & Caterina Moschieri, 2021. "Are firms with foreign CEOs better citizens? A study of the impact of CEO foreignness on corporate social performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(3), pages 525-543, April.
    20. Joern Block & Christopher Hansen & Holger Steinmetz, 2023. "Are Family Firms Doing More Innovation Output With Less Innovation Input? A Replication and Extension," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(4), pages 1496-1520, July.
    21. Paolo Roffia & Virginia Simón-Moya & Javier Sendra García, 2022. "Board of director attributes: effects on financial performance in SMEs," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 1141-1172, September.
    22. Xiaohui Liu & Jiangyong Lu & Seong-jin Choi, 2014. "Bridging Knowledge Gaps: Returnees and Reverse Knowledge Spillovers from Chinese Local Firms to Foreign Firms," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 253-276, April.
    23. Zhan, Ge, 2013. "Statistical power in international business research: Study levels and data types," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 678-686.

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