Integrating Diversity into Distance Research for Added Rigor, Parsimony, and Relevance

The management of cross-national differences is of central concern in international business (IB) and international management (IM). Thus, it is not surprising that the concept of distance which captures such differences has received much attention in this field. Lumineau, Hanisch, and Wurtz, in their Point article, seek to strengthen distance research by challenging one of its key assumptions - country level homogeneity - and advancing an alternative view of country differences based on the notion of diversity. We concur with their critique of the homogeneity assumption and with the general idea of bringing in the concept of diversity. However, our approach to this goal is substantially different. Instead of replacing distance with a diversity-based conceptualization, as they seem to propose, our emphasis is on integrating diversity into current distance research. Moving beyond critique and high-level conceptualizing, we provide a usable roadmap for incorporating diversity into distance research both theoretically and empirically. Specifically, we introduce a new construct of intra-country diversity that captures the condition of within-country differences, and then, explain how it can be used to enrich distance models, illustrating our approach with several key IB/IM topics. Empirically, we use available cross-cultural data to illustrate how to account for different degrees and patterns of intra-country diversity in distance research. Overall, our approach aims at building on, not negating, existing distance research, increasing its rigor and relevance through the concept of diversity, and helping scholars incorporate diversity into their work by providing concrete guidelines and examples.