Cultural richness versus cultural large scale insights: Culture, globalization, and IT workers

The increasing globalization of business and of the Information Technology (IT) workforce has increased interest in cross-cultural issues associated with distributed software development, virtual teams, and cultural conflict or collaboration using information and communication technologies (ICT's) [6]. We continue to see a reliance on studies using quantitative methods that compare a limited number of cultural variables (such as Hofstede's 1984), often because of the challenges associated with richer interpretive or ethnographic studies. Ethnography is a traditional design approach when studying rich cultural issues, deeply rooted in anthropology and goals of rich, emic description, and understanding [1]. Unfortunately, in information systems (IS) research, there is a predominant emphasis on quantitative survey designs, sacrificing cultural richness for broader sampling of more limited variables. Our extended abstract proposes mixed method designs that incorporate both quantitative and qualitative methods as a viable, richer alternative to survey research of cultural studies. For purposes of our presentation at ACM SIGMIS-CPR, we are providing some preliminary arguments from our larger study where additional research is analyzed and compared. To illustrate our points, however, we briefly compare two IS cultural studies, one using comparative ethnography and one using a sequential, phased mixed method design. Our goal is not to discourage rich cultural ethnographies, but to provide a viable alternative approach that may enable more culture research in IS.