Int. j. econ. manag. soc. sci., Vol(3), No (10), October, 2014. pp.

604-610

TI Journals

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences

www.tijournals.com

ISSN:
2306-7276

Copyright 2014. All rights reserved for TI Journals.

Evalution of research methodologies in international business

Ali Souri
Department of Management and Accounting, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abdullah Naami
Department of Management and Accounting, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Azadeh Souri
Department of Management and Accounting , Boroujerd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Boroujerd, Iran.

Pezhman Arzhang*
Department of Management and Accounting, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran.
*Corresponding author: p87_arzhang@yahoo.com

Keywords

Abstract

International business
Fuzzy Delphi method
Fuzzy DEMATEL method
Data collection methods

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the factors affecting research methodologies in international
business. First, based on the literature reviews and implementation of fuzzy Delphi method, six main factors
were extracted and then validated by 33 experts. A questionnaire was constructed and answered by 33
experts. In order to structuring and prioritizing the factors of fuzzy DEMATEL technique was used. The
DEMATEL method gathers collective knowledge to capture the causal relationships between strategic
criteria. The model is especially practical and useful for visualizing the structure of complicated causal
relationships with matrices or digraphs. The result showed that the data collection methods was the most
important factor on research methodologies in international business.

1.

Introduction

Research methodologies directly impact the validity and generalizability of a study, and in turn, play a vital role in knowledge development of
international business [17]. The field of International Business has always combined theoretical concepts from many disciplines. Phenomena and
problems in International Business ask for tools to explain and solve them [12]. International business research is mostly concerned with
processes, interrelationships and mechanisms of transnational business activities [16].
International business research represents an excellent testing ground for multidisciplinary research. Indeed, it has been considered as a test case
for a unified social science approach. It could be expected that the academic study of international business would, perforce, be interdisciplinary.
However, large areas of teaching and research in international business have been dominated by the extension of core disciplines into the
international arena. These developments (international marketing, international finance etc.) have followed international economics in feeding
back new concepts and empirical work into the core discipline but have led to only modest amounts of cross-fertilization with other
"international" subjects [4].
Yang, Wang and Su (2006, p. 601) has pointed out that five major aspects in research methodologies in IB includes: data collection methods,
sample sources including sampled countries and subjects, sampling methods, sample sizes, and response rates. Data collection methods influence
a tests reliability and validity. Some frequently used methods include survey (mail or administrated questionnaire survey), experiment, personal
or telephone interviews, and secondary data. People in different countries and areas differ in many ways, e.g., demographic and psychographic
characteristics, which could cause a treatmentsattributes interaction and in turn influence external validity and generalizability of research
findings. Sample size influences the accuracy of estimation. In general, a large sample size can help minimize sampling errors, and improve
generalizability of research findings. Sample size affects statistic power through influencing standard errors. The mean sample size of empirical
studies in IBJ varies dramatically according to unit of analysis, ranging from 181 to 5,186. For example, the mean size is 426 for manager
samples, and 5,186 for studies using secondary financial data. As the mean sample size is likely skewed by either very small or very large
samples, the median size, 180, is considered as more representative of the typical sample size in IB [17].
The focus of this study is to propose a fuzzy MCDM model to structuring and prioritizing the factors affecting research methodologies in
international business. As the purpose of this study, the following research questions are posed:
RQ1. What are the factors affecting research methodologies in international business?
RQ2. What is the systematic structure (Dyagraf) relationship between the factors?
RQ3. What are the priority factors?

2.

Methodology

This research uses the fuzzy Delphi method and fuzzy DEMATEL technique to structuring and prioritizing the factors affecting research
methodologies in international business.
A fuzzy set is a class of objects with a membership function ranging between zero and one. It was specifically designed to mathematically
represent uncertainty and vagueness [5]. The matrices or digraph portrays a contextual relation between the elements of the system, in which a
numeral represents the strength of influence. Hence, the Fuzzy DEMATEL method can convert the relationship between the causes and effects
of criteria into an intelligible structural model of the system. The Fuzzy DEMATEL method has been successfully applied in many fields. For

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Evalution of research methodologies in international business

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (10), October, 2014.

examples, Tamura et al. used the Fuzzy DEMATEL method to extract various uneasy factors in the life, Yamazaki et al. analyzed the obstructive
factors of welfare service with the Fuzzy DEMATEL method, Hori and Shimizu employed the Fuzzy DEMATEL method to design and evaluate
the software of displaying-screen structure in analyzing a supervisory control system. Fuzzy FMCDM analysis has been widely used to deal with
decision-making problems involving multiple criteria evaluation of alternatives.The practical applications reported in the literature
[14;2;11;13;15]. have shown advantages in handling unquantifiable or qualitative criteria and obtained quite reliable results [8].
The model procedure of the current research are shown in Figure 1.

Expert opinion
Literature review
Fuzzy Delphi

Fuzzy DEMATEL

Expert opinion
Identifying the factors

Acquire fuzzy total-relation matrix

Acquire i + i and i - i

Acquire fuzzy direct-relation matrix

Acquire normalized fuzzy direct-relation matrix

i + i

Prioritizing the factors

i - i

Cause group & Effect group

i + i and i - i

Structuring the factors

Fig1. Model procedure of the current research.

2.1 Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM)

The Delphi Method was first developed by Dalkey and Helmer (1963) in corporation and has been widely applied in many management areas,
e.g. forecasting, public policy analysis, and project planning. However, the conventional Delphi Method does not converge very well. Thus, the
fuzzy set theory was applied in the Delphi Method to improve the effect [6].
Fuzzy Delphi Method was proposed by Ishikawa et al. (1993), and it was derived from the traditional Delphi technique and fuzzy set the ory [9].
The FDM steps are as follows:
Step1. Select Expert: In the first phase the fuzzy Delphi method, the choice of experts on the subject, method and period of the study are
explained.
Step2. Mining and explaining the proposed options.
Step3. Definition of linguistic variables: In this study, the variables are defined as trapezoidal fuzzy numbers.
(x )
1

Low

Medium

High

10

Fig 2. Schematic diagram of Fuzzy Delphi Method threshold.

Ali Souri , Abdullah Naami, Azadeh Souri, Pezhman Arzhang *

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International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (10), October, 2014.

Step4. Distribution of questionnaires, Mean experts is calculated by the formula:

A(i) = ( a1(i), a2(i), a3(i), a4(i) ) , i=1,2 ,n

(1)

Am = ( am1(i), am2(i), am3(i), am4(i) ) = (1/na1(i), 1/na2(i), 1/na3(i), 1/na4(i) )

(2)

Step5. The experts disagree with each of the mean is calculated according to the equation:
e =(am1 - a1(i), am2 - a2(i), am3 - a3(i), am4 - a4(i) ) = (1/na1(i) - a1(i), 1/na2(i) - a2(i), 1/na3(i) - a3(i),1/na4(i) - a4(i))

(3)

Step6. Finally, using the following equations to calculate the distance between fuzzy numbers and the difference is less than the threshold (eg,
0.2) is less fuzzy Delphi process stops. And if this is not the process is repeated [7].
1

S (Am2 , Am1) = | [ (am21 + am22 + am23 + am24 ) (am11 + am12 + am13 + am14 ) ] |

(4)

2.2 Fuzzy DEMATEL Method

The Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is presented in 1973, as a kind of structural modeling approach
about a problem. It can clearly see the cause-effect relationship of criteria when measuring a problem [1].
The DEMATEL method gathers collective knowledge to capture the causal relationships between strategic criteria. The model is especially
practical and useful for visualizing the structure of complicated causal relationships with matrices or digraphs. The matrices or digraph portrays
a contextual relation between the elements of the system, in which a numeral represents the strength of influence. Hence, the DEMATEL method
can convert the relationship between the causes and effects of criteria into an intelligible structural model of the system [10].
Steps of this technique are as follows:
Step1. Design fuzzy linguistic scale for evaluations. In this step, development of relationships within and among the attributes using experts
opinion through paired comparison analysis is needed. Firstly, for the purpose of measuring the relationships, it is required to design the
comparison scale as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Corresponding linguistic terms for evaluation.
Linguistic term

Abbrev.

Fuzzy scales

Linguistic term

Abbrev.

Fuzzy scales

None

)0 , 0 ,0.1(

More or less Good

MG

)0.5 , 0.6 ,0.7(

Very Low

VL

)0 , 0.1 ,0.2(

Fairly Good

FG

)0.6 , 0.7 ,0.8(

Low

)0.1 , 0.2 ,0.3(

Good

)0.7 , 0.8 ,0.9(

Fairly Low

FL

)0.2 , 0.3 ,0.4(

Very Good

VG

)0.8 , 0.9 , 1(

More or less Low

ML

)0.3 , 0.4 ,0.5(

Excellent

)0.9 , 1 , 1(

Medium

)0.4 , 0.5 ,0.6(

The different degrees of influence are expressed with eleven linguistic terms and the equivalent fuzzy membership functions for linguistic values
are shown in Fig 3.
(x )
0.1 N

VL

FL

ML M

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

MG

FG

VG

0.0

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Fig 3. Fuzzy membership functions for linguistic values.

Step2. Acquire fuzzy direct-relation matrix. Experts make sets of the pairwise comparisons in terms of influence and direction within necessary
criteria that is a nn matrix , in which ij = (lij, mij ,uij) is denoted as the degree to which the criterion i affects the criterion j for experts.

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Evalution of research methodologies in international business

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (10), October, 2014.

11

12

21

22

(5)

Step3. Acquire normalized fuzzy direct-relation matrix. After producing the direct-relation matrix as the first step, we can continue with
normalizing the direct-direction matrix as in DEMATEL method. On the base of the direct-relation matrix , the normalized direct-relation
matrix can be obtained through Eq. (6).
Let ij = (lij, mij ,uij) and s = 1/max 1

=1 ij ,

then

= s

(6)

Step4. Acquire fuzzy total-relation matrix. As soon as the normalized direct-relation matrix is obtained, the total-relation matrix , can be
acquired by using the following formulas, in which the I is denoted as the identity matrix [4].
= lim k ( 1 + 2 ++ k )

11

12

21

22

(7)

(8)

where ij = (l'ij, m'ij ,u'ij) then

[l'ij ]= Xl ( I Xl )-1
[m'ij]= Xm ( I Xm )

(9)
-1

[u'ij ]= Xu ( I Xu )-1

(10)
(11)

Step5. Acquire i + i and i - i . By producing matrix , i + i and i - i in which i and i are the sum of row and the sum of columns of
respectively.To finalize the procedure, all calculated i + i and i - i are defuzified through suitable defuzification method. Then, there
would be two sets of numbers: (i +i )def which shows how important the factors are, and (i - i )def which shows which factors is cause and
which one is effect. Generally, if the value (i -i )def is positive, the factors belong to the cause group, and if the value (i -i )def is negative, the
factors belong to the effect group [10].
3.

Results Analysis

After repeated 4 times process of fuzzy Delphi method, the threshold is less than 0.2, and the process was stopped. The results of fuzzy Delphi
process is presented in Table 2. The six factors used in the analysis process will continue.
Table 2. The factors
Symbol
A

Factors
Sample sizes

Symbol
D

Factors
Response rates

Sample sources including sampled

countries and subjects

Respondents familiar with

the research topic

Data collection methods

Sampling methods

Ali Souri , Abdullah Naami, Azadeh Souri, Pezhman Arzhang *

608

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (10), October, 2014.

The fuzzy direct-relation matrix is presented in Table 3. Experts make sets of the pairwise comparisons in terms of influence and direction
within necessary criteria that is a nn matrix , in which ij = (lij, mij ,uij) is denoted as the degree to which the criterion i affects the criterion j
for experts.

Table 3. Fuzzy direct-relation matrix ()

lij
0.6

A
mij
0.7

uij
0.8

lij
0.6

B
mij
0.7

lij
0.8

lij
0.0

E
mij
0.0

uij
0.1

lij
0.6

F
mij
0.7

uij
0.8

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.0

0.0

0.1

After producing the direct-relation matrix as the first step, we can continue with normalizing the direct-direction matrix as in DEMATEL
method. The normalized fuzzy direct-relation matrix is presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Normalized fuzzy direct-relation matrix ()

lij
0.08

A
mij
0.10

uij
0.11

lij
0.08

B
mij
0.10

lij
0.11

lij
0.00

E
mij
0.00

uij
0.01

lij
0.08

F
mij
0.10

uij
0.11

0.07

0.08

0.10

0.08

0.10

0.11

0.08

0.10

0.11

0.08

0.10

0.11

0.07

0.08

0.10

0.00

0.00

0.01

0.05

0.07

0.08

0.00

0.00

0.01

As soon as the normalized direct-relation matrix is obtained, the total-relation matrix , can be acquired. The fuzzy total-relation matrix is
presented in Table 5.
Table 5. Fuzzy total-relation matrix ()

lij
0.14

A
mij
0.19

uij
0.29

lij
0.16

B
mij
0.23

lij
0.35

lij
0.06

E
mij
0.11

uij
0.22

lij
0.15

F
mij
0.22

uij
0.33

0.12

0.17

0.28

0.16

0.23

0.35

0.14

0.21

0.32

0.16

0.22

0.34

0.10

0.15

0.23

0.06

0.11

0.22

0.10

0.15

0.25

0.05

0.09

0.19

(i + i )def which shows how important the factors are, and (i -i )def which shows which factors is cause and which one is effect. Generally, if
the value (i -i )def is positive, the factors belong to the cause group, and if the value (i -i )def is negative, the factors belong to the effect
group. According to Table 6, this study found that data collection methods (C) and sample sources including sampled countries and subjects (B)
were the two most important factor based on first and second highest (i +i )def values of 2.668 and 2.505, respectively.

Table 6. Prioritizing the importance of factors

Factors

(i +i )def

Priority

Factors

(i +i )def

Priority

Sample sizes

2.151

Response rates

2.423

Sample sources including

sampled countries and subjects

2.505

Respondents familiar
with the research topic

1.742

Data collection methods

2.668

Sampling methods

1.323

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Evalution of research methodologies in international business

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (10), October, 2014.

In Table 7, how the factors in causal group and, how the factors in effect group is shown. As can be seen, three factors are in the group causal
group and three factors are in the effect group.
Table 7. Cause group and effect group
Factors

(i -i )def

Cause
group

Factors

(i -i )def

0.631

0.304

-0.602

-0.412

0.692

-0.202

Effect
group

Cause
group

Effect
group

Whereas sample sizes (A), sample sources including sampled countries and subjects (B) and data collection methods (C), were in the cause
group based on their positive (i - i )def values of 0.631, 0.304 and 0.692, respectively. For response rates (D), respondents familiar with the
research topic (E), and sampling methods (F), were in the effect group, given negative (i - i )def values of -0.602, -0.412 and -0.202,
respectively.

(i -i )def

0.35
B

1.3

1.9

2.5

(i +i )def

-0.35
E

Fig 4. Influential network relations map (INRM)

The Influential network relations map of the factors are shown in Fig 4. As you can see in the figure, data collection methods (C) on the all
factors that influence and response rates (D) of all these factors is affected. From Figure 4, data collection methods (C) was the most critical
factor because it directly influenced on the other five factors.
4. Conclusion
The focus of this study is to propose a fuzzy MCDM model to structuring and prioritizing the factors affecting research methodologies in
international business. In this research, based on the literature reviews and implementation of fuzzy Delphi method, six main factors were
extracted. Factors such as, sample sizes, sample sources including sampled countries and subjects, data collection methods, response rates,
respondents familiar with the research topic and sampling methods are main factors affecting research methodologies in international business.
In order to structuring and prioritizing the factors of fuzzy DEMATEL technique was used. By the aspect of prioritizing the importance of
factors and the cause and effect relationship among factors under the six main factors, this study found that the data collection methods and
sample sources including sampled countries and subjects were the most critical factors.

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