International construction management research: cultural sensitivity in methodological design

Abstract

The process of globalization is occurring in the research community as well as in the business community and it is increasingly likely that collaborative research across national boundaries will be undertaken. This paper is concerned with the problems inherent in this process. More specifically, it focuses upon data collection, conceiving it as an act of communication. Models of communication are used to investigate problems of interaction between researchers and respondents of different cultural backgrounds and to help in the identification of culturally sensitive methodological strategies. The paper concludes that current criticisms of construction management research methods, which are being presented from a global perspective, are more relevant outside a western context.