The Role of Culture in Entry Mode Studies: from Neglect to Myopia

In order to be able to advance scientific knowledge, researchers should consciously explore and critically evaluate alternative explanations of the phenomena under investigation. We feel that research in the area of entry mode choice has neglected these recommendations where it concerns the impact of cultural distance (CD) on entry mode choice. In this article, we argue that sample idiosyncrasies, coupled with an almost blind confidence in one specific measurement of CD, have led researchers in this field to systematically overestimate the role of CD in entry mode decisions. We argue that specific home and/or host country characteristics are equally plausible explanatory factors for entry mode decisions decisions as CD and plead for a more sophisticated treatment of culture in the entry mode choice literature.