1. The title of the research
Impact of socio-cultural factors on success of an international business
2. Overview of the topic and its background
Various socio-cultural factors such as culture, religion, customer preferences, attitude towards foreign products, and language are found in the literature, which can have a significant impact on the success of an international business which is entering a new foreign market (Ajami & Goddard, 2014; Masovic, 2018).
However, limited literature is found where the selected socio-cultural factors such as culture, religion, customer preferences, attitude towards foreign products, and language are examined in a research (Masovic, 2018). In view of this, this present study aims to empirically evaluate the impact of socio-cultural factors, namely, culture, religion, customer preferences, attitude towards foreign products, and language, on the success of an international business which is entering a new foreign market.
Hypotheses will be formulated and tested to evaluate the conceptual model to identify which of the socio-cultural factors can have a significant positive or negative impact on success of an international business which is entering a new foreign market. This research will extend the existing literature regarding the socio-cultural factors which can impact on success of an international business.
3. Timeline
The proposed research is intended to be completed with the time duration of 3 months. The following Gantt charts highlights the main activities and their respective time durations.
4. Description of research methods
To address the aim and objectives of this proposed study, it is intended to use primary and quantitative research methods based on closed ended questionnaire (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2012). An empirical study is intended to be conducted using Positivism research philosophy in line with the literature of methodology.
As per literature, Positivism research philosophy permits collection of data from a large sample and in quantitative form, which can be statistically analysed (Saunders, 2011). The data collection method will be quantitative and primary, where an online survey will be conducted to collect primary quantitative data from general public on social media platforms.
A closed ended questionnaire will be used as a tool for data collected and will be self-administered by the respondents (Field, 2009). The questionnaire will be developed on the basis of the reviewed literature, where most of the items will comprised of 5 point Likert based scale, which will be used to obtain the level of agreement or disagreement of the respondents with the statements regarding the socio-cultural factors such as culture, religion, customer preferences, attitude towards foreign products, and language and their impacts on the success of international business which is entering a new foreign market. The online questionnaire will be developed on Google Forms, and its link will be shared with the respondents on social media platforms to seek their responses. The reliability analysis will be used to evaluate the re-test reliability of the developed questionnaire scales (Field, 2009).
To analyse the quantitative data, statistical analysis method will be employed, namely; frequency distribution analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis (Bryman & Bell, 2015). The frequency distribution analysis will be used to identify the level of agreement or disagreement of the respondents with the statements regarding the socio-cultural factors. However, the correlation analysis will be used to measure the relationship between the socio-cultural factors and the success of international business, whereas multiple regression analysis will be used to evaluate the impact of the socio-cultural factors on the success of international business, which is entering a new foreign market. Hypotheses will also be developed and tested in this study on the basis of the results of multiple regression analysis.
Furthermore, the ethical issues will be addressed related with data collection, consent, anonymity and privacy while carrying out this research. Informed consent from all the participants will be obtained to ensure that they understand the purpose of the research and were willing to participate. Besides, the anonymity and privacy of data will also be ensured during all stages of this research by using password protected files, and keeping the personal details of the participants anonymous.
5. Description of the sample
To conduct the empirical study, the primary quantitative data is intended to be collected from a sample of general public. The target population of this study is very large as it comprised of general public, and therefore, a smaller representative sample of the target population is intended to be selected using a non-random sampling method, namely, self-selection sampling. In this study the non-random sampling technique was appropriate to select because it was not possible to randomly select the respondents. Moreover, as per Saunders (2011, p. 241), “Self-selection sampling occurs when you allow each case, usually individuals, to identify their desire to take part in the research.” The sampling method will be self-selection because the web link of the online questionnaire will be share on the social media platform, where the general public will be allowed to choose to participate in the research. Regarding sample size, Sekaran and Bougie (p. 269) stated that “Sample sizes larger than 30 and less than 500 are appropriate for most research.” Therefore a sample size of 150 is intended to be used in this study.
6. Reference list
Ajami, A. R., & Goddard, J. G. (2014). International Business: A Course on the Essentials, M. E. Sharpe, Inc., New York.
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2015). Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.
Field, A. (2013). Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics. New York, SAGE.
Masovic, A. (2018). Socio-cultural Factors and their Impact on the Performance of Multinational Companies. Ecoforum, 7(1), pp. 1-6.
Saunders, M. N. (2011). Research Methods for Business Students, 5/e. Pearson Education India.
Saunders, M. N., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2012). Research Methods for Business Students. London: Pearson.
Sekaran, U, & Bougie, R. (2016). Research Methods For Business: A Skill Building Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
