The potential pitfalls of transferring constructs across cultural settings: Experience from NPD Research in Australia

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the research design and methodology choices in the

field of Marketing Management in order to choose the best “fit” for the authors’ research on

developing a climate of trust within the new product development process. Many researchers

often use constructs developed and empirically tested in other cultural contexts. This often

allows for interesting cross-cultural comparisons. While useful, this paper cautions on the

blind application of constructs and survey instruments. Reporting on experience from

exploratory research carried out in the context of the NPD process in Australian

manufacturing firms, we show the potential pitfalls and challenges that need to be examined

in order to choose the most appropriate methodological approach.