Fieldwork Stage

Primary Data - Sampling Strategy

In order to achieve good quality data and address the aims of the research, it is requisite to have a good data sampling strategy (Crowe & Sheppard 2012). Sampling strategies include issues of sample size, place, access to participants, participants’ willingness to be involved, their relevance to the research questions and the phenomena under study (Andrade 2009; Cascio, Wayne F. 2012; Morales & Ladhari 2010).

Given the social constructivist underpinning of this research, and adoption of qualitative methodology—with a focus of gaining people’s experiences with the phenomena associated with cross-cultural performance management—a purposive sampling technique was employed. Purposive sampling is the process of targeting participants in terms of their attributes relevant to the research question (Bazeley 2013). The interest is in the personal experiences of the participants recognising that they are not representative of the whole population, and therefore the sampling does not need to be random, as opposed to a positivist research methodology (Crowe & Sheppard 2012; Johnson, McGowan & Turner 2010).

The researcher spent six months in Thailand conducting the fieldwork data gathering for the bulk of the primary and secondary data. Approximately 10 months after this phase the research returned to the field for a further six months to conduct two follow-up (case subject)

interviews (see Section 3.5.4.1 Theoretical Saturation later) and continue secondary data collection by living within the general community. Including the 4 Case Subjects, the primary data were collected from 43 semi-structured interviews from 30 participants working in Thailand. In total there were 34 people invited to participate, but of the purposive sampling technique was employed, there were only three who declined.

General Participants

The cross-cultural PM context of this research is between Thai and Western cultures, set within Thailand. For practical purposes the Western culture orientation was limited to people and or organisations from English speaking countries (that henceforth will be collectively referred to as of ‘Anglo origin’) since the researcher’s language ability is limited to English, with a modicum of Thai language knowledge. Again for practical purposes with the Western cultural orientation, there was a predilection toward peoples and organisations of Australian origin. This was because the researcher is an Australian national, which afforded a more favourable inclination for potential participants and organisations of Australian origin, to participate in this research. In fact, an approach was made to the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand (AMCHAM) for assistance in sourcing participants from their membership, but they declined.

While opposing cultures to the Thai culture, adopted for this research, are not simply one or the other—for example Thai versus Australian, or Thai versus American—it is of little consequence. This is because the aim of his research is not to define the opposing cultures against the Thai culture, but explore how culture affects the efficacy of PM. One only has to accept that the opposing cultures selected on the practical reasoning are different to the Thai culture, for them to be legitimate selections for the purpose of this research. From the weight of evidence in the literature, this is an acceptance that cannot be denied (Ashkanasy, Trevor-Roberts & Earnshaw 2002; Bi 2012; Clegg & Gray 2002; Ermongkonchai 2010; Fisher &

Härtel 2003; Gupta et al. 2009; Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov 2010; Holmes, Tangtongtavy

& Tomizawa 2003; House et al. 2004; Kainzbauer 2013; Kamoche 2011; Niratpattanasai 2008; Paik, Vance & Stage 2000; Roongrerngsuke & Liefooghe 2012; Schwartz 2006;

Shimoni 2011; Sriussadaporn 2006; Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 2012; Vallance 1999;

Vanderstraeten & Matthyssens 2008).

The initial source of introduction to potential participants was through the Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce. The researcher did this by attending the Chamber’s networking functions, and solicited participation with the members of the Chamber. This proved successful and with initial participants providing introduction to other potential participants

within their network—in the manner described as snowballing technique (Ellis 2012)—a broad range of expatriate and Thai participants was sourced.

The general selection criteria for participants were:

• They were currently working in Thailand.

• They were in management positions responsible for managing staff.

• If they were of Thai origin, they either had current experience in: working in organisations of Anglo origin, working for a manager of Anglo origin, or managing staff of Anglo origin.

• If they were of Anglo origin, they had current experience in managing Thai staff.

• Having met the above criteria, they had an interest in the topic and in participating in the research.

In total 30 participants were interviewed: 18 expatriates and 12 Thais. Of these 30 participants, four were chosen to participate as case subjects: three expatriates and one Thai.

The number of case subjects was limited to four, due to resource constraints of this research.

Case Subject Participants

Choice of case subjects is important, with the principal guide being those from whom one can learn the most (Sake 2005) and who have the interest and time to dedicate to the research (Andrade 2009). Potential case subjects were selected from the list of general participants.

The invitation to participate case subjects for this research, were issued to selected general participants, on the basis they had:

• A strong interest in the research and keen to participate.

• Depth of experience in managing staff – ranging from 20 years to 30 years.

• A broad range of experiences in in cross-cultural management, across a multitude of cultures – ranging from four cross-cultural settings to 10 cross-cultural settings.

• Solid experience in cross-cultural management in the context of this research (that is, Anglo-Western with Thai) – ranging from eight years to 25 years.

• Current and active executive management positions, within the cross-cultural context of this research. This characteristic together with the longevity of their experiences indicates their success in dealing with cross-cultural PM.

• A reflective approach in coming to terms with their cross-cultural experiences, rather than merely being reactive. From their initial meetings and interview, they were subjectively assessed as being of high cultural intelligence (CQ) (Deng &

Gibson 2009).

Among the case study subjects, the expatriate participants all had extensive careers and cross-cultural management throughout Asia, with Thai cross-cultural experience of approximately 31 years amongst them in total. The Thai participant had 30 years’ experience with large multinational corporations in Thailand, with their origins covering the Australia, US and UK.

These attributes of the case subjects enabled them to provide a rich and valuable volume of data for this research.