Pilot!Study!

4.7.1 Preparation!

The!first!version!of!the!questionnaire!was!tested!in!two!pilot!studies.!The!main! objectives!of!the!pilot!studies!were!to!refine!the!questionnaire,!conduct!an!initial! analysis! of! the! hypotheses,! and! test! the! face! and! content! validity! of! the! constructs.!Prior!to!the!pilot!studies,!I!have!consulted!two!experts!in!academia! and! business! to! review! the! questionnaire.! I! have! received! feedbacks! regarding! the!phrasing!of!some!questions!as!well!as!the!order!of!the!questions.!Although,! all!measures!were!either!already!used!in!the!literature,!or!were!developed!based! on! the! solid! theoretical! justifications,! the! opinions! of! the! experts! further! increased!the!face!and!content!validity!of!the!constructs.!

I! have! selected! two! settings! in! different! industries! for! the! pilot! study.! An! MNE! with! strong! focus! on! digital! products,! as! well! as! a! food! and! consumer! product! MNE!were!selected!for!the!pilot!study.!The!reason!behind!choosing!two!distinct! industries! was! to! test!the! potential! external! validity! and! generalisability! of! the! study! across! different! industries.! Furthermore,! the! results! from! two! different! samples! were! highly! correlated! for! all! constructs,! which! further! ensures! the! validity!of!the!constructs.!!!!

4.7.2 Implementation!

Interviews!were!schedules!with!three!representatives!from!each!multinational.! The! purpose! of! these! interviews! was! to! review! the! selected! measures,! discuss! alternative! measures! for! status,! social! capital! and! innovation,! and! examine! the! questionnaire!in!order!to!find!possible!improvements.!!

The!pilot!study!has!been!conducted!in!three!stages.!The!first!stage!involved!oneH toHone! interviews! with! all! prospective! respondents.! The! research! questions,!

hypotheses!and!particularly!measures!have!been!discussed.!The!suggestions!and! recommendations! of! the! representatives! were! noted.! In! the! next! stage,! the! representatives! were! asked! to! respond! to! the! questionnaire.! Although,! respondents!were!aware!of!the!measures,!they!have!not!had!seen!the!questions! prior! to! taking! the! questionnaire.! This! decision! has! been! made! to! remove! any! negative! effect! of! prejudice! and! preconceptions! towards! questions.! In! order! to! test! whether! the! questions! were! formulated! clearly! and! accurately! it! was! essential!to!test!how!respondents!would!react!in!their!first!attempt!of!answering! the! questions.! The! final! stage! of! the! pilot! study! involved! setting! up! a! group! meeting! to! discuss! the! design! and! content! of! the! questionnaire.! The! open! discussion! has! enabled! respondents! to! exchange! opinions! and! come! up! with! suggestions!to!improve!the!vague!parts!of!the!questionnaire.!

These!suggestions!have!led!to!the!modifications!of!the!questions,!and!reshuffle!of! their! arrangement.! The! most! salient! contributions! of! the! pilot! study! to! the! measures!and!questionnaire!are!as!follows:!

4.7.2.1 Status!

Although! I! was! expecting! perceived! status! to! be! a! challenging! construct! to! measure,! I! have! received! positive! feedbacks! from! the! respondents.! Status! is! a! subjective! notion! that! is! inherent! to! human! nature! (Weber! 1978,! Bourdieu! 1963).!All!respondents!had!subconscious!opinions!regarding!the!status!of!other! actors! in! the! social! network.! However,! I! have! also! received! some! valuable! feedbacks!during!the!discussions.!One!interviewee!mentioned:!!

“Why'don’t'you'define'status'before'asking'the'first'question?'It'would'help'people' to'relate'to'the'question'easier.”'

This!comment!was!supported!by!the!majority!of!the!participants.!I!realised!that!a! clear!definition!of!status!can!provide!respondents!with!a!guideline!that!reduces!

ambiguities.!Hence,!I!have!added!the!following!definition!of!status,! “Status'is'defined'as'the'perceived'ranking'and'position'of'each'individual'within' the'social'hierarchy'of'your'organisation,'regardless'of'their'formal'position.”' This!definition!was!then!followed!by!the!following!question:! “Based'on'the'provided'definition'of'status,'how'do'you'perceive'the'status'of'the' following'colleagues?”' 4.7.2.2 Phrasing! The!wordings!of!the!questions!have!been!revised!prior!to!the!pilot!study!by!two! experts.!However,!the!questions!pertaining!to!the!relational!dimension!of!social! capital!required!further!amendments!based!to!results!of!the!pilot!study.!I!have! noticed!that!some!respondents!have!nominated!only!1!actor!as!trustworthy.!At! first,! it! appeared! as! if! they! trust! only! one! person! in! the! whole! organisation! (which! is! a! viable! option).! When! I! raised! the! issue! in! the! follow! up! meeting,! I! have!realised!that!the!question!was!misunderstood.!Those!participants!assumed! to! select! their! most! trustworthy! colleague.! Hence,! I! have! made! a! minor! modification!to!remove!the!vagueness!of!that!question.!

The!revised!version!of!the!question!is!as!follows:!

Please' select' all' colleagues' who' you' find' trustworthy' based' on' their' benevolence' and'reliability.'(Multiple'Responses'are'possible)'

4.7.2.3 Question!Arrangement!

As! I! discussed! in! the! questionnaire! content! section,! I! have! included! few! additional!questions!in!the!questionnaire.!In!the!initial!questionnaire,!I!have!put! these!questions!in!a!dedicated!sections!as!the!“complementary!questions”.!I!have! chosen! this! design! to! maximise! the! response! rate! for! the! main! questions.!

However,!this!design!was!not!popular!by!the!participants.!They!suggested!that!it! would!be!more!effective!to!divide!questionnaire!into!two!partitions!of!status!and! social! capital,! and! include! the! additional! questions! in! their! corresponding! section.!!

Based!on!this!suggestion,!I!have!modified!the!arrangement!of!the!questions.!All! questions! regarding! the! perceived! status! were! moved! to! the! first! part! of! the! questionnaire,! followed! by! the! questions! regarding! three! dimensions! of! social! capital.! The! new! design! does! not! interrupt! the! stream! of! consciousness.! It! enables! respondents! to! conclude! all! relevant! questions! of! a! subject! while! they! are!fully!focused!on!the!respective!subject.!!

4.7.2.4 Control!Techniques!

Based!on!my!suggestion!and!the!positive!feedback!of!the!participants,!I!decided! to! set! the! main! 5! questions! as! mandatory.! Due! to! the! utmost! importance! of! collecting!complete!network!data,!it!is!essential!to!take!any!measure!to!minimise! the!missing!data.!Moreover,!I!have!set!the!identification!code!field!as!mandatory,! because! failing! to! associate! a! questionnaire! to! an! actual! actor! makes! that! questionnaire!useless.!Answering!other!questions!were!optional!due!to!the!fact! that! they! would! not! interfere! with! data! analysis! and! measuring! the! key! constructs.!