When in Rome

Editor’s note: Raeleen D’Agostino Mautner founder of Italy-U.S. Connection: Research & Training, Hamden, Conn.

Cross-cultural researchers explain an important local-global distinction by borrowing terms from the field of linguists. They refer to “etics” and “emics,” which originally made reference to the variants and invariants of language. When doing business overseas, emics refers to the overt and covert behaviors that are particular to a given culture. Etics refers to universal invariants that transcend the cultures being compared. Both types of information are critical to companies and to their market researchers, whose economic survival depends on gleaning an intimate knowledge of the international consumer population and an ability to interact with overseas colleagues. These skills allow us to modify our products and services – and our behavior - to meet local needs.

Although I was raised in the U.S., I am a citizen of both the U.S. and Italy. I mention this because often, “cross-cultural” tips can appear judgmental, or may carry a certain ethnocentricity. When dealing with different nationalities and cultures, however, one must realize that the familiar way of doing business isn’t either best or worst - it simply is the way it is. In addition, one must recognize that although cross-cultural literature discusses “etics” and can give you general pointers based on research and experience, we cannot forget that generality is always laced with individual variation. For example, we can say that, in general, the Italians appreciate classic literature and poetry, but I have worked with an Italian computer specialist who would just as soon use poetry books to stoke his fireplace in the winter. With that in mind, let me summarize some of the most valuable pointers that I have learned when doing business with Italy.

1. Build relationships! When I initially set my sights on doing market research for Italian companies I had little clue that research in general there does not have quite the stature it has in the U.S. I went to my first trade fair in Milan, full of energy and optimism, business cards and bilingual brochures in hand, only to find that the merchants were more interested in my finding them distributors for their products than in the prospect of spending their money on an intermediary step such as market research. Eventually I came upon an import-export broker who, through a series of contacts and communications, came to trust me and the value of my services, and eventually introduced me to some of his clients who were interested in my services.

In Italy, relationships are vital. Find someone to collaborate with. Show them you are trustworthy and that you keep your word. The contacts you make now may become your friends and colleagues for life, and they too, more than likely, will appreciate your help for research they need to conduct in the U.S. Use the Internet to find colleagues. Check the search engines for other market researchers, especially those with small firms of their own. You can also find market researchers in the business or psychology departments of Italian universities. Usually they are very receptive to collaborative projects, and of course you should assure them you are willing to do the same when they need a favor from you.

In addition to possibly giving you some sage advice about the logistics of your research project, having someone of the mother culture to collaborate with also gives credence to the project in the minds of your Italian respondents, making them more likely to be willing to be interviewed or to fill out your survey. A native can also help you with translations and survey development for inclusion of items you may not have thought of, but which are important points to consider from an emic standpoint. This will give your study some additional expert validity.

2. Make sure you have a valid cross-cultural survey. The business world usually does not afford researchers the time or the budget to pre-test a survey, or perform a factor analysis to find out what items cluster around a particular concept.

If you, like most, cannot develop a norming pre-sample in your target country, then working with an expert of the mother culture becomes even more important. He or she can give you important advice on what works and what doesn’t as well as informed opinion about the items you have developed or selected for the survey you will administer in your colleague’s country.

In some cases, as with psychographic research, you may find Italian versions of U.S. surveys that are already published. You should always opt for the pre-translated edition if it is appropriate for your investigation. You may pay a small fee for the right to use a foreign published survey, but it is not only the ethically correct thing to do, it also makes for more valid results for your study. You will have the peace of mind of knowing the norming samples were based in the country you are doing research in, and any problems with conceptual translation have been already taken care of.

When there is no existing foreign version of the survey instrument you are about to use, you have no choice but to translate the instrument yourself. In my experience, the back-translation method, which is only one of several methods of arriving at conceptual equivalency, works best. Conceptual equivalency is much different than simple word-to-word translation. For instance, if you wanted to translate the phrase “I feel uncomfortable” into Italian, you can say either “sono scomodo” or “mi sento a disagio.” The first refers to a physical discomfort, as you would have if you sat on a chair with a thumbtack facing up; the second refers to the psychological discomfort one would have when asked to answer an embarrassing survey question. While in American English you can use one phrase for either situation, you cannot do so in Italy. You can see why the words themselves mean little. It is the concept that we try to remain true to when translating survey questions.

You need to involve two people in the process of back-translation. The first is a fully bilingual but native-born American who will translate the questionnaire into the foreign language. This should insure that the English ideas maintain their integrity without being changed. Then a fully bilingual Italian colleague should translate it back and see if there is an equivalency of concepts between the original American English questionnaire and the foreign language version.

By not taking this extra step with the translations you risk respondents answering your questions based on their perceptions of what you meant. This can result in data that has low validity and reliability. A little extra care up front can help you save money, time - and your professional reputation!

3. Be open to experience and think before reacting. Sometimes cultural differences pop out at you like a red flag. This is to your advantage because with awareness, you can at least try to understand and work with them. It is a little harder to make yourself conscious of differences in countries like Italy, which is considered to be a Western culture. In fact serious research attempts that compare survey data among Western cultures are typically avoided by marketers and academicians because the assumption of similarity outweighs the willingness to spend research dollars when we can presume what the outcome will be. The truth is we cannot! Cultural differences do exist and they should be respected and celebrated if you want to build long-lasting relationships and solid business in Italy. Presuming that all industrialized nations think and behave alike or should be like the U.S. almost guarantees a hostile research situation for you and your company.

Recently I sat across from the export director of a chamber of commerce in a very modern city in Northern Italy. We were discussing introducing my services to a consortia of small-business owners who wanted to begin exporting their products to the U.S. In the middle of the discussion this distinguished gentleman, obviously inspired, jumped to his feet and pulled a book of operatic melodies from a large bookcase. He opened to a certain page and began reciting one of the stanzas. As I sat in what psychologists call an “openness to experience,” I listened closely to the words. I did not draw unjustified conclusions nor scoff at what was, in essence, a very creative way of getting a point across. The director was reciting words that had to do with food and recipes - all native to his city, all important to the consortia to which he would introduce me.

When you travel abroad to do business, leave all preconceptions at home. Once you get the hang of it, you too will develop an “openness to experience” that will surely facilitate interactions with your Italian clients and colleagues.

I wasn’t always this wise. I once made the mistake of sending some surveys to a colleague of mine in Italy who had agreed to distribute them to his students for a survey research project I was conducting on body image. I was grateful for his help and I promised to reciprocate when he needed samples for his research.

Well, I waited and waited for the surveys to be sent back to me. Naturally I had included my Fed Ex number to cover the expense of return shipping. But after several months had passed and my e-mails had been ignored I honestly wondered if my colleague had ultimately left his post at the university. Not realizing the gravity of what I was doing, I dropped a line to the head of his department and explained the situation, and asked if this person was still at the university. A couple of days later I heard from the researcher himself, who was unhappy with what I had done. I didn’t understand until much later that my letter to his department head - which to me seemed like a simple inquiry - was equivalent to lodging a complaint with his superior! At the end of the project he wrote me a polite yet somewhat angry letter that made it clear he would be unwilling to do further research with me.

Although I come from an Italian family, I was still raised in the U.S., which led to my being insensitive to a difference in the concept of time between our two countries. In Italy time is not to be rushed and packed and scheduled into modules. One way of thinking is not better, the other is not worse. And that is the point with understanding cross-cultural differences. They are just that: differences. Take them for what they are, talk about them openly with your international colleagues and try to come to a nice middle ground, while always giving the people you are doing business with the edge. It is their country, their culture, and they are doing you a favor by helping with your research, or by buying your product or service. As the saying goes, when in Rome…

4. Be mindful of the testing situation. I use the word “testing” loosely here to mean the interview or survey situation itself. In a foreign country, it is easy to stir up some resentment by the way in which you ask for information. You must make sure that your questions are not perceived as offensive. It is also important that possible participants do not feel imposed upon, especially by someone from a country that is already seen as a cultural and ideological bully. Handle the survey situation with a bit of tact and sensitivity. Make sure you are aware of national holidays (and regional holy days) in Italy, and avoid trying to collect data on these days or on Sundays.

Try to find out the little things about Italy that could make a big difference in the success of your project. For example, how important is it to you that Italians are generally more likely to engage in in-person interviews and less likely to be receptive to telemarketing? How important is it to the sale of your product or service to know that Italians are still very skeptical of giving credit card information over the Internet?

When telephoning your colleagues or clients in Italy, be aware of time differences. Between Italy and the U.S. there are generally six hours difference. If you decide upon e-mail surveys, determine ahead of time if the sample you need to target is one that has access to the Internet - in Italy the use of personal computers is not nearly as common as it is in the U.S.

Make sure you allow time for delays. Distribute your surveys well in advance of the date you need to get them back for analysis. Always aim for a target date in advance that you and your colleague agree upon and that allows plenty of time for you to meet whatever deadlines you have in the U.S.

5. Read between the lines - or in the margins - of your surveys. Analyzing and interpreting data in an international research project is more than a comparison of regression equations or ANOVA results with a post hoc inquiry. If interviewing in-person or even by telephone, you should be attentive or have your telemarketers make note of all extraneous comments and expressions. When doing paper surveys, no matter how complete you think your survey items are, you will invariably come across some commentary scribbled in between typed survey items or in the spaces in the margins. Analyze what they are telling you! Make sure you always include some open-ended questions, or invitations for general commentary on the survey itself or as part of the interview. These responses will always give you a more complete picture of what the consumer or respondent has on their mind, and if you can capture that qualitative data, solicited or not, it can mean a greater likelihood of success for your company. In the same study on body image I referred to above, one of the questions on the survey had to do with the respondent’s perception of how much society influenced one’s positive or negative image of how they looked. In the sample from Italy, it was common for a respondent to check off one of the choices on the Likert scale but then write in the margin something that clarified their response even further like: “Society? To heck with what others think of me!” Capturing this feeling can be crucial information for vendors, and yet it could have been missed because of its inability to be coded and punched into a statistical data editor file.

Road to success

Being attentive to the differences in culture and respectful of them can help speed you along the road of success. All it takes is a bit of awareness in order to become culturally sensitive and non-imposing. In exchange for your effort you will safeguard you most valuable resource: your international customer and colleague. Very often you will be repaid not only with their business, but also with their reciprocal respect and willingness to collaborate on future projects. Pay attention to the emics as well as the etics and you will find you yourself with a strong international foothold.