The Role of the Two-Stage Multimethod Design: Developing Relevant Strategy Measures for New Settings

Abstract

The two-stage multimethod design is a research strategy which integrates both quantitative and qualitative techniques within a single research project and is conducted over two distinctive stages of the fieldwork. Considering that attempts at universalizing management concepts without taking into consideration the effect of cultural specifications of the context where they are applied is problematic and the fact that little strategy research has been conducted in Egypt, this case tackles the issue of developing relevant measures for strategic decision-making studies by using a two-stage multimethod design. Using a combination of both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods in the first stage—an exploratory stage—the variables of the study were reoperationalized in the second stage to be more applicable to the less researched Egyptian context and to allow a better external validity and reliability of the constructs. This case, hence, can help readers to understand the role of the two-stage multimethod design in clarifying concepts and operationalizing the study variables when transferring management concepts and constructs to another country with a different culture.