The importance of understanding levels issues in cross-cultural marketing research

Despite the importance of levels issues in theory development, measurement, and data analysis, awareness of these issues and their implications are generally low in the marketing literature. With the increased interest in cross-cultural marketing research, it is essential that researchers in the marketing discipline are aware of the level fallacies in cross-cultural marketing research: interpreting data from the cultural group level when the data are about individuals and vice versa. Without first establishing the conformity of the level of statistical analysis to the level of theory, many cross-cultural marketing research findings are exposed to possible level fallacies, rendering these findings at best questionable. By bringing the attention of marketing researchers to the levels issues in cross-cultural marketing research, it is hoped that this will help advance the theory and practice in future cross-cultural marketing research.