This first chapter of this dissertation will give an introduction to the study which will be followed by research gap, research question and objectives and the structure of the dissertation. The introduction will present an overview of the study which presents about CQ theory and the context that has been taken to investigate the research phenomenon. The research gap will give an overview to the key research gaps that have been found from the deep analysis of existing research on CQ. The following part after the research gap, will present the central research question of the study. In order to find the answer for the main question, four research objectives were set and will also be presented in this part. The final part of this chapter will present the structure of this dissertation and will discuss about how the dissertation is organized from beginning to end.
The second chapter will present the theoretical key concepts and the literature review. As this study has chosen India as the context, it is vital to have an understanding about India. The discussion about India, will explain the complexity of the Indian cultural environment and gives an understanding why India was chosen as the context. Therefore, this chapter starts by giving an overview to the Indian cultural and business environment. The next part will compare Finnish and Indian culture through cultural dimensions. As this dissertation is focused on investigating Finnish business leaders experience in India, it is crucial to have an in-depth knowledge about Finnish and Indian cultures. Therefore, this chapter will present the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede and GLOBE used to discuss in detail, about Finnish and Indian cultures. Likewise, the GLOBE preferred leadership style is to explain the differences between the leadership preferences of Finland and India. After presenting the cultural differences, this chapter will present CQ theory. The detailed discussion of CQ dimensions such as Motivational, Cognitive, Metacognitive and Behavioral CQ is presented in this chapter. Finally, the previous research on CQ theory is discussed as well.
The third chapter will be dedicated to methodology section. This chapter starts with the research philosophy and explains the philosophical stand point of this dissertation, this is followed by the research approach of the study. In addition,
this chapter will explain about the research strategy and the research method employed. Also, this chapter will explain the different sources of data used in this study. First, the source one data, using the CQ 20 item scale questionnaire will be presented. Second, the source two data, using semi-structured interviews, will be explained in detail. The questionnaire development, interview procedure, list of interviewees, segregation of interviewee transcripts, coding procedure and analysis of data will be explained in detail in this chapter.
In the fourth chapter the empirical analysis and results will be discussed. This chapter will start by discussing the findings from the analysis of source one data 20 item CQ scale questionnaire which was collected from the interviewees before beginning of each interview. The findings from the 20 item scale, serves as the foundation of this study, as it is utilized to segregate the interview transcripts based on the scores of the interviewees. The interview transcripts are segregated into two groups based on the individual CQ scores of the interviewees. The interview transcripts of both the groups will be analysed in detail to reveal the complete findings. The final part of this chapter, will present the comparison of findings from both of the groups of data presented earlier.
The fifth chapter will be dedicated to discussion of the research objectives that were set in order to find the answer for the central research question. First the differences that were identified by the Finnish business leaders in the Indian business environment are presented. Followed by, the cultural differences between Finnish and Indian cultures that was found from the analysis of the interview transcripts. The following part will discuss the challenges identified by the Finnish business leaders in the Indian business environment. Likewise, the skills that was identified by the interviewees, crucial when working in the Indian, will be discussed. The final part of this chapter, will discuss how interviewees view factors such as motivation, cultural knowledge, preparation and behavior.
The sixth chapter will present the answer to the central research question which is to find out to what extent an in what ways CQ facilitates Finnish business leaders in India. The chapter starts with presenting the findings from the 20 item scale CQ questionnaire and reveals the key findings from the detailed analysis of this scale. Likewise, the key findings from the qualitative analysis and its correlation with the CQ theory will be presented. Most importantly this chapter will explain how the findings support the existing knowledge about the four capabilities of CQ. In addition, this chapter will also discuss the new capabilities that are identified which will pave the way to the expansion of CQ theory.
The seventh chapter will present the theoretical contribution, methodological contribution, contextual contribution and practical implications. This chapter
explains the four important theoretical contributions that expand the theory, by offering additional dimensions. Likewise, the next part explains how the use of qualitative method in this study has contributed to the method. The next part explains the important contextual contributions that the study offers. The managerial implications that this study presents, are also discussed in detail in this chapter, by giving recommendations for company managers from the findings of this study. The final part of this chapter, explains about limitations of this study as well as the suggestions for further research.
The seventh chapter is followed by references and appendices.
Figure 1. Structure of the dissertation
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is presented in five parts. The first part will give an overview to the Indian cultural environment in order to justify why India has been chosen as the country of context for the investigation. The second part will provide an overview to Indian and Finnish cultures, through cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede and GLOBE study. The third part will provide an overview to cultural competence. The fourth part will provide an overview to CQ theory. The fifth part will present the earlier studies on CQ.