The problem with applying Western theories that don’t fit

Globalisation challenges every individual to run faster and faster to keep pace with massive innovation across borders. In order to do that, the theoretical foundations of individuals must be strong and congruent to their core values. Unfortunately, most developing nations lack theories that are developed by their own scholars.

In social sciences, using theories from other nations is like wearing shoes that don’t fit the individual or the purpose. This lack of fit occurs for the individual due to a misalignment of cultural values; furthermore, the lack of fit also occurs for a business environment that is drastically different from the theory’s original environment.

As people get into the race of globalisation with unfit shoes, they fall after a few steps. How can you get ahead when the theories/shoes simply don’t fit?

Having taught and worked with countless PhD students on every major continent, it’s astonishing to see how many business PhDs are living in a bubble, sheltered from the real world, rarely making a profound impact on their fields of business in their nation.

In the many journal articles and dissertations that I’ve reviewed from developing nations, the majority of them only test existing theories from the West, with little to no consideration for cultural or situational influences.

For example, many students explore United States ideas of transformational leadership. One of its dimensions is intellectual stimulation. While students find a way to show evidence of this practice in their studies, the actual practice of intellectual stimulation conflicts with cultural norms like high-power distance, which are built on the idea that those lower down the hierarchy should defer to those at the top and that this is part of the natural order.

Worse yet, when I ask graduate students and PhDs about their studies, they can’t recall a specific theory from all their studies that originated from their own nation. Why don’t people ask challenging questions about these foreign theories and about cultural and situational fit? Why aren’t PhD students creating new theories that fit their cultural values and their economic environments?

Three root causes

The situation calls for a systemic exploration of the educational environment. While these perspectives do not apply to all developing nations, the general characteristics are relatively consistent. Three root causes perpetuate this phenomenon:

• • A rigid hierarchy: Within the high-power distance systems in most African and Asian institutions, students are taught to comply. Even as they get into graduate levels in business schools, they are only taught to test existing theories. Professors in these institutions have the ultimate authority to push foreign theories onto impressionable minds. Especially with the dominant lecture style of teaching, students are left with ‘yes sir’ as their common response.
  
  There is no room to challenge why a theory functions or not in their respective environment. Compliance to the professor is the norm. As a result, students graduate in a context of conformity to conventional thought and rigid hierarchy, without having developed a critical mind for theories.
  
  
• • Flawed research methodologies: I’ve seen many PhD students with high academic positions in universities lacking the correct knowledge in research methodology. Worse yet, they continue to teach the incorrect research methodology to their students. For example, some professors give students a generic number for the target sample size for their study, leaving students with no knowledge of how to calculate it statistically.
  
  Furthermore, most are being taught quantitative research methodology only, which can only test existing theories. Grounded theory approach in qualitative research is rarely understood as a way to develop theories. Without the correct research methodology, it becomes impossible to create the new theories that are needed to lead the nation.
  
  
• • Lack of systems and critical thinking: Two fundamental thought processes a PhD should have are systems thinking and critical thinking. Neither are present in the current system of education in most nations. At best, some universities have a course on the topic.
  
  Students learn to regurgitate the theories, but rarely learn to apply them. This type of thinking takes years to develop, along with many other self-constructs needed to support these skills, such as self-confidence and self-efficacy. Without being able to see systems at work, most students can only see what is in front of them, which are given theories from foreign nations.

For example, I’ve had hundreds of students defend their masters or doctoral research in nations like Myanmar and Ghana. The overwhelming majority of students’ research quantitatively tests Western theories like transformational leadership or the Service Quality Model (SERVQUAL). None have critically assessed why a given Western theory in a textbook should accord with the cultural values within their nation.

Key constructs like reliability in SERVQUAL and individual consideration in transformational leadership are very different in developing nations that struggle with scarcity of basic resources and cheap labour. These theories function within a set of American cultural values and in an environment where basic needs are met; they do not work when placed in a different system with another set of cultural values and a different business environment.

More importantly, Western assessments of the constructs are value-laden, far removed from the environment of developing nations. This calls into question the validity of the assessments, requiring systemic and critical thought from students.

Innovation

For your nation to be an economic powerhouse, you need courageous and innovative leaders. How these leaders think depends on their mental schema (how their brains function). Much of that ability to think resides in the theories embedded in one’s education. PhD students are meant to be thought leaders with powerful scholarly abilities. Unfortunately, many educational systems in many developing nations don’t share this perspective.

Educational institutions need aspiring leaders to create new systems of education that address the problems of rigid hierarchy, flawed research methodologies, and lack of systems and critical thinking.

When we have many more institutions like the Transcontinental Institution of Higher Education, which help PhD students to focus on theory creation and systems thinking in developing nations, we’ll be equipped with the right shoes to win the globalisation race.

At the Transcontinental Institution, the curriculum is designed around systems thinking and grounded theory research. The learning process is customised to students’ cultural values and environment through numerous systems, from individual learning plans to caring and humble faculty who are international consultants.

In every class, students are encouraged and empowered to critically explore the systemic challenges in social science theories within their respective environments. Over time, systems thinkers are developed through careful scaffolding of learning. Finally, students form their unique dissertation research designed to transform their part of the world.

Whether you’re an educator or someone exploring education, you need to start by asking the right questions to challenge conventional wisdom. And, if you’re an educational leader, initiate theory creation with an imbued understanding of its cultural and environmental influences. Such efforts create the new ideas that transform systems and nations. Let’s lead this initiative together.

Dr Ted Sun is chief innovations officer at the Transcontinental Institution of Higher Education, Malta.