Chapter 7: The Importance of Measurement Equivalence in Transnational Research: A Test of Individual-Level Predictions About Culture and The Differential Use of Organizational Influence Tactics, With and Without Measurement Equivalence

The use of Item Response Theory (IRT) to assess measurement equivalence is briefly presented and then illustrated with survey data from two countries, the United States (N = 271) and Germany (N = 176). Two individual-level hypotheses are tested about the use of influence tactics (dependence and personal punishment), Hofstede’s cultural value of power-distance, and the target of influence (superior, subordinate, or peer). Different results are shown to be possible when analyses use measures that are and are not psychometrically equivalent. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.