Engaging in Cross-disciplinary Research

As an applied social science, business-to-business research is inherently cross-disciplinary. The general theories that provide insight into business relationships, systems, and markets have their foundations in the economics, psychology, sociology, and management disciplines. However, when conducting cross-disciplinary research, academic researchers, like their counterparts in industry, must overcome functional silos. Depending on the type of research challenge, a multidisciplinary approach may be required. At the same time, however, differences in incentives, culture, terminology and jargon, and so forth all can lead to opportunistic and counterproductive behavior. The purpose of this chapter is to explore how to undertake cross-disciplinary research that advances knowledge and understanding in the domain of business-to-business research. To achieve this purpose, we elaborate on the theorizing processes, we examine how to break cross-disciplinary boundaries, and we provide practical guidelines for undertaking cross-disciplinary research.