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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual framework for studying the intercultural aspect of dyadic business relationship interaction from an individual perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is conceptual in nature. Perspectives on culture and cultural concepts are discussed and critically reviewed for the question of applicability in the study of business relationship interaction from an individual perspective. Findings – By focusing on the application of culture in individual sensemaking of interaction events in a business relationship context, a suitable perspective on culture is chosen. A conceptual framework consisting of the concepts related to the chosen perspective is developed. Moreover, propositions concerning the study of culture in individual sensemaking of interaction events are suggested. Research limitations/implications – The paper suggests several opportunities for further research, particularly concerning the application of the reviewed concepts to the empirical study of culture in sensemaking of business relationship interaction. Originality/value – The paper advocates for a more interpretive and constructive perspective on culture in business relationship interaction studies. Second, it improves understanding of the cultural concepts application in the research on individual sensemaking within a business relationship context. Third, it particularly contributes to the current conceptual underpinning of the International Marketing and Purchasing group studies by reintroducing the concept of culture from an individual perspective.

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PurposeVirtual and augmented reality solutions in medicine are generally applied in communication, training, simulation and therapy. However, like most new digital developments, these technologies face a large number of institutional barriers that are inherent to the medical sector.Design/methodology/approachFollowing Richard Scott's view on institutions and organizations, a multiple case study is used to analyze regulatory, normative and cultural-cognitive institutional pillars in the medical industry.FindingsThe results of the study demonstrate that (1) the regulatory pillar inhibits the advancement of new technologies in the approach to treatment, regulation of patient data, educational processes for medical staff, and information and financial flows; (2) the number of barriers increases based on the solution's level of disruption and the number of variable conventional procedures; (3) trust between participants in the medical industry plays an important role in introducing new technologies; (4) new participants need to address certain pillars depending on the area of application.Originality/valueThe authors discuss top-down and bottom-up approaches for overcoming institutional barriers when implementing augmented and virtual reality solutions for companies focusing on the medical market.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the role of culture in managerial sensemaking and conceptualization of business networking. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply qualitative methodology through the sensemaking approach on three Finnish and three Russian managers in mutual buyer–supplier business relationship dyads. Findings The results imply that the cultural background of the manager determines his perception of the level at which business networking occurs. Finnish managers conceptualize business networking as an organizational strategy, whereas their Russian counterparts conceptualize the phenomenon squarely at the individual level. Research limitations/implications The authors suggest that the underlying cause of the differences in the conceptualization of networking may be that Finnish business networking relies more on concepts derived from Western European business culture, whereas Russian networking relies more on the traditional culture. Consequently, they suggest that the concept of business networking in extant research may suffer from ethnocentricity. Limitations of the study include the limited extent of generalizations from its qualitative nature. Practical implications The results imply that business network relationships should be managed differently in different cultures, and that depending on the cultural background of the business partner, managing both the organizational and the individual levels of business networking is needed. Originality/value The study contributes to limited literature on culture and the role of individuals in managerial conceptualization of business networking. This is one of the rare studies to illustrate differences through individual sensemaking on both sides of the relationship dyad and account for both Western European and Russian market environments.