Cultural distance is an important element in the study of international marketing phenomena. However, scholars have voiced significant concerns with its use. Although reviews of cultural distance have been conducted, no research has yet been put forth that directly addresses how the choices that scholars make in relation to the conceptualization and operationalization of cultural distance influence our understanding of its role in international marketing phenomena. In this work, concerns pertaining to cultural distance are reviewed and used as a foundation to systematically analyze 83 articles referencing cultural distance within the international marketing literature to understand the choices that have been made. Significant heterogeneity in conceptualization and operationalization of cultural distance is found. Then, the empirical consequences of this choice heterogeneity are examined within a single data set of 148 suppliers to a European OEM. The findings demonstrate that differences in choices significantly influence the observed effects of cultural distance, and hence the understanding of its role in international marketing phenomena. Last, a series of recommendations are put forth aimed at enhancing the ability to build a strong foundation of knowledge of cultural distance’s role in international marketing phenomena.

文化距离是研究国际营销现象的重要因素。但是，学者们对其使用表示了极大的关注。尽管已经对文化距离进行了评论，但还没有提出直接解决学者对文化距离的概念化和运作化的选择如何影响我们对其在国际营销现象中作用的理解的研究。在这项工作中，与文化距离有关的问题被审查并用作系统分析国际营销文献中有关文化距离的83篇文章的基础，以了解已做出的选择。发现在文化距离的概念化和可操作性方面存在显着的异质性。然后，在一个欧洲OEM的148个供应商的单个数据集中检查了这种选择异质性的经验结果。研究结果表明，选择上的差异会显着影响所观察到的文化距离的影响，从而影响对其在国际营销现象中的作用的理解。最后，提出了一系列建议，旨在增强建立文化距离知识在国际营销现象中作用的坚实基础的能力。