Interpreting interrelations across multiple levels in HGLM models : An application in international marketing research

Purpose – Although the use of data from different levels is very common in international marketing research, the practice of employing multi‐level analysis techniques is relatively new. The paper aims to provide an application of a specific case of multi‐level modelling – where the dependent variable is dichotomous, which is often the case in marketing research (e.g. whether a consumer buys the brand or not, whether he/she is aware of the brand or not, etc.) Design/methodology/approach – A hierarchical generalized linear model is employed. Findings – Since this is a technical paper, the authors would like to emphasize the process rather than the empirical findings. In summary, the paper: provides a brief theoretical overview of Hierarchical Linear Modeling and Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling; illustrates the application of the method using the domains of consumers within countries and a dichotomous dependent variable; focuses on interpretation of log‐odds results; and concludes with practical issues and research implications. Originality/value – The main value of this research is to demonstrate how to employ multi‐level models when the dependent variable is dichotomous. Multi‐level techniques are quite new in international marketing research, although nested data structures are relatively common in our field. This is a technical paper that guides the researchers as to how to apply and interpret the results when modeling such data with a dichotomous dependent variable.