SUMMARY

• X-Culture Research Conference (a.k.a Paper Development Hackathon) right before the Academy of International Business (AIB) conference in Copenhagen.
• Organized as a conference, so you can apply for funding from your university.
• X-Culture provides the data and support.
• Researchers intensively work on developing research papers 4 days before AIB and more meetings during AIB
• Researchers go home with a paper idea, a co-author(s), initial results, and first the first very rough paper draft.
• Registration cost $510, covers everything (transportation from Copenhagen by train to and from the University in Odense, lodging 3 nights, food (breakfast), social program, transportation to social events, all conference materials).
• Additional expenses (lunches and dinners) to be provided by participants
  • Alternative arrangements for an “all inclusive” price of $640 can be made on request.

BACKGROUND

X-Culture is collecting huge amounts of data. We are tracking over 2,000 variables: longitudinal, multi-level, multi-source, multi-method. Just about anything related to international teams and virtual collaboration – we measure it.

We have dozens of papers in development based on the data, but there are many more good publications hidden in our database.

Traditionally, the researchers have been working alone or in small co-author teams. They would collect (or buy) they own data, analyze them, and write papers. This model is very limited. A person can have only so many ideas and has only so many hours a day to write papers based on those data.

As a result, most data sets are never fully utilized. Many great discoveries remain undiscovered.

X-Culture does things differently.

We are happy to share our data with researchers interested in developing and publishing high-quality research papers based on the data.

To aid them in this effort, we are organizing our annual X-Culture Research Conference (a.k.a. Paper Development Hackathon).

THE X-CULTURE RESEARCH CONFERENCE (HACKATHON) IN A NUTSHELL

• X-Culture data are made available to the general public.
• Researchers interested in international HR/OB come to the conference,
• intensively brainstorm ideas for papers based on the data,
• get feedback on the ideas,
• select the most promising ones,
• present and critique them,
• debate research designs and share suggestions,
• form co-author teams,
• run preliminary tests,
• present preliminary results and get more feedback and suggestions,
• finalize the story to be told in the paper,
• put together a detailed paper outline or even the first very rough draft,
• all while devoting enough time for socializing and forming strong personal and professional connections,
• go home with a paper idea, co-author(s), initial results, and main points.
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• Then spend the next few months finishing up the paper in time for the AIB or AOM conference, and then to a journal shortly after.

GOAL

• A fully a developed paper idea(s) and outline of the first draft;
• Co-authors, fully acquainted professionally and personally;
• Completed initial tests and results;
• Honest feedback and suggestions for further improvement;
• A detailed plan, to finish up the paper and submit it shortly after the meeting.

THE APPLICATION/SELECTION PROCESS

• Application, March 25, 2019
  • Including
    • Name, contacts, and affiliation
    • An abstract (100-300 words) of a recent study that illustrates your research stream. You will be asked to give a short presentation of this study on the first day of the X-Culture Research Conference so that other attendees can better understand what you are working on and assess you as a potential co-author.
    • An abstract (100-300 words) outlining one unique idea that can be tested (and eventually published) using the X-Culture data (details and codebooks here).
      Please review the list of the variables and experimental conditions in the X-Culture Database and the list of already published and ongoing studies based on the data.

      You will be asked to give a short presentation of this proposed study on the first day of the event. This will be your second conference paper presentation.

      You will not have to pursue this particular study. Your presentation will be used to boost the initial brainstorming of possible studies, but the ideas are expected to evolve and the hackathon participants interact, exchange their ideas, and start working with the data.

      * Please review the list of ongoing research projects here. It will give you a good overview of what kind of work is already being done or could be done using X-Culture data.

• Acceptance to be confirmed by April 10, 2019
  • Abstracts will be reviewed
  • Best contributions will be accepted
• Registration by April 20
  • Reduced registration ($510) 
  • Standard all-inclusive registration ($610) 

REGISTRATION FEE

To make the event more productive and allow the participants to spend all their time on paper development and professional networking, the Research Conference is organized as a “all inclusive” event. The registration fee covers all your expenses from the moment we meet in Copenhagen to the moment we return to Copenhagen for the AIB conference.

The standard registration fee ($510) includes:

• Transportation to and from Copenhagen
• 3 breakfasts
• Lodging 3 nights Hotel Cabin
• Transportation back and forth from Hotel Cabin t0 University Campus where the conference will be taking place (5 min overland rail)
• All X-Culture administration, data request/format and research assistant costs

The all-inclusive registration fee ($610) includes:

• All items included in the standard registration fee
• Plus 3 lunches (provided at the university cafeteria, cost up to $10 per person if bought individually)*
• Plus 3 dinners (we plan to have dinners as a group at local restaurants, cost up to $30 per person if bought individually)*

* If your travel expenses are covered by your university, it is much more efficient to get the all-inclusive registration, rather than deal with the receipts and reimbursements. However, if you are covering the cost on your own and you are on a very tight budget, you may be able to save a little on food.

PROGRAM:

Pre-event:

• Webinar 1: Meet and Greet (RECORDING  icon-youtube-play )
  Friday, April 26
  
  • • Meet and greet
    • Review of the available data and research projects in progress
  • Brainstorming research paper ideas
  • Homework: Think about paper(s) you might be working on

• Webinar 2: Exchange of Initial Paper Ideas (RECORDING icon-youtube-play )
  Saturday, May 18
  • Exchange and discussion of initial research paper ideas
  • Q&As about data
  • Initial look at possible co-author teams
  • Homework: Further refine your possible paper ideas, more is better and keep it open,
    think about possible co-authors (no commitments at this time), start looking at the data

• Webinar 3: Further Exchange of Research Paper Ideas (RECORDING icon-youtube-play )
  Friday, May 31
  
  • Further brainstorming and discussion of possible paper ideas
  • Tentative selection of most promising paper ideas
  • Q&As about data
  • A closer look at possible co-author teams
  • Initial requests of data
  • Homework: Further refine your possible paper ideas, more is better and keep it open,
    think about possible co-authors (no commitments at this time), start looking at the data

• Webinar 4: Pre-conference research webinar (RECORDING icon-youtube-play )
  June 15, 11 am EST
  • Selecting “finalist” paper ideas
  • Tentatively form co-author teams
  • Pre-conference request of data
  • Homework: Further refine your possible paper ideas, narrow to one or two papers, but keep it open, a closer look at possible co-authors, more work with the data

Event

Day 1, Friday, June 21

• Arrival: transportation to Odense (rail)

• Welcome Reception
• Final review the X-Culture database and overview of the research already in progress
• Presentations of discussion of research ideas for the xackathon
• Finalizing the list of papers to be developed at the event (OK to change later)
• Finalizing the co-author teams (OK to change later)
• Homework: Think about the remaining details of the study, final data preparations

Day 2, Saturday, June 22

• Breakfast
• Session 1: Building a foundation
  • A detailed review of each paper idea
  • Collective brainstorming and refinement of research questions, hypotheses, research designs, measures
• Lunch
• Session 2: Initial data analyses
  • Work alone/in co-author teams on initial data analyses
•  Session 3: Presentation and discussion of latest results
  • A quick exchange of the initial data analysis results
  • Collective feedback and suggestions
• Dinner: Socializing and informal discussion
• Homework: Continue working on the data 

Day 3, Sunday, June 23

• Breakfast
• Session 4: Presentation of initial findings
  • Present latest findings, receive feedback
  • Collective brainstorming of challenges discovered so far (theory, methods, findings)
• Lunch
• Session 5: Further data analysis
  • Continue working on data analysis
  • Get clarification (on data and statistical tests)
• Session 6: Presentation and discussion of latest results
  • A quick exchange of the initial data analysis results
  • Collective feedback and suggestions
• Dinner: Socializing and informal discussion
• Homework: Continue working on data analysis, prepare to present your progress

Day 4, Monday, June 24

• Breakfast
• Session 7: Results
  • Present the latest results, receive feedback
  • Collective brainstorming of challenges and solutions
• Working Lunch
  • • Review of progress
    • Most promising paper award ceremony
• Travel back to Copenhagen (rail), more socializing on the way
• Homework: Develop a detailed plan with deadlines for working toward a conference submission (to AOM/AIB in late Fall) and a good journal shortly after.

Post event, Academy of International Business Conference, June 24-27

• Continue working on the paper with your co-authors
• Special event: Tuesday, June 25, 7 pm: X-Culture Dinner

LODGING

Due to both cost, convenience and the opportunity to further shape our X-Culture community, we have made arrangements to house in a well equipped local hotel in Odense (Hotel Cabin). This cost is included in your registration fee.

Transportation to and from the University of Southern Denmark

Your program registration fee will include a return ticket on the local rail service to and from Copenhagen. Since most participants will be arriving around the same time, we plan to meet up in Copenhagen and travel to the conference site as a group. Our experience shows that this short road trip provides a perfect opportunity for breaking the ice and getting to know each other.

FUNDING

You can apply for funding from your university, the event is organized as a conference:

• The application requires a submission of a paper/abstract of your research ideas that you would like to pursue using the X-Culture data;
• The submission will be peer-reviewed;
• The accept/reject decisions will be made based on the peer-reviews of your submission;
• You will be asked to present your work on the first day of the conference (study proposal, your submission) and then again on the second (study outline, developed at the conference) and on the last day (final version of the study, developed at the conference);
• The study proposals will be included in the conference proceedings and published at the conference web page.

 icon-question-circle QUESTIONS:

Dr. Alexander Assouad
icon-phone 615-2757316
icon-envelope-o ResearchConference@X-Culture.org

Past X-Culture Research Xackathons:

• 2018, Research Xachathon at the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse, USA
• 2018, Research Xachathon at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
• 2018, Research Xachathon at the University of Macerata, Italy
• 2017, Research Xachathon Pilot at the Johnson & Wales University, Miami, USA
• Report after testing three different Research Xackahon formats in 2018