Discursive voids in emerging markets present opportunities and challenges to
debate meanings and taken-for granted assumptions. This article uncovers various
strategies used by the researcher and the research participants to address the
discursive void and to negotiate shared meaning about employee empowerment in
Russia. In the absence of a concept for empowerment in the languages of the
study, the researcher and the research participants engaged in joint sensemaking
to bridge discursive voids. We contribute to the discussion of qualitative
cross-language research in emerging markets by identifying the strategies used
not only by the researcher, whose view has dominated previous research, but also
those of the research participants. The researcher in our study addressed the
discursive void by taking on the dual role of researcher-translator, engaging in
contextual approach to translation, consulting external interpreters, and using
iteration and flexibility in the course of the research process. Our research
participants resorted to proverbs to address the discursive void, make sense of
empowerment, and render it locally meaningful. Proverbs are a valuable
methodological tool for sensemaking and theorising about context-specific
phenomena in IB research.