International Journal of Cross Cultural Management recent issues

Editorial: Cross Cultural Management in the Age of Globalization

Bird, A., Fang, T. — 2009-07-30

Modeling National Identities and Cultural Change: The Western European, Japanese, and United States Experiences Compared

Tipton, F. B. — 2009-07-30

This article examines cultural change in the triad regions, Japan, the United States, and Western Europe. In doing so it attempts to respond to calls to incorporate contextual and temporal factors in the analysis of national culture and their implications for the management of international operations. A four-stage model of development is proposed, derived in dialogue with conceptualizations from anthropology and sociology and with the specialist literature on nationalism. Created by narrow elites over the 19th century, the national cultures of the triad became arenas of violent confrontation in the early twentieth century, and then fragmented into a postmodern diversity in the generation following the Second World War. These tensions reflect broader processes of development that have transformed culture, especially the global forces of rising incomes, rising educational levels, and expansion of the public sphere. In the triad regions these processes have led through a series of stages to a world where individuals choose their own culture. The model therefore predicts in broad outline the likely course of development in emerging nations. The concluding section outlines some possible directions of development and implications for researchers and practitioners.

Is National Culture Still Relevant to Management in a Global Context?: The Case of Switzerland

Chevrier, S. — 2009-07-30

For over 20 years researchers have urged international managers to take culture into account. Focussing on culture raises the problem of using relevant units of analysis. This article advocates that national cultures should be considered even in the global economic context. First, analysis on the national scale makes sense when it is grounded in a political approach to culture. Second, the relevance of the national level is illustrated by the case of Switzerland. If at first sight, Switzerland is a country with multiple internal cultures and borders, a closer analysis shows that the Swiss people share a common political culture based upon attachment to local communities and institutions, to government through consensus and to conflict solving by resorting to arbitration and pragmatism. In the Swiss case, the article shows that management practices are embedded in national political cultures. Validity of the national political culture approach beyond the Swiss case is examined and implications for managers working in cross-cultural environments are discussed.

Ecological Limits to Globalization of Managerial Situations

Van de Vliert, E., Einarsen, S., Euwema, M. C., Janssen, O. — 2009-07-30

The fast-growing global village may not be without cultural boundaries. Globalization as the evolvement of a syndrome of universally endorsed cultural values and practices may have its limits because climate-based demands and wealth-based resources in concert shape unique local cultures. This article reviews results of theory-based research that tested this innovative hypothesis for globalization of the managerially relevant decisions and actions of recruitment, handling work motives, conforming to leadership ideals, and shaping organizational structures and strategies. Recently published secondary analyses of large cross-national/cross-sectional data sets indeed support the presumption that there are climato-economic limits to globalization of managerial situations. Globaphobes and globaphiles may thus have too unrealistic nightmares and daydreams about the sameness of cultures around the globe in times to come.

Chinese Host Country Nationals' Willingness to Support Expatriates: The Role of Collectivism, Interpersonal Affect and Guanxi

Varma, A., Pichler, S., Budhwar, P., Biswas, S. — 2009-07-30

The willingness of host country nationals (HCNs) to provide support to the expatriate has received a lot of attention in the literature on international assignments. Surprisingly, though, the number of empirical studies examining this relationship is extremely limited. This study examines the role of HCNs' collectivistic orientation, interpersonal affect, and guanxi in relation to their willingness to support expatriates. Using data from 212 HCNs in China, it is found that HCNs' perceived relationship quality with the expatriate has a significant impact on their willingness to provide assistance, both role information and social support, to expatriates. Further, it is found that relationship quality is related to perceived cultural similarity. The results reinforce the importance of paying attention to the perceptions and reactions of HCNs towards expatriates. Implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions are offered for future research.

Emotional Intelligence: Factorial Structure and Construct Validity across Cultures

Sharma, S., Deller, J., Biswal, R., Mandal, M. K. — 2009-07-30

This study empirically examines the construct of emotional Intelligence (EI) cross-culturally. Participants (N = 200) from Germany (N = 100) and India (N = 100) completed the Emotional Intelligence Scale, NEO-Five Factor Personality Inventory (Form-S) and Hofstede's Value Survey (Module 94). The major objectives of the study were to examine cross-culturally (a) the factor structure of EI, and (b) the construct of EI as distinct from personality. Results revealed different factor structures for these two cultures, and the construct of EI failed to correlate with the dimensions of personality. Implications of the findings for leadership in a specific culture as well as across different cultures are discussed.

Customization Decisions Regarding Performance Management Systems of Multinational Companies: An Empirical View of Eastern European Firms

Claus, L., Hand, M. L. — 2009-07-30

Performance management (PM) is an important human resource (HR) process for the global organization. There is yet no theoretical framework for identifying the factors that affect customization decisions to standardize or localize PM systems of multinational companies (MNCs). Our purpose is to ascertain the extent of customization of PM systems in MNCs and identify factors that influence customization decisions. We hypothesized that customization of a PM system is a function of global integration, cultural distance and the upstream/downstream nature of PM activities moderated by contextual enterprise variables. A survey was conducted among senior HR practitioners working for the 100 largest companies (by number of employees) in Bulgaria and Romania. Results from a response sample of 97 Bulgarian and Romanian companies indicate that MNCs are already aware of the need for cultural localization of their PM systems and that global integration strategy and specific cultural dimensions — power distance and masculinity — matter more in customization decisions than does overall cultural distance.

Cultural Values Predict Subsequent Economic Growth

Minkov, M., Blagoev, V. — 2009-03-26

The relationship between cultural values and economic growth has been the subject of much controversy. A few studies have shown statistical correlations between measurements of national cultural values and previous growth but this is a dubious approach to the question of whether culture is the cause or the result of such growth. This study uses World Values Survey items from 1998 to 1999 and demonstrates that some values form a nation-level cultural dimension which predicts subsequent, and explains previous, economic growth across more than 70 countries. The dimension contrasts the importance of thrift versus the importance of leisure and good human relationships. Its nature is in full accordance with views of development economists who describe modern economic development as, among other things, a function of saving, investment, and hard work.

Where Is Culture in Cross Cultural Research?: An Outline of a Multilevel Research Process for Measuring Culture as a Shared Meaning System

Fischer, R. — 2009-03-26

Culture is often seen as a shared meaning system. This definition has important implications for cross cultural management research. This article outlines a multilevel research process model that identifies a number of crucial steps to be aware of, if culture is being treated as a shared construct. The model integrates recent advances on composition models in organizational research and equivalence and multilevel frameworks in cross cultural psychology research. The proposed model is discussed in relation to two principal areas of cross cultural management work: (a) the identification of cultural constructs at the country level and (b) individual-level studies aiming to unpackage cultural differences in attitudes and behaviour. Implications for management research and practice across cultures are discussed.

Religious Groups and Work Values: A Focus on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam

Parboteeah, K. P., Paik, Y., Cullen, J. B. — 2009-03-26

Although the existing literature contends that religious beliefs have a strong impact on work values, few studies have examined the relationship. Given the sustained importance of religion in most societies and the growing diversity of the US population, companies are finding an increasing need to understand religion in the workplace. The current research uses data from 44,030 individuals in 39 countries to investigate the influence of the world's four major religions, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam on extrinsic and intrinsic work values. Controlling for important variables such as age, gender, and education, results generally support the posited hypotheses, confirming that religion is positively related to work values. Specifically, we find that all religions except Christianity show a positive relationship with extrinsic work values. Furthermore, we find that all four religions show a positive relationship with intrinsic work values. We also find that those who report no religious affiliation also view work values positively. We suggest that these results are perhaps a result of the converging effects of globalization. This article makes an important contribution to the literature by examining a large sample covering the world's major religions. The findings suggest that most religions view work in a positive light. Such findings are important as more multinationals attempt to manage an increasingly diverse workforce worldwide.

African Leadership: Surfacing New Understandings through Leadership Development

Bolden, R., Kirk, P. — 2009-03-26

This article provides an account of meanings and connotations of `African leadership' emerging from research with a cohort of participants on a Pan-African leadership development programme. We begin by reviewing current approaches to leadership, and how they have been applied to the study of leadership and management across cultures, before introducing the notion of the `African renaissance', which calls for a re-engagement with indigenous knowledge and practices. The findings from our study indicate a tension between accounts and representations of leadership and the potential for leadership development to act as a forum in which participants can work through these issues. In developing an Afro-centric perspective on leadership, we propose that development activities that promote relational, critical and constructionist perspectives on leadership, with an emphasis on dialogue and sharing experience, could be an important means for surfacing new insights and understandings. In particular, they offer a mechanism by which participants can enhance their sense of `self in community', generate shared understandings, challenge repressive power relations, and develop culturally appropriate forms of leadership behaviour. We conclude by proposing that further research is required on leadership in Africa that steps outside dominant methodological and empirical paradigms, and argue that such work holds great potential for generating insights not just relevant to leadership in Africa but to leadership studies in general.

The Transfer of Ubuntu and Indaba Business Models Abroad: A Case of South African Multinational Banks and Telecommunication Services in Tanzania

Newenham-Kahindi, A. — 2009-03-26

This article studies the transfer of South African management business models abroad. It examines the case of four South African multinational companies and the ways that they implement distinctive business models of human resource management strategies on service sector in Tanzania. The article begins by looking at MNCs from emerging economies and at the distinctiveness of their national institutional systems, as well as the ways they attempt to strike a balance between global integration and local differentiation in managing HRM practices abroad. Based on a case study conducted in ABSA, Standard Bank (Stanbic), South Africa-Tanzania Vodacom, and Sanlam African Life Assurance services in Tanzania, this article demonstrates how South African MNCs in this particular sector internationalize their HRM strategies by incorporating the cross cultural interface management practices of Ubuntu and Indaba and those of the host nation's characteristics into their subsidiary operations. The article concludes by illustrating how diverse forms of hybrid HRM strategies have enabled emerging South African organizational service industries to develop high-performance work practices in the midst of global competitiveness.

Constraints in the Implementation of Performance Management Systems in Developing Countries: The Ghanaian Case

Ohemeng, F. L. K. — 2009-03-26

Performance management has become a key element in modern public sector governance. As a result, many developing countries have introduced it as a means to measure organizational and individual efficiency in order to ensure that public sector organizations meet the needs of the public. However, the implementation of performance management systems in many of these countries has been affected by a number of institutional and capacity constraints such as culture, institutional fragmentation, public apathy, and leadership support, thus making it difficult for many of them to realize the `benefits' of such a system. This article examines these constraints with a focus on Ghana. Utilizing information obtained from interviews of senior bureaucrats and chief executive officers of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), it is argued that without a critical analysis of these constraints, performance management no matter how attractive it may be will not achieve the desired results in developing countries.

Cross Cultural Management Research: Assumptions, Evidence, and Suggested Directions

Gerhart, B. — 2008-12-10

National culture is widely viewed as a constraint on management practice. However, that view is increasingly inconsistent with available empirical evidence. Building on earlier work, this article maps out the key assumptions that must be met for cross cultural management research that uses national culture (mean) scores, such as those available from Hofstede and the GLOBE project, to yield relevant and interpretable findings. It is found that these assumptions are either inconsistent with available empirical evidence or have not been adequately addressed empirically. For example, for national culture to act as a constraint on management, cultural differences within countries should be small relative to differences between countries. Evidence shows, however, that this is not the case. As a consequence of the lack of support for this and other assumptions, the article suggests that cross cultural management research needs to proceed differently in the future and provides specific recommendations in this regard.

Cultural Construals of Destructive versus Constructive Leadership in Major World Niches

Van de Vliert, E., Einarsen, S. — 2008-12-10

The common part of leadership culture in a country's organizations is conceptualized here as an adaptation to the non-cultural environment. This society-level study shows that middle managers from 61 societies in 58 countries hold different views on destructive versus constructive leadership profiles depending on the harshness of thermal climate and the degree of collective wealth. The cognitive contrast between more destructive autocratic and self-protective leadership components and more constructive team-oriented and charismatic leadership components is construed as small in harsh/poor environments (e.g. China, Kazakhstan), moderate in temperate climates irrespective of collective wealth (e.g. New Zealand, Zambia), and large in harsh/rich environments (e.g. Canada, Finland). These society-level construals of leadership shed new light on the cross cultural generalizability of theories of people-oriented and task-oriented leadership. In addition, they uncover and clarify the inhibition of managers in richer countries with more demanding climates to complement prosocial with antisocial behavior toward subordinates when appropriate.

Leadership Behaviors around the World: The Relative Importance of Gender versus Cultural Background

van Emmerik, IJ. H., Euwema, M. C., Wendt, H. — 2008-12-10

This study examined the associations of gender and cultural clusters with two classical leadership styles: consideration and initiating structure. We used a unique database for this study: 64,000 subordinates evaluating the leadership behaviors of their direct supervisors (N = 13,595), representing 42 countries. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analysis for cultural clusters. As hypothesized, culture had a stronger impact on leadership behaviors than gender, particularly on initiating structure. In line with predictions, female managers around the world used more consideration. Yet, unexpectedly, women also used more initiating structure. The results suggest that gender differences in managerial behavior are predominantly present in western societies. Results contradict classic stereotypes regarding male and female managerial behaviors. More theory is needed to understand the interaction between gender and culture in relation with leadership. Outcomes have practical implications for HRM practices in international firms and cross cultural leadership training, which should aim at reducing stereotypical thinking on female and male leadership attributes in different cultures.

Cross Cultural Trespass: Assessing African Anti-corruption Capacity

De Maria, W. — 2008-12-10

The African Union and the African Development Bank estimate that corruption costs African economies more than US$148 billion dollars each year. This leads to a loss of 50% in tax revenue, increases the cost of African goods by as much as 20% and eats away 25% of Africa's GDP. Little wonder that fighting African corruption has become serious business. One weapon being used in the battle is the anti-corruption agency. These are new features on the African governance landscape and are usually instigated and resourced by transnational agencies with a `development' brief. Yet so little is known about their functionality. This article, for the first time, brings all African anti-corruption agencies into a mega case study. Using a novel mix of data approaches the article identifies serious program failure across all anti-corruption agencies. The African anti-corruption project is crafted offshore, in social and economic contexts that are not sufficiently replicated in the African experience, and for purposes connected more to international commerce than human rights. The study contributes to a significant intellectual conflict in cross cultural management research concerned with the pros and cons of a universal management model. It does this by demonstrating causation between program failure and the ubiquitous application of a culture-free universal management model to the highly complex issue of African corruption. In practical terms the article offers designers of anti-corruption programs an alternative way of thinking about African corruption.

Rethinking Social Identity Theory in International Encounters: Language Use as a Negotiated Object for Identity Making

Lauring, J. — 2008-12-10

In a globalized business environment, interaction across linguistic boundaries is becoming a normal part of everyday life. In these encounters language differences may affect the formation of social identities among organization members. While studies based on Social Identity Theory perceive the link between identity and language to be linear, this article takes a different approach. By drawing on anthropological theories on ethnic identity it is argued that the relation between language and social identity is negotiated in interaction. In the empirical analysis the article focuses on the encounter between expatriates and local employees of a Danish subsidiary in England. The findings show that identity making may be actualized by competition for resources and recognition. This can be done by investing certain objects such as the symbolic application of language with certain identifications. It is finally argued that the processes by which identifications develop can cause both polarization and accommodation in the relation between groups and individuals.

Life of Social Values, Rotterdam, 18--19 May 2007

Magala, S. — 2008-12-10

`Coming of Age Outside of Samoa': Review of the International Conference on the Cross Cultural A Note on the Aarhus Master Class in Developing a Scholarly Background in International Organizational Studies of Management

Sondergaard, M., Peterson, M. F. — 2008-12-10

Erratum

2008-07-29

Cultural Intelligence: Domain and Assessment

2008-07-29

The construct of cultural intelligence, recently introduced to the management literature, has enormous potential in helping to explain effectiveness in cross cultural interactions. However, at present, no generally accepted definition or operationalization of this nascent construct exists. In this article, we develop a conceptualization of cultural intelligence that addresses a number of important limitations of previous definitions. We present a concise definition of cultural intelligence as a system of interacting abilities, describe how these elements interact to produce culturally intelligent behavior, and then identify measurement implications.

Strategies for Strengthening Causal Inferences in Cross Cultural Research: The Consilience Approach

Leung, K., van de Vijver, F. J.R. — 2008-07-29

True experiments cannot be conducted in cross cultural research because it is impossible to assign participants to different cultures randomly. Cross cultural studies are therefore regarded as quasi-experimental research, and threats that jeopardize the validity of causal inferences in cross cultural research are reviewed. Borrowing from evolutionary biology and epidemiology, the consilience approach is advocated for strengthening the validity of cross cultural causal inferences. This approach holds that causal inferences in cross cultural research are most convincing when supported by diverse evidence based on a sound theoretical basis, multiple sources of data, different research methods, and explicit refutation of alternative interpretations. Three broad strategies for strengthening cross cultural causal inferences are proposed under the consilience framework, including the systematic contrast of cultural groups, the inclusion of covariates to rule out alternative explanations, and the use of multiple research methods, such as cross cultural experimentation. Future developments of cross cultural research methods are discussed.

Managers' Perceptions of Women and Men Leaders: A Cross Cultural Comparison

Prime, J., Jonsen, K., Carter, N., Maznevski, M. L. — 2008-07-29

We examined perceptions of managers from four Western European cultural groups about women's and men's leadership. Participants from every cultural group perceived reliable gender-based differences in leadership effectiveness. While some stereotypes varied across cultures, stereotyping patterns were more often linked to participants' gender than to their cultural beliefs. Unexpectedly, gender stereotypes of leaders were least prevalent among Latin respondents compared to those from more egalitarian cultures. In the Nordic and Anglo groups, male participants' stereotypes disparaged women's performance at the most valued leadership competencies. The implications for women's leadership advancement in these different cultural contexts are discussed.

The Impact of Individual Collectivism on Commitment and Its Influence on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour and Turnover in Three Countries

Felfe, J., Wenhua Yan, , Six, B. — 2008-07-29

Increasing globalization and rising markets in Eastern Europe and Asia have led to a growing interest in issues of cross cultural management. In western culture, high correlations have been found between leadership, commitment, turnover and performance. In this study we examined the influence of cultural differences on employees' commitment and its impact on relevant outcomes at the individual and the country level. Collectivism was directly measured at the individual level. Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and turnover intention were examined as consequences of commitment. Data were collected in Germany, Romania and China. As expected, results indicate that collectivism as a cultural value orientation is related to commitment, and exerts a stronger influence on commitment in collectivistic countries. Moreover, the relationships between commitment and outcomes are stronger in a collectivistic context.

Reflections of a Cross Cultural Scholar: Context and Language in Management Thought

Holden, N. — 2008-07-29

Cet article de réflexion sappuie sur les 25 ans denseignement et de recherche en gestion interculturelle de lauteur. Il raconte comment il a commencé à écrire sur le management interculturel en tant que forme de gestion du savoir afin de tenter de sécarter dune pensée conventionnelle qui entravait, et entrave toujours selon lui, le développement intellectuel de la discipline. Il prétend que le défi nest pas de faire rentrer les comportements de lentreprise dans tel ou tel schéma de classification culturelle, mais de reconnaître dans la culture une influence transnationale qui na toujours pas été découverte dans les réseaux mondiaux de lentreprise. Diverses directions pour la recherche en gestion interculturelle sont proposées. Un autre thème majeur de cet article concerne la position du langage comme " continent perdu du management » : une définition de lexpression « langage managérial » est proposée, suivie dune recherche philologique qui met en lumière un terme de gestion déjà utilisé en anglais en 1614.

Book Review: Michael M. Harris (ed.), Handbook of Research in International Human Resource Management. New York & Oxford: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007, 271 pp

Reiche, B. S. — 2008-07-29