A cross-cultural investigation of temporal orientation in work organizations: A differentiation matching approach

Abstract

International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32 (2008) 479–492 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Intercultural Relations journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijintrel A cross-cultural investigation of temporal orientation in work organizations: A differentiation matching approach Karen Moustafa Leonard 1, * Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Management Doermer School of Business & Management Sciences, Wayne, IN 46805-1499, United States A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Accepted 16 April 2008 This research focuses on the role of temporal orientation in the way it differentiates individuals from one another (McGrath, 1988). Organizational scholars have recognized that time plays a central role in organizations (e.g., Academy of Management Review special issue, 1999; Journal of Managerial Psychology special issue, 1999), specifically as a part of organizational culture (Bluedorn, Kalliath, Strube, & Martin, 1999; Schein, 1992). We wish to demonstrate that cultural dimensions of individualism and collectivism create and sustain differential emphases on two conceptually distinct forms of temporal orientation, monochronicity and polychronicity. Although distinctive cultural contexts create different emphases on how people view and use time, temporal orientation also results from the idiosyncratic combination of societal, organizational, and individual level processes. By isolating the cultural variations of individualism and collectivism at both the societal and individual levels, it may be possible to examine their effects on the temporal perception of individuals in three distinctly different national contexts. In the next section, we will discuss cultural variation, specifically individualism and collectivism. 1. Cultural variation Culture has been described as ‘‘the software of the mind’’ (Hofstede, 1981). Trompenaars (1994) suggests that culture is the result of finding solutions to problems with the environment, time, and relationships with others. Kluckhohn and Strodbeck (1960) considered the way in which individuals cope with time and temporal orientations to be a cultural dimension in itself. In fact, Jones (1988) concluded that the perspective of time may be the most fundamental element of culture. There are different cultural variations in temporal orientation. In another sense, Americans see time as linear, divisible and not connected to the past (Trompenaars, 1994) and overwhelmingly more important than the past (Hofstede, 2001). However, this view is not universal. Other cultures view time as a circular flow, with the past, future, and present adding together to form a cohesive whole (Hofstede, 2001; Trompenaars, 1994). It is easy to see that cultural variation and temporal orientation are closely intertwined. In the next section, we will discuss the cultural variation of individualism and collectivism, and later, the way that this specific cultural variation influences temporal orientation and, in turn, organizationally valued outcomes of job satisfaction, psychological strain, and role overload. * Tel.: +1 260 481 6491; fax: +1 260 481 6879. E-mail address: moustafk@ipfw.edu. Country Collaborators: Ujvala Rajadhyaksha and Olga Soler. 0147-1767/$ – see front matter s 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2008.04.007