Culture-specific IT Use in Japanese Factories

Abstract

This paper explores the role that national culture plays in shaping the ‘emergent’ relationship between information technology (IT) and work organizations. It also shows the mechanisms through which national culture influences workers’ IT use. Although a number of previous studies have investigated relationships between IT and organizations, relatively few studies have conducted international comparisons on the theme, and even fewer have focused on national culture in their analytical framework. The present study is based on extensive survey research undertaken with Japanese and British factories, providing empirical evidence about the possibility of cultural influences and their possible implications, and evidence about how such influences operate in reality. The overall analysis of the survey data suggests that the effect of national culture is significant and operates across industry boundaries. The analysis implies that, rather than diversity being eliminated by global IT systems, adaptation to local contexts is likely to remain an important dimension of IT implementation in work organization.