Generational Shifts in Managerial Values and the Coming of a Global Business Culture

Abstract

In a globalizing world, cross-national differences in values and business culture and understanding these differences become increasingly central to a range of managerial issues. Studies of cultural (dis)similarities in the values of managers (so-called managerial values) and the development of a unified, global business culture, however, have hardly developed beyond static, bi-country comparisons of managerial values. This paper addresses three recent critiques of the literature on cultural convergence. It develops a theory-driven empirical approach to the study of change in countries’ business cultures that revolves around generational differences in managerial values and brings important advancement in our understanding of cross-national differences in managerial values and the dynamics therein. We use longitudinal data that cover 37,254 managers and are able, for the first time, to consider a sample of countries that is large and diverse enough to allow for credible international generalizations. Results show systematic generational shifts in managerial values towards a steady waning of cultural dissimilarities between managers. Interestingly, cultural convergence is not universal across values domains. Nevertheless, nationality is increasingly becoming a less relevant factor in managerial values. We now have strong empirical reason to move beyond thinking in simple country dichotomies when considering managerial values and business culture.