Cross-cultural Management Studies Research Articles

Intersectionality as a conceptual lens for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in international business studies: newer developments from critical cross-cultural management studies and their insights for the business case

Purpose Using intersectionality and introducing newer developments from critical cross-cultural management studies, this paper aims to discuss how diversity is applicable to changing cultural contexts. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a conceptual paper built upon relevant empirical research findings from critical cross-cultural management studies. Findings By applying intersectionality as a conceptual lens, this paper underscores the practical and conceptual limitations of the business case for diversity, in particular in a culturally diverse international business (IB) setting. Introducing newer developments from critical cross-cultural management studies, the authors identify the need to investigate and manage diversity across distinct categories, and as intersecting with culture, context and power. Research limitations/implications This paper builds on previous empirical research in critical cross-cultural management studies using intersectionality as a conceptual lens and draws implications for diversity management in an IB setting from there. The authors add to the critique of the business case by showing its failures of identifying and, consequently, managing diversity, equality/equity and inclusion (DEI) in IB settings. Practical implications Organizations (e.g. MNEs) are enabled to clearly see the limitations of the business case and provided with a conceptual lens for addressing DEI issues in a more contextualized and intersectional manner. Originality/value This paper introduces intersectionality, as discussed and applied in critical cross-cultural management studies, as a conceptual lens for outlining the limitations of the business case for diversity and for promoting DEI in an IB setting in more complicated, realistic and relevant ways.

Investigating otherness, not difference: Should saming and othering be the focus of the discipline? Implications for a contemporary cross-cultural management studies

Investigating otherness, not difference: Should saming and othering be the focus of the discipline? Implications for a contemporary cross-cultural management studies

Migration, ethnic otherness and the ‘refugee crisis’ in Germany: Why more conflict is better integration, and how this reconfigures positive cross-cultural management scholarship

Otherness in contemporary cross-cultural management (CCM) studies often emerges from migration and refugee movements, with ensuing integration challenges. In this context, ‘difference’ is perceived as being more problematic than enriching, and this makes it difficult to contribute to integration via a Positive Organizational Scholarship. Introducing the sociology of conflict, I propose that the success of a positive cross-cultural management engagement with Otherness should not be measured in terms of the degree to which difference is overcome and integrated, but in terms of the degree to which more parties engage more deeply with relevant conflict and friction. Investigating Otherness by means of a sociology of conflict approach thus radically changes the assumptions, research agendas, practices, presumed goals and potential responsibilities of a contemporary cross-cultural management theory and practice: deeper conflict signifies better integration, and assuming otherwise is both unrealistic and mis-fitting. I exemplify this reverse logic, and how to employ it, with a discussion of the ‘refugee crisis’ and the dynamics of ‘migration background’ in Germany. Thus reconfigured, integration in Germany emerges as more successful than is commonly believed.

What connects positivism and interpretivism in cross-cultural management studies: Genealogy as a method for re-ordering disciplinary knowledge

Cross-cultural management (CCM) studies is the discipline that investigates the interrelations between culture, management and organization, and ensuing implications. Like all disciplines, it is built upon certain presumed ‘disciplinary truths’, such as paradigmatic delineations, and assumptions of how culture should be studied differently within different paradigms. Such presumed truths easily become ‘trends’, potentially even disciplinary closures. In this article, I show how the concept of genealogy (Foucault), can help challenge prevalent ideas of how the disciplinary knowledge of CCM studies is ordered, in particular the idea that positivism and interpretivism are opposing CCM paradigms which study culture in distinct ways. It then becomes apparent how positivism and interpretivism, as selectively understood and delineated by CCM studies, are characterized by a shared focus on stable and immaterial selected aspects of culture and, consequently, suffer from the same limitations. Genealogy thus ‘un-fixes’ disciplinary knowledge and, via widening the scope of the analysis, enables CCM scholars to make choices beyond presently taken-for-granted disciplinary delineations.

Cross-Cultural Challenges in Indonesian Workplaces: A Systematic Literature Review of Chinese Expatriate Adaptation in Companies in Indonesia

The growing number of Chinese expatriates in Indonesian companies has become an interesting subject for academics and business practitioners in cross-cultural management studies. The increasing number of Chinese workers entering Indonesia will make them experience barriers in communication. The existence of communication barriers when adapting will certainly have the potential for misunderstanding and even conflict. The way expatriates adapt to the new environment is something that needs to be considered, with differences in ethics and culture, it is feared that it can become a conflict in the business world. This research was conducted using the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method, a research method used to identify, analyze, evaluate, and interpret all previous research results obtained by researchers. The selected literature contained six articles that were in accordance with the research topic. The literature obtained discusses conflicts that often occur between Chinese workers and local workers due to cultural differences, such as differences in terms of work ethic, discipline, and non-verbal styles that can cause misunderstanding.

Cross-cultural management studies: are we doing more harm than good?

Cross-cultural management studies: are we doing more harm than good?

Cultural intelligence and COVID-induced virtual teams: Towards a conceptual framework for cross-cultural management studies

This article proposes a creative approach to cultural intelligence, as an individual’s capability to function effectively under the condition of cultural diversity. Virtual team collaboration, as stimulated by the COVID-19 pandemic, constitutes a novel, culturally diverse context. We explore how cultural intelligence may shed light onto the requirements of post-COVID virtual and hybrid team collaboration. The contribution of this article to cross-cultural management studies is thus conceptual: by using the concept of cultural intelligence creatively and beyond its classic application, we exemplify a way in which cross-cultural management studies remain relevant, in an increasingly virtual world of work wherein people travel less to other countries, wherein collaboration takes place online and remotely, and wherein national cultural boundaries intersect with other cultural diversity factors.

Organizations and migrant integration: Towards a multiparadigm narrative approach

This paper explores the potential of conducting multiparadigm research within and beyond cross-cultural management, using narratives to examine how organizations shape migrant integration experiences and trajectories. It highlights the strengths of paradigmatic multiplicity in research with examples of three illustrative studies respectively using functionalist, interpretive and critical perspectives, while also considering the boundaries of these individual approaches. The paper proceeds to explore the potential of adopting a multiparadigm approach within a research strategy that places narratives at the centre of enquiry. It identifies the scope and focus of future research for a socially and politically important area of enquiry; it evaluates the application of diverse paradigm-driven methodological perspectives including the challenges involved in using them alone and in combination; and it develops a transferable framework to guide research in cross-cultural management, organization and migration studies that helps to assure procedural and conceptual rigour, and to generate practicable insights that facilitate successful integration outcomes.

Book Review: Cases in Critical Cross-Cultural Management: An Intersectional Approach to Culture

Have you every started to read a book, out of curiosity, not sure that you are going to get anything out of it that you do not already know, so suddenly becoming aware that your way of looking at things is slowly but surely changing? Mahedevan, Primecz and Romani represent a formidable team in critical cross-cultural management scholarship. Together and separately they have produced an impressive literature that headlines the importance of power in considering concepts such as gender, race, ethnicity, religion and class as an integral part of cross-cultural management studies. They have been instrumental in bringing to the fore those aspects that are often forgotten or put to one side in extant scholarship [...]

Investigating otherness: Which differences should be considered by cross-cultural management studies, and how?

Investigating otherness: Which differences should be considered by cross-cultural management studies, and how?

A theory of everything and everywhere: Broadening the horizons of cross-cultural management studies

A theory of everything and everywhere: Broadening the horizons of cross-cultural management studies

From cultural differences to cultural globalization: towards a new research agenda in cross-cultural management studies

Purpose This paper responds to calls for a new raison d’être in the field cross-cultural management (CCM) and culture-sensitive studies of international business (IB) more broadly. It argues that one way of addressing the crisis of confidence in the field is to develop a line of inquiry focussed on corporate-driven cultural globalization. This paper also proposes a theoretical approach informed by international political economy (IPE) and postcolonial theory and outlines a research agenda for future work on cultural globalization. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a desk-based analysis that draws on relevant research in the wider social sciences to insert cultural globalization into the CCM/IB field’s intellectual project. Findings The paper finds the field of CCM and culture-sensitive IB studies more broadly to be almost exclusively focussed on studying the impact of cultural differences. Surprisingly, little attention has been devoted to the phenomenon of corporate-driven cultural globalization. Research limitations/implications The paper redirects the field and presents a research agenda, calling for studies on the role of four related actors in cultural globalization: MNEs, global professional service firms, business schools and CCM/IB researchers themselves. Practical implications CCM/IB scholars may be able to reorient themselves towards the phenomenon of cultural globalization and, in so doing, also seize an opportunity to contribute to important debates about it in the wider social sciences. Originality/value The paper suggests possibilities for renewal by redirecting CCM/IB towards the study of cultural globalization and by encouraging the field to develop a postcolonial sensibility in future research on the phenomenon.

Cross-cultural management studies and the Englishization of scholarly communication: A paradox

Cross-cultural management studies and the Englishization of scholarly communication: A paradox

THE EFFECTS OF CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE ON TASK PERFORMANCE AND CONTEXTUAL PERFORMANCE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES IN MALAYSIA

Purpose of the Study: This paper investigates high performers as those who are highly competent and possess the necessary skills for a job. In conducting businesses globally, public employees are also exposed to diverse cultural situations. Due to cultural challenges and complexities, public sector employees in Malaysia need to embrace the right capabilities to deal effectively with global customers. One of the key managerial competencies needed for dealing effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds is cultural intelligence or cultural quotient (CQ). The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between CQ, task performance, and contextual performance in a cross-cultural context. Methodology: The data used for this study is derived from the questionnaire survey distributed among Malaysian public service employees in two selected government agencies. A total number of 174 valid responses were successfully obtained. Data were analyzed using Partial Lease Square (PLS) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results: The results showed that knowledge CQ and drive CQ have positive influence on employees’ task performance and contextual performance. The findings of this study have important implications for organizations. Our study provides empirical evidence that CQ can serve as a predictor for employee’s work performance in a cross-cultural situation. Implications: This study implements a valuable contribution to the body of knowledge in the fields of human resource management and cross-cultural management studies in Malaysia. It also augments the growing corpus of literature related to the concept of CQ and individual work performance. Human resource management (HRM) should focus on developing employee’s CQ so that they are able to connect and adapt in any global business environment. CQ can be enhanced through proper guidance, training, and development programs.

Cross-Cultural Management Studies: State of the Field in the Four Research Paradigms*

Cross-cultural management research is often confined to the positivist tradition, which is archetypically illustrated by the seminal work of Hofstede. However, this gives an incomplete overview of the field to which three additional research paradigms contribute: interpretivist, postmodern, and critical. Our ambition is to raise awareness of the presence of multiple paradigms in cross-cultural management research. This meta-theoretical positioning allows researchers to consider the insights and contributions from the different paradigms. We aim to achieve this by presenting a brief overview of the state of the field in each paradigm, thus, stressing areas of studies that enrich our understanding of the interaction between culture and management (at the national, organizational, interpersonal, and individual levels). We then highlight the specific contributions of these four paradigms, drawing especially upon the postmodern and critical works, as they have been repeatedly overlooked in reviews. The article concludes by mentioning how more interactions between the paradigms can be developed and can lead to further knowledge development.

Mainstreaming cross-cultural management studies through inclusive scholarship

Mainstreaming cross-cultural management studies through inclusive scholarship

Mainstreaming cross-cultural management studies through inclusive scholarship

Mainstreaming cross-cultural management studies through inclusive scholarship

Balancing academic elitism and unmediated knowledge in cross-cultural management studies

Balancing academic elitism and unmediated knowledge in cross-cultural management studies

The notion of expatriation in the United Arab Emirates

Expatriation in emerging Arab Gulf States, specifically in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is unlike expatriation elsewhere. In most of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the workforce mainly consists of expatriates, with the local population forming a small minority. Given its previous role and expectations of a continuing need in the future, expatriation and migration have become a key topic in many political and socio-economic agendas in the GCC. In this respect, decision makers are grappling with often virulently controversial aspects in an effort to establish a balance between localization and expatriation. To date, research has not been successful in fully capturing the factors influencing this peculiar phenomenon and its consequences for expatriates living and working in UAE. Hence, this study suggests an additional approach and proposes a conceptual model to advance the understanding of the various forms and dynamics of expatriation, influenced and shaped by the national culture, institutional factors and localization policies within the UAE. This study has implications for cross-cultural management scholarship on expatriation in a region that has largely been ignored, in providing a more thorough appraisal of the cultural and institution context. It also provides a framework for contextualizing expatriation within cross-cultural management studies, which should be useful for scholars working in other regions.

Using Cultural Archetypes in Cross-cultural Management Studies

Abstract Studies examining the effects of culture on intentions and behaviors within organizations, as well as of related cross-cultural differences, often focus on either the direct or moderating effect of single cultural value dimensions, or on the moderating effect of country as a proxy of culture. However, culture is i) a multidimensional construct that ii) does not necessarily entirely correspond to particular countries. Disregarding these realities means turning a blind eye to the possibility of more complex interrelationships between various cultural dimensions, or to the possibility of cultural diversity within countries. This paper advocates the use of cultural archetypes in cross-cultural management studies. The use of cultural archetypes represents a configuration approach to studying culture that incorporates a holistic pattern of multiple cultural dimensions. We utilize individual-level data from 10 countries and identify six cultural archetypes that are present in all these countries. Drawing on an illustrative example of culture's effect on entrepreneurial intention, we propose that a cultural archetype approach can be more suitable for analyzing cross-cultural effects than conventional approaches.