Cultural Hierarchies Research Articles

Intellectual capital, organizational culture and ambidexterity in Colombian firms

PurposeThis study analyzes the impact of intellectual capital on organizational ambidexterity by evaluating the mediating effect of the different types of organizational cultures (adhocracy, clan, market and hierarchy) on the said relationship.Design/methodology/approachFrom a sample of 124 directors of Colombian firms, the information is analyzed using Structural Equation Models through the Partial Least Squares method (SEM-PLS).FindingsThe results show that intellectual capital has a positive relationship with organizational ambidexterity and that market culture presents a positive mediating effect in the said relationship, while the mediating effects of adhocracy culture, clan culture and hierarchy culture are not significant.Practical implicationsDirectors can favor the development of organizational ambidexterity by investing in the intellectual capital of their firms and by promoting the development of market culture attributes.Originality/valueThis work contributes empirical evidence on the mediating role of organizational culture in the relationship between intellectual capital and ambidexterity, highlighting the importance of market culture over other types of culture for the simultaneous development of exploration and exploitation capabilities, in the context of an emerging Latin American economy such as Colombia.

Implementation of first episode psychosis intervention in India – A case study in a low-and middle-income country

First Episode Psychosis (FEP) is a serious mental illness affecting adolescents and young persons. While many effective interventions are available, there has not been much research to understand the implementation of such interventions in India and other low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). We studied the implementation of an FEP intervention program in a specialist mental health facility in Chennai, India, using a well-established framework for doing so, the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). We conducted 27 in-depth interviews with the service users (15 persons with FEP and 12 family caregivers of persons with FEP). We also conducted a focus group discussion with 8 service providers and in-depth interviews with 7 other service providers including those in the service management. A thematic analysis approach was used to identify emerging themes. First, we found CFIR effectively accommodated implementation challenges evident in LMICs; that is, it is transferable to LMIC settings. Second, we highlight barriers to implementation that include cost, limited human resources, cultural and professional hierarchy, divergence from evidence-based guidelines, and lack of awareness and stigma in the wider community. Third, we highlight facilitators for implementation such as, leadership engagement, the need for change that was recognized within the service, cosmopolitan perspectives derived from clinicians’ local and international collaborative experiences and expertise, compatibility of the intervention with the existing systems within the organization, accommodating the needs of the service users, and rapport developed by the service with the service users. Fourth, we propose a model of service delivery incorporating a task-sharing approach for first episode psychosis in resource restricted settings based on the feedback from the stakeholders.

The Album Cover

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Study from Spain shows how clan and adhocracy cultures help to foster the internal CSR practices which improve worker happiness

Purpose The authors felt there was a lack of prior evidence about the antecedents of internal CSR and its relationship with employees’ happiness. The study considered the role of organizational culture as a determinant of internal CSR actions. Design/methodology/approach The authors questioned 921 employees of companies from various sectors in Spain. The respondents mainly worked for service and industrial companies with fewer than 50 employees and an annual turnover above 250,000 euros. They were mostly men, mainly well-educated and the average age was 38.5. They were surveyed using a questionnaire with 59 questions assessing internal CSR processes (20 items), organizational culture (24 items) and employee happiness (15 items). Findings The results showed that clan and adhocracy cultures are positively and significantly associated with internal CSR practices. In the case of hierarchy culture, it is positively related to adaptability to change and occupational health and safety. But the results did not support the hypotheses related to market culture as only its relationship with adaptability to change was positive. The data also indicated the significant and positive effect of internal CSR on employee happiness. Originality/value The authors believe their study has implications for practitioners and policymakers. They argue that organizations should try to develop cultures that help to promote internal CSR, which means adhocracy and clan. Meanwhile, there are also practical implications for researchers. First, the model integrates happiness, which is rare in CSR studies. Second, the study addresses a gap in the research about how company culture acts as an antecedent to internal CSR. Third, the study generates knowledge about internal CSR from the perspective of employees.

Live and let live? Morality in symbolic boundaries across different cultural areas

This article examines morality in taste judgements. In response to Bourdieu’s analysis of France in the 1960s, sociologists note that repertoires of moral evaluation vary across contexts. They typically highlight national variations, like Nordic egalitarianism weakens cultural boundaries, and temporal variations, with transformed values having made cultural hierarchies less defensible. The article investigates a neglected type of moral variation: contrasting cultural areas. In a study of class and culture in Stavanger, Norway, the authors combined oral interviews on taste with photo elicitation in the visual arts, literature and housing/architecture. While interviewees were often careful not to appear disdainful of other people’s tastes, and expressed ambivalence about cultural boundaries, their thoughts on housing/architecture diverged. Here, people did not hesitate to criticise other people’s taste, even to the point of ridiculing their houses. The authors discuss the implications for Lamont’s symbolic boundary perspective, which is predicated on a separation of three types of symbolic boundaries (cultural, socioeconomic, moral). Morality can both weaken and reinforce cultural boundaries, depending on the areas under investigation. In conclusion, the authors suggest ways cultural sociology may conceive of different moral modalities.

School Management Culture, Emotional Labor, and Teacher Burnout in Mainland China

The literature suggests that teacher burnout is influenced by the market and hierarchy cultures of school management and teachers’ emotional labor strategies of surface and deep acting. However, studies have suggested that school management cultures and emotional labor strategies may not function independently based on the emotional labor theory. Nevertheless, the literature has paid less attention to the relationship between the school management cultures, emotional labor, and teacher burnout. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between the three variables in China via an online questionnaire survey. After surveying 425 kindergarten, primary and secondary teachers who participated in a professional development program organized by a public university in Beijing, the study found that teacher burnout was positively related to market culture but negatively related to hierarchy culture. Moreover, the impact of the market culture was fully mediated by surface acting while the impact of hierarchy culture was partially mediated by surface acting and deep acting.

Sticky notes against corporate hierarchies in South Korea: An ethnography of workplace collaboration and design co-creation

This article deploys ethnographic methods and actor-network theory (ANT) to investigate how sticky notes challenge the historical hierarchies of South Korean corporate culture. After sketching challenges of workplace collaboration in South Korea, we present an ethnography of a co-creation workshop at a food company. To detail how sticky notes support collaborative inquiry, we approach them as active nonhuman actors and analyze the workshop progression through the four moments of ANT's sociology of translation—problematization, intéressement, enrolment, and mobilization. We conclude that stickies enable an effective silent ideation by hushing domineering senior participants and amplifying opinions from junior and mid-career participants. Finally, implications are drawn for stickies' mediating ability in culturally specific collaborative practices.

Strategy Implementation: Does Hierarchy Culture Matter in Licensed Professional Societies in East Africa

Purpose: This study is aimed at establishing hierarchy and strategy relationship in registered professional bodies in Kenya.
 Design/Method/Approach: The dependent variable was measured through policy implementation, resource assessment and motivation. Hierarchy culture as an independent variable was measured through dominant characteristic and management of employees. Using a descriptive design approach, the study collected a return of 132 responses from a target of 168 in professional bodies of Kenya. The study set up a null hypothesis to be tested using a linear regression model to establish the relationship between dependent and independent variables.
 Findings: For hierarchy constructs, it was established that there was a significant correlation between strategy implementation and dominant characteristics r = .316, p < .05 with the management of employees r = .288, p < .05.
 Theoretical Implications: This paper expanded the body of research on organizational culture by showing that there is a significant relationship between the hierarchy culture and strategy implementation with both dominant characteristics and management of employees showing positive effects for the relationship.
 Originality/Value: This research shows that the organizations that are most successful in the market have a strong hierarchy culture within their environment. Therefore, professional bodies must at least have a mechanism of ensuring hierarchy culture within the organization.
 Research Limitations/Future Research: The study only looked at the association between hierarchy culture and strategy implementation. Future studies should investigate the relationship between strategy implementation and other dimensions of an organizational culture.
 
 Paper type: Empirical

Effect of Cultural Dimensions Practiced in Kenya on Strategy Implementation among Professional Bodies Registered by the Association of Professional Societies of East Africa

The study sought to establish how strategy implementation was effected within professional bodies registered with the Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA) in Kenya. Through descriptive study design, the research applied a convenience sampling method to interrogate 28 registered professional bodies in Kenya using a structured questionnaire. Out of 168 questionnaires shared across the professional bodies, 132 fully responded questionnaires were returned. Results were processed using linear regression model to establish the effectiveness of strategy implementation within the professional bodies using Statistical Package for Social Sciences program. Results indicated the constructs for strategy implementation against 4 culture dimensions clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy; produced beta values of .245, .249, .263 and .281 with p<.05 indicating a significant increment whenever each dimension was applied. Further research is recommended to establish if strategy implementation can prevail in an environment not adopting any of the 4 cultural dimensions

Örgütsel Çeviklik Açısından Örgüt Kültürü ve Firma Performansı Üzerine Bir Alan Araştırması

The aim of this study is to determine the mediating effect of organizational agility on the impact of organizational culture on firm performance. Within the scope of the study, firstly, a conceptual framework about organizational culture, organizational agility and firm performance was created, and then the findings and results obtained from the survey application conducted within the scope of the research were included. The research sample consists of 140 company employees belonging to the Manufacturing, Service, IT, Retail and Agriculture sectors in the provinces of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Tekirdağ, Kocaeli and Zonguldak. The survey data were collected by the online survey method using the non-coincidental convenience sampling method. Quantitative data analysis was applied in the research. The questionnaire form using a 5-point Likert scale consists of demographic questions and organizational culture, organizational agility and firm performance scales. In the study, in which structural equation modeling was preferred as a model, SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 22 package programs were used in the analysis of the data. Confirmatory factor analysis was checked for validity test and Cronbach's alpha values were checked for reliability. According to the findings of the study, organizational agility has a mediating effect on the effect of clan, adhocracy and hierarchy cultures on firm performance. However, the mediating effect of market culture could not be determined. In terms of demographic characteristics, significant differences were determined between perceptions of organizational culture, organizational agility and firm performance. Keywords: Organizational Culture, Organizational Agility, Firm Performance

Chinese and Taiwanese Identities in Taiwan as Epistemic Challengers

Abstract This paper deals with two theoretical dilemmas concerning Chinese and Taiwanese identities in Taiwan: their vague classification and the unclear dynamics of change. By using grounded theory to analyse 110 in-depth interviews, the research identifies three crucial themes behind individuals’ conceptualisations and interactions with the two identities: (1) ethical narrative, (2) cultural hierarchy, and (3) political ideology. Further theoretical comparisons generate a new epistemic framework which understands identity as a discourse of value: identity in its essence is merely a generic idea; only when associated with other discourses of value can an identity acquire full functions such as arousing people’s sentiments and mobilising them to take actions. The theory suggests that Chinese and Taiwanese identities should be regarded as unique generic concepts attached with distinctive values. People seek identity change upon becoming aware that the original identity can no longer represent the values they have dearly cherished and followed.

The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Work Commitment: The Moderating Role of Organizational Culture

Purpose: The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and work commitment through the moderating role of organizational culture.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: A sample of 351 teachers was randomly selected from public sector universities of Punjab, Pakistan. The data was acquired using a self-administered questionnaire. The study used the structural equational modeling technique (PLS-SEM) to test the hypothesized relationships.
 Findings: The result showed a differential impact of all the dimensions of emotional intelligence on work commitment. The results showed a significant positive relationship between the interpersonal dimension and work commitment and a significant negative relationship between the adaptability dimension and work commitment. The remaining dimensions of emotional intelligence were found to have an insignificant relationship. However, hierarchy culture moderated the relationship between emotional intelligence and work commitment.
 Implications/Originality/Value: The results highlight the significance of emotional intelligence and hierarchy culture for university teachers. The study suggests university authorities to invest in organizational culture to develop and improve emotional intelligence competencies among university teachers to enhance work commitment.

THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IN FORMING ORGANIZATIONAL DISSENT: A RESEARCH ON WHITE-COLLAR EMPLOYEES

In this study, along with organizational culture, organizational dissent which becomes more important in terms of national and international literature in recent years is discussed. This study aims to answer the question of how organizational dissent perception is shaped within the context of organizational culture. In this study, in which quantitative research methods were used, a questionnaire was applied to 211 white-collar private sector employees working in companies in the organized industrial zone in Duzce, Turkey. In the SPSS 18.0 program with the obtained data, correlation analysis was carried out with T-tests and Anova over the demographic variables, while the data were subjected to multiple regression in the AMOS 23.0 program by path analysis. As a result of the path analysis, it was determined that the clan culture, which is one of the sub-dimensions of organizational culture, has a negative effect on the questioning and latent dissent from the sub-dimensions of the organizational dissent. While the culture of adhocracy has a positive effect on the constructive articulated dissent, the hierarchy culture has a negative effect on the constructive articulated dissent and positive effect on latent dissent. These results are expected to demonstrate the importance of organizational dissent in organizational culture for employees and businesses and contribute to the development of the literature.

Investigating the influence of organisational culture on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

The study assessed the impact of organizational culture on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Abuja. The questionnaire used was created based on Cameron and Quinn’s Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) in identifying different types of organizational culture. Using a cross-sectional survey research design, the primary data was obtained through administered structured questionnaire to one hundred and twenty-seven (127) SMEs at different sampled locations in Nigeria. Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis was used to identify the relationship that exists between the variables and the results revealed that organizational culture measured by clan culture, market culture, adhocracy culture and Hierarchy culture variables have significant relationship of r = 0.616, 0.514, 0.604 and 0.784 respectively with performance. The study concludes that organizational culture have significant influence on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Abuja and that Hierarchy culture is found important in promoting innovative performance than the other type of culture. The study recommendation is thus that SME owners should ensure that all new employees receive a formal briefing on the company's traditions, beliefs, vision, and strategies. They should create and print a common set of procedures and policies to promote seamless discharge of duties and responsibilities in such a way that will foster innovative performance in the work place.

The influence of organisational culture on corporate accountants' ethical judgement and ethical intention in Vietnam

PurposeThis research examines the impact of organisational culture on the ethical judgement and ethical intention of corporate accountants in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachThe study relies on survey data collected from 283 practising accountants in Vietnam. Organisational culture was measured using the Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument, developed by Cameron and Quinn (2011). The Instrument is developed based on the competing values framework comprised of four distinct cultures: clan, hierarchy, market and adhocracy. Ethical judgement and ethical intention were measured based on respondent responses to five ethical scenarios, each linked to a principle of professional conduct in the code of ethics.FindingsThe findings indicate that the clan culture (family oriented) is dominant and has a significant positive influence on accountants' ethical judgement and ethical intention. Respondents in the clan culture evaluate scenarios more ethically compared with accountants in the adhocracy and market cultures but not the hierarchy culture. Accountants who emphasise the adhocracy and market cultures display a more relaxed attitude towards unethical scenarios whereas respondents in the hierarchy culture (rule oriented) display the highest ethical attitude.Research limitations/implicationsThe code of ethics, its content and how it is interpreted and applied may differ between professions, organisations or cultures.Originality/valueOrganisational research on ethical decision-making is ample but few studies link organisational culture with ethical judgement and ethical intention from the perspective of individual accountants.

Theses on Translation: An Organon for the Current Moment

The theses offer a general theory of translation that encompasses the relation between theoryand practice and the different models of translation that generate theoretical concepts likeequivalence and ethics. The instrumental model that understands translation as a reproduction or transfer of a source-text invariant is critiqued, whereas a hermeneutic model that understands translation as an interpretation that varies the source text is advanced. Verbal choices are treated as interpretive moves that vary a range of textual features according to factors that are drawn decisively from the receiving culture where they are arranged in hierarchies of value. The interpretive act performed by translation is informed by global cultural hierarchies in which value is distributed unevenly across major and minor languages, redefining the ethical and political stakes of a translation project.

The Siberian Land Survey and the Politics of Spatial Approximation

Empire building in Asiatic Russia in the late tsarist empire encompassed a complex set of measures. Yet its most fundamental component was about surveying and allotting land to both native residents and incoming settlers, a procedure called zemleustroistvo, or “land organization.” An 1896 law regulated this procedure in the four Siberian governorates. It was the Russian counterpart of a process common to other settler societies. Despite its technicalities, land surveying can be regarded as a point of intersection between political/intellectual and social history, the locus where political design met complicated social realities and tried to transform them, most often with mixed results. Rules about tracing spatial boundaries reflected ideas about the rational use of resources or about justice, as well as social and cultural hierarchies to be implemented. This essay examines what Siberian land organization was supposed to accomplish and why it was conceived in its particular form. Questions about legal title, survey scale, and allotment standards are discussed to attain a better understanding of the logic of imperial rule. Tsarist decision makers constructed a procedural framework marked by information deficiency, quantitative approximation, and administrative ambiguity. This approach was intentional and produced a fluid, semi-authoritarian, semi-negotiated dialectic of petitions and administrative responses. By 1905, however, the politics of spatial approximation showed its limits and gave way to perceptions of an increasing administrative impotence in managing population and resources. This helps explain the urgency of the mobilizing, technocratic effort that marked the final years before the First World War.

The end of global pluralism?

The liberal international order is a fragmented institutional complex, comprising often disparate elements. One of these is a distinctive institutional approach to the global organization of cultural difference. This approach combines universal Westphalian sovereignty (and the pluralist interstate order it facilitates) with international human rights norms that seek to protect the cultural freedoms of individuals. I term this institutional amalgam “global pluralism”. Like many elements of the liberal order, such pluralism is now under challenge, confronted by resurgent ethno-nationalism, politicized religion, and civilizational chauvinism. The key question is whether global pluralism has the adaptive capacities to withstand such challenges. This article develops a theoretical framework for comprehending these institutional capacities. Conceiving global pluralism as a “diversity regime,” I argue that such regimes always rest on social “recognition contracts,” and that these give them certain structural characteristics: configurations of political authority and modes of cultural recognition. Focusing on these characteristics, I compare global pluralism with past Western and non-Western diversity regimes, and clarify the adaptive strengths and weaknesses of different institutional forms. This contractual-structural analysis exposes the historical uniqueness of global pluralism but also its structural vulnerabilities. While global pluralism has distinct advantages over past diversity regimes—principally, that it does not itself generate unstable cultural cleavages and hierarchies—it requires complex forms of social contracting to sustain, and its individualist mode of recognition struggles to accommodate collectivist cultural claims. Such contracting is essential, however, if global pluralism is to withstand current challenges, all of which involve collectivist claims.

Theses on Translation: An Organon for the Current Moment

The theses offer a general theory of translation that encompasses the relation between theoryand practice and the different models of translation that generate theoretical concepts likeequivalence and ethics. The instrumental model that understands translation as a reproduction or transfer of a source-text invariant is critiqued, whereas a hermeneutic model that understands translation as an interpretation that varies the source text is advanced. Verbal choices are treated as interpretive moves that vary a range of textual features according to factors that are drawn decisively from the receiving culture where they are arranged in hierarchies of value. The interpretive act performed by translation is informed by global cultural hierarchies in which value is distributed unevenly across major and minor languages, redefining the ethical and political stakes of a translation project.

IT Process Alignment in Business Strategy: Examining the Role of Transactional Leadership and Organization Culture

Information technology (IT) is a competitive path and offers the entrepreneurial opportunity of accumulating business knowledge in capturing consumer behavior. This study employed a conceptual framework to investigate the information processing facet of IT–business alignment under the impact mechanism of transactional leadership in the manufacturing sector of Yunnan Province, China. Specifically, organization culture is taken as a moderating factor extracted from situational theory and has been highlighted as important in previous organizational research. This study aimed at investigating the impact of transactional leadership on IT–business process alignment and studying the moderating effect of organizational culture on the relationship between transactional leadership and IT–business process alignment. The empirical findings reveal that contingent reward and management by exception behaviors of entrepreneurs are significant drivers of IT–business process alignment. Furthermore, market culture had a moderating effect on the relationship between entrepreneurs’ transactional behaviors and IT–business process alignment. Similarly, hierarchy culture exerts a moderating effect on the path between contingent rewarding behavior and IT–business process alignment. Here, it exerts an insignificant moderating effect on the management by exception behavior and IT–business process alignment path. The study findings mainly reveal the association of transactional leadership with IT–business process alignment, along with the moderating role of organizational culture. This study contributes to the literature on business knowledge by showcasing empirical evidence—how information processing aids entrepreneurial behavior to capture market opportunities and consumer behavior.