Proxy For Culture Research Articles

Confucian culture, public education expenditure, and economic growth

Confucian culture has been found to have significant effects on economic outcomes, yet current studies seldom delve into its impact on regional economic growth in China and the role of government behavior as a mechanism. From the perspective of government response to public demands for education, this paper examines whether Confucian culture fosters economic growth by driving up public education expenditure. Using panel data at the prefecture-level over 2003–2018 and taking the historical population density of jinshi in the Ming and Qing Dynasties as the proxy of the Confucian culture, the empirical analysis is done mainly through pooled OLS and IV analysis. Results show that Confucian culture has a significant and positive effect on economic growth, which can be partially explained by its positive influence on public education expenditure. The channel still holds after controlling human capital in regression. Further discussion of the clan culture and local governors’ cultural backgrounds suggests that higher public education expenditure results from the local government’s passive response to public demands for education. Thus, local governments are suggested to widen and improve the channels for expressing public demands and increase public education expenditure while balancing public demands and the need to boost economic growth.

Speculative culture and corporate greenwashing: Evidence from China

As culture plays an important role in corporate decisions, this paper examines whether and how the culture of speculation affects corporate greenwashing. Using data of China's A-share listed companies over the period of 2010–2022 and data of provincial lottery sales as a proxy for speculative culture, we find that regional speculative culture positively affects corporate greenwashing. The effect is more pronounced among state-owned firms, firms with high managerial overconfidence and weak corporate governance, and firms located in low-level marketization and poor legal environment. Further, mechanism tests show that speculative culture increases cash flow volatility, agency costs, and managerial self-interest, through which corporate greenwashing is affected. This study adds to the literature on the determinants of corporate greenwashing from a perspective of informal institutions.

Clan culture and corporate cash holdings: Are private companies supported by informal institutions?

In this paper, we empirically examine whether clan culture in China, an extant informal institution established 2000 years ago, affects corporate cash holdings. We use city-level pedigree density as a proxy for clan culture and find that private firms deeply entrenched in clan culture are less likely to hold cash. Our results hold after a series of robustness tests, including instrumental variable regression, alternative measures, and controlling for other influencing factors. Mechanism tests demonstrate that in places with strong clan culture, the cash holdings of private firms are less sensitive to the volatility of operating cash flow, and those non-state-owned enterprises are more likely to obtain alternative financing sources and less likely to carry out high-risk activities. Cross-sectional analyses show that the negative relationship between clan culture and corporate cash holdings is more prominent for firms located in areas with lower marketization or worse economic development. Furthermore, under the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, firms with strong clan culture enjoy faster growth in trade credit rather than in interest-bearing liabilities. Overall, our findings provide evidence for the existence of sociocultural determinants of corporate cash holding decisions, as they demonstrate that clan culture secures corporate operations and thus reduces the precautionary motives for holding cash.

Unlocking the sources of individual readiness for change: exploring the role of nationality

PurposeThis paper aims to examine primarily the readiness for change at an individual level. Additionally, this study examines the impact of internal change factors on individual readiness for change as well as their effect across nations.Design/methodology/approachThe research relies on a quantitative research approach. A survey was conducted among 241 managers across 33 countries. Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) approach and multigroup analyses have been applied for hypothesis testing.FindingsOur research contributes a novel perspective on individual readiness for change and unveils how employees' perceptions of context, process and intensity as internal change factors influence their readiness for change. The findings give support to the assertion that employees' attitudes toward change are altered by individual perceptions.Research limitations/implicationsOur research explores the moderating effect of nationality used through a grouped variable and finds significant impacts of clusters of nationalities. Thus, nationality may serve as a proxy for culture that might be examined in future research studies in a more deeply focused way to include beliefs, values and societal norms.Practical implicationsThe new understanding of the topic “individual readiness for change” opens up new research directions and enriches ongoing discussions about societal change and sustainable project management. This topic creates a link to situational leadership principles, considers cultural factors and, therefore, advocates for a people-centric approach to modern stakeholder management in order to achieve commitment toward change initiatives and consequent project success.Social implicationsConsidering that the path toward the successful implementation of any change project is highly contingent on personal dispositions to change, our research uncovers the potential impact of individual perceptions on employees' readiness for change.Originality/valueOur major contribution is to highlight the importance of considering individual perceptual drivers of readiness for change and to acknowledge the moderating effect of nationality as a contextual factor altering the relationship between perception of change and individual readiness for change.

Halal and Makruk: Muslim archaeological fish assemblages as cultural identifiers in the Iberian Middle Ages?

AbstractMuslim religion has strict rules to determine what kinds of foodstuffs, and under what circumstances, are deemed appropriate for consumption. Fishes are not an exception to this rule and features such as body shape or the presence and conspicuousness of scales dictate whether certain species are acceptable or rejected. In this paper, an overview of the Iberian ichthyoarchaeological record from Muslim sites is presented to ascertain whether differences with Christian sites existed in terms of these characters and to what extent these allow one to take fish assemblages as cultural proxies of archaeological deposits. In the case of coastal (production) sites, we also consider whether the peculiarities a given fish assemblage exhibit reflect instead certain environmental features such as the biotopes where a given local fishery operated.

Can Confucianism improve ESG performance?

While existing literature has demonstrated the significant impact of culture on firm decision-making, it remains unclear whether and how cultural factors influence a firm's ESG performance. In this study, we utilize Confucianism as a cultural proxy in the context of China to investigate its effects on ESG performance. We find that Confucianism plays a pivotal role in enhancing ESG performance, demonstrating a consistently positive influence across all three dimensions of ESG. This research provides compelling evidence that Confucianism serves as a valuable intellectual framework that can bolster efforts towards sustainable development.

Culture and exit mechanisms: International evidence

This study aims to examine the effect of national culture on the choice of exit mechanism for private firms. Using an international dataset of private firms covering 60 countries from 1985 to 2019, we find that private firms in countries with high uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, indulgence vs. restraint, and individualism and low power distance and long-term orientation are more inclined to exit through mergers and acquisitions. Conversely, private firms in countries with low uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, indulgence vs. restraint, and individualism and high power distance and long-term orientation are more inclined to exit through initial public offerings. Our findings are robust to control for firm and country characteristics, market conditions, funds demand, payment method, subperiods, subsamples, cultural proxies, and composite cultural profile index. Overall, our findings underscore the importance of cultural dimensions in understanding exit mechanisms for private firms.

A single dose for me, A wealth of protection for us: The public health cost of individualism in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine

ObjectiveThis study examines whether individualism weakens the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility expansions in the United States in 2021, and assesses the associated social benefits or costs associated with individualism. MethodsWe construct a county-level composite individualism index as a proxy of culture and the fraction of vaccine eligible population as a proxy of vaccination campaign (mean: 41.34%). We estimate whether the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility policy is less effective in promoting vaccine coverage, reducing in COVID-19 related hospitalization and death using a linear two-way fixed effect model in a sample of 2866 counties for the period between early December 2020 and July 1, 2021. We also test whether individualism shapes people's attitudes towards vaccine using a linear probability model in a sample of 625,308 individuals aged 18–65 (mean age: 43.3; 49% male; 59.1% non-Hispanic white, 19.1% Hispanic, 12% African American; 5.9% Asian) from the Household Pulse Survey. ResultsThe effects of expanded vaccine eligibility are diminished in counties with greater individualism, as evidenced by lower effectiveness in increasing vaccination rates and reducing outpatient doctor visits primarily for COVID-related symptoms and COVID deaths. Moreover, our results show that this cultural influence on attitudes towards vaccine is more pronounced among the less educated, but unrelated to race. ConclusionAssuming an average level of vaccine eligibility policies and an average intensity of individualism across the nation, we calculate that the average social cost associated with an individualistic culture amid the pandemic is approximately $50.044 billion, equivalent to 1.32% of the total U.S. health care spending in 2019. Our paper suggests that strategies to promote public policy compliance should be tailored to accommodate cultural and social contexts.

Value relevance of multifaceted corporate social performance: how do country-specific factors matter?

This study examines the relationship between multidimensional corporate social performance (CSP) and shareholder value, considering the moderating impacts of country-specific factors: economic development, the political system, and culture. Based on a sample of public companies in Asian-Pacific emerging countries over the 2010–2020 period, the findings reveal that the aggregate CSP measure obscures the valuation effect, whereas individual CSP dimensions highlight positive valuation effects. The CSP valuation effect varies across dimensions aimed at different stakeholder groups. Notably, narrowly focused CSP dimensions (community, product responsibility, and workforce) demonstrate more pronounced valuation effects than broadly focused dimensions (human rights). Given CSP’s multifaceted nature, directing attention toward the aggregate measure or incorrect dimensions may yield unwarranted conclusions. To enhance shareholder value through CSP, importance-performance analysis suggests prioritized resource allocation to human rights, community, product responsibility, and workforce dimensions. Intriguingly, the positive valuation effect of CSP is amplified in countries with higher income-per-capita and lower corruption, indicative of economic development and a robust political system, respectively. However, humane orientation—a cultural proxy—exerts no moderating impact on the CSP-shareholder value relationship. Comprehending the moderating roles of country-specific factors bears significant implications for bolstering CSP across diverse global regions.

A cultural perspective on the effects of comprehension and slogan meaning types on attitude toward the advertisement and brand

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which cultural differences and slogan meaning type affect the role of comprehension in attitude toward the ad (Aad) and attitude toward the brand (Abrand) formation. Design/methodology/approach In an online experiment, a total of 256 adult participants from the USA (ranged in age from 19 to 26 years old) and 184 participants from France (ranged in age from 18 to 28) were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions (slogan: single meaning vs polysemous) in a between-subjects experimental design. After getting exposed to the ad, participants responded to questions related to their Aad, Abrand, comprehension, uncertainty avoidance and demographics. Findings Results from this research demonstrate the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance and slogan type (single meaning vs polysemous) on the relationship between comprehension and Aad. The authors show that for polysemous (and not single meaning) slogans, comprehension results in more favorable Aad for low uncertainty avoidance individuals than for high uncertainty avoidance individuals. In addition, the authors demonstrate the mediating effect of Aad in the relationship between comprehension and Abrand. Research limitations/implications The authors used nationality as a proxy for culture. Future research should include other cultural dimensions in the development of conceptual models and analysis of data. Another limitation is that the authors used a college student sample for this research. A more representative sample should be used in future research to examine cultural differences in interpreting adverting messages. One other limitation concerns the measurement tool the authors used to measure objective versus subjective comprehension in this research. While the theoretical foundations of the two modes of comprehension are clear and robust, improved measurement tools can enhance the validity and reliability of future research. Finally, the authors suggest that future research examine the effect of such variables as figure-ground contrast, figure attractiveness, stimulus repetition, prototypicality, symmetry and semantic or visual priming that may impact the processing of brand slogans. Practical implications This study argues that the processing of brand slogans in advertising is impacted by culture. Individuals from different cultures perceive and comprehend brand slogans differently. This study contributes to the research stream that examines the influence of cultural dimensions on the effectiveness of advertising by focusing more precisely on the impact of uncertainty avoidance (one of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions). In the case of single meaning slogans, advertisers might diminish the use of objective comprehension advertising strategies to influence both individuals with high and low uncertainty avoidance. In the case of polysemous slogans, advertisers should consider that consumers with high uncertainty avoidance (vs low uncertainty avoidance) are impacted more by subjective comprehension (vs objective comprehension) when forming Aad and Abrand. Originality/value This research contributes meaningfully to the marketing literature by examining previous work on ad slogan processing through subjective vs objective comprehension and extending the analysis by incorporating culture as an important factor.

Gambling culture and internal control extensiveness

AbstractWhile cultural traits in a firm's location impact corporate operation, the role of local cultures on a firm's internal control effectiveness (ICE) remains unclear. Using data from a sample of Chinese firms from 2009 to 2019, we examine how the gambling culture in Chinese provinces where firms are located impacts the firms' ICE. We use per capita lottery sales of the provinces to proxy for gambling culture in China and find that firms raise their ICE in environments with strong gambling cultures. The results are robust to five components of ICE (control environment, risk assessment, control activity, information and communication, and internal monitoring), alternative metrics of gambling metrics, and after accounting for endogeneity. A mediating analysis also shows that firms in regions with a strong gambling culture engage in risky activities, which increases their ICE. Additional analyses suggest that the effect is more salient for firms with poor internal corporate governance, firms located in poor legal environments, firms with poor audit quality, or firms with more local external stakeholders, echoing that ICE and monitoring are partial substitutes.

Corporate integrity culture on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance

AbstractRecent research has viewed desirable environmental performance as the proxy of corporate integrity culture. Based on the stakeholder theory, we extend this literature by examining whether the corporate integrity culture is associated with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance among China A‐listed firms. We first build the integrity culture dictionary by the word embedding model. We also absorb the social influence into the integrity dictionary and identify corporate integrity culture through textual analysis. The results show that corporate integrity culture is positively associated with ESG performance. This research further discloses that this relationship is from both an indirect of integrity on green innovation and a direct effect of integrity in signaling internal stakeholders' behavioral integrity and verifying integrity culture to external stakeholders. Overall, the empirical evidence further enriches our understanding of the relationship between ESG performance and corporate integrity culture in China.

X as a proxy for tackle safety culture? Sentiment analysis of social media posts on red-carded and yellow-carded tackles during the 2019 Rugby World Cup

ObjectivesThis study analysed the overall sentiment of attitudes, opinions, views and emotions expressed in posts on X related to red-carded and yellow-carded tackles during the 2019 Rugby World Cup (RWC).MethodsSentiment...

Is reverence for life reverence for rule? Awe culture and corporate tax avoidance in China

We study the impact of awe culture on corporate tax avoidance. Using regional induced abortion rates to proxy for awe culture, we document that stronger awe culture is associated with a higher degree of corporate tax avoidance, confirming reverence for life is reverence for rules. Additional analysis suggests that awe culture influences corporate tax avoidance via management opportunism and risk-appetite channels. The conclusions remain intact after an array of robustness tests. Further analysis suggests that the awe culture effect on corporate tax avoidance is insignificant when senior executives or directors have overseas backgrounds or the proportion of female board members is high. However, the effect is more pronounced when firms have high financial constraints, poor internal governance, or weak taxation enforcement. Notably, given that awe culture shapes corporate behavior, firms should fully consider the effect of awe culture in their economic practices.

Gambling culture and corporate violations: Evidence from China

This study investigates whether local gambling cultures in China affect corporate violations for 31,670 firm-year observations over the period 2008–2020. The ratio of provincial lottery sales to GDP is used as a proxy for gambling culture. We find that companies headquartered in areas with a strong gambling culture have a higher likelihood of violations than those headquartered in areas with a weak gambling culture. This conclusion is robust to a series of endogeneity tests using instrumental variables and propensity score matching approaches. In addition, manager characteristics and external monitoring affect the positive relationship between gambling culture and corporate violations. Furthermore, we also identify two channels through which gambling culture affects corporate violations: accounting conservatism and geographic diversification of investments. Finally, we find that the Chinese government's efforts to crack down on illegal gambling reduce corporate violations. Overall, our findings provide empirical evidence that gambling culture facilitates corporate violations.

Can patriarchal attitudes moderate the relation between women on boards and firm economic performance?

The paper investigates the moderating effect of patriarchal attitudes by country and year on the relationship between gender diversity on boards and firm performance. The international sample analyzed is composed of 1,103 listed firms from 18 European countries for the period of 2005–2019. Using a two-step system GMM approach, the analysis shows how the generally positive relationship between gender diversity and economic performance (proxied by return on assets and Tobin's Q) is offset and even surpassed by the negative moderating effect of patriarchal attitudes. Furthermore, our work tests critical mass theory and finds confirmation in line with the results obtained for gender diversity. The main contributions of this work include its use of new specific proxies for gender culture by country, namely, patriarchal attitudes and the finding of how they affect the relationship between women's board participation and firm performance in a negative and consistent way.

Exploring the impact of safety culture on incident reporting: Lessons learned from machine learning analysis of NHS England staff survey and incident data

Safety culture is one of the key factors contributing to safety, even though limited evidence supports its impact on safety outcomes. This study uses supervised machine learning algorithms to explore the association between safety culture and incident reporting. The study used National Health Service (NHS) England annual staff survey data as a proxy of safety culture to predict eighteen incident reporting variables. The study did not achieve high accuracy rates in the prediction models. The highest association was found between safety culture and the number of incidents reported in class low, medium and high. LightGBM was the best-performed algorithm. SHAP plots were used to explain the model. Findings suggest that compassionate culture, violence and harassment and work pressure are critical in predicting the number of incidents reported. More specifically, the violence and harassment had a more significant impact on predicting the number of incidents reported in class high than in class medium and low. The involvement had more effect on predicting class low. The results demonstrated different behaviours in predicting different incident reporting classes. The findings facilitate lessons learned from staff surveys and incident reporting data in NHS England. Consequently, the findings can contribute to improving the safety culture in hospitals.

Cultural norms and corporate fraud: Evidence from the Volkswagen scandal

We examine a corporate governance role of local culture via its impact on consumer behavior following corporate scandals. Our proxy for culture is the presence of local Protestantism. Exploiting the unexpected nature of the Volkswagen (VW) diesel scandal in September 2015, we show that new registrations of VW cars decline significantly in German counties with a Protestant majority following the VW scandal. Further survey evidence shows that, compared to Catholics, Protestants respond significantly more negatively to fraud but not to environmental issues. Our findings suggest that the enforcement culture in Protestantism facilitates penalizing corporate fraud.

Association of Maternal Preferred Language with Breastfeeding Attitudes, Intentions, and Knowledge.

Assessing intentions, attitudes, and knowledge about breastfeeding among different language groups is important because the languages reflect cultural differences. We compared attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, intentions, and knowledge of breastfeeding among mothers with the five most common preferred languages spoken at a New York City hospital. This cross-sectional study surveyed women (n = 448) in the prenatal clinic and the post-partum unit of a New York City hospital. The survey questions were about breastfeeding attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and intentions, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. We also administered the Iowa Infant Feeding and Attitude Scale and measured the knowledge of the mothers about breastfeeding. The preferred language spoken by the mother was the main predictor variable. English, Russian, Spanish, Urdu, and Uzbek were the languages studied. Multivariate linear regression analyses showed that Russian (B = 2.24, SE = 1.09, p = 0.04), Urdu (B = 2.90, SE = 1.45, p = 0.046), and Uzbek (B = 4.21, SE = 1.35, p = 0.002) speakers all had significantly more positive attitudes toward breastfeeding than did English speakers. Spanish and English language speakers did not differ from each other in their attitudes towards breastfeeding. The language groups did not differ significantly for subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, intention to breastfeed, the Iowa Infant Feeding and Attitude Scale, nor in knowledge regarding breastfeeding. Urdu, Uzbek, and Russian speakers had significantly more positive attitudes towards breastfeeding than did English speakers. To the extent that preferred language is a proxy for culture, clinicians can use this parameter as a basis for directing approaches toward lactation education.

National culture and firm-level carbon emissions: a global perspective

PurposeThis study aims to examine the association between national culture and corporate carbon emissions. Specifically, the research explores how firm-level carbon emissions are associated with Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions: power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity and uncertainty avoidance.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines 36,945 firm-year observations across 39 countries and uses panel regressions to assess the association between firm-level carbon emissions and national culture. This research also uses instrumental variable regression to address the potential endogeneity issues. Alternative proxies for culture are used to test the sensitivity of the findings.FindingsThe findings of this study reveal that power distance and uncertainty avoidance are negatively while individualism and masculinity are positively associated with corporate carbon emissions. The results are robust to the instrumental regressions and alternative measures of culture.Practical implicationsFor policymakers, this research highlights the importance of national culture in assessing the efficacy of potential emissions reduction policies, identifying the possible challenges posed by the cultural differences of the targeted groups and designing policy adjustments accordingly. The local culture in which the branches of multinational corporations operate should be considered when the management implements emissions reduction policies for the business units in diverse cultural settings.Social implicationsAligning emissions reduction policies with regional cultural dimensions has the potential to enhance the effectiveness of corporate and national emissions reduction policies, which can contribute to mitigating global climate change adversities.Originality/valueThis study provides insights into firm-level carbon emissions and Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions in a global setting.