Feminine Cultures Research Articles

Capital gain overhang and risk–return trade‐off: An international study

AbstractIn this article, we examine the risk–return relation under the impact of investors' price reference points in international markets. We calculate capital gain overhang (CGO) to measure the psychological evaluation of past returns. Using a double‐sorting methodology, we find that a negative risk–return trade‐off generally exists in international markets when CGO is low; results using the Fama–MacBeth procedure confirm our findings. The CGO effect is more prominent in less developed, less transparent, and less legally protected markets. It is stronger in markets with collectivistic, higher power‐distanced, and feminine cultures. The evidence also indicates that the price reference effect is more pronounced when the market is in crisis. Finally, the CGO effect on the risk–return relation reverses as the holding period becomes longer.

Investigating the Factors That Determine the ESG Disclosure Practices in Europe

The increased focus on environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) (ESG) disclosure has become a necessary step toward the integration of sustainability practices into firms’ culture to meet the expectations of stakeholders. The social and environmental implications of firm activities on the environment and surrounding communities have led to the growing demand for useful non-financial information. This paper investigates the impacts of the board’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and CSR orientation, GRI, and the country–cultural dimensions, based on Hofstede’s measures of ESG disclosure practices within Europe. Using a European dataset from Bloomberg and Refinitiv Eikon, this paper adopts a quantitative research methodology to test the research hypotheses through a statistical analysis of 7840 observations from European companies to analyze the extent of the relationship between micro- and macro-variables and the disclosure of company ESG. Our findings suggest that both board CSR orientation and strategy and the GRI have positively and significantly affected the overall disclosure of ESG practices within Europe. When examining country–cultural dimensions, we find that individualism and feminine cultures are positively associated with increased levels of ESG disclosure. Our findings shed light on factors affecting ESG disclosure practices within Europe and could be of interest to companies, policy makers, and other stakeholders.

Endorsement on Instagram and cultural dimensions: an analysis of digital influencers

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to understand the individualism/collectivism and masculine/feminine cultural aspects presented in the endorsement content made and shared by digital influencers on Instagram.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a cross-cultural qualitative study, collecting endorsement posts published by six fitness mega-influencers from Brazil and the USA. A total of 147 posts were assessed through the semiotic analysis of still images.FindingsThe authors identified that, in collectivist and feminine cultures, endorsements focus on the emotional competence of the digital influencer and the content aims at interaction, whereas in individualistic and masculine cultures, the posts highlight the informational competence of the influencer and the content focuses on the endorser's self-promotion.Research limitations/implicationsThis study examined only two of the Hofstede's six cultural dimensions, limiting its scope. However, this study established a model that shows that the appeal of content posted by the influencer depends on individualism–collectivism dimension and the post symbolism is a result of the masculinity–femininity dimension. This study also identified the spectrum of appeal in messages and the role of advertising in building the influencer's narrative.Practical implicationsThe authors identified cultural traits as an important criterion of congruence when choosing a brand endorser and as an element that impacts the marketing communication strategy in a social media environment. Therefore, this study suggests that organizations consider the influencer's culture as a criterion for choosing endorsers, which will guide the digital content strategy suited to the campaign's target audience.Social implicationsThis study emphasizes the illusory effectiveness of the internet in the search for convergence, establishing that the digital environment still requires socialization that brings feelings of cultural engagement, especially through new social actors arising from virtual media. Still on the social side, this study suggests the reflection of the economic characteristics of a country together with its cultural dimensions.Originality/valueThis study fills a research gap from previous studies that provide empirical evidence on the impacts of cultural differences on social media behaviors. This research adds the impact of the influencer in this virtual environment to restructure the communication and information model, mold it according to the culture, acting as indicators of social transformation resulting from technological advances. This research still innovates by proposing a new methodological approach for semiotic analysis in digital media.

Stresses of COVID-19 and Expectations for the Future Among Women: A Cross Cultural Analysis According to the Femininity/Masculinity Dimension

The COVID-19 pandemic created stressors and uncertainty, particularly for women. This international study explored whether the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s stressful experiences and future expectations is associated with Hofstede’s cultural dimension of femininity/masculinity, which refers to the cultural constructions of gender role differences. In total, 1218 women from 15 countries varying in cultural femininity/masculinity provided narrative data by answering open-ended questions via an online survey. Data were analysed using mixed methods, starting with thematic content analysis followed by logistic regression analyses. The findings from the regression analysis indicate that many stresses and expectations that were mentioned in the narratives were unrelated to the cultural femininity/masculinity. However, women from masculine cultures more often expressed disorientation, while women from feminine cultures more often wrote about negative emotions. Additionally, women from masculine cultures had more future expectations regarding daily activities, while women from feminine cultures had more expectations regarding social activities, work and economic revival, and universal social issues. The pandemic seems to confront women in both types of culture with similar challenges. The differences between women from feminine versus masculine cultures indicate that increased societal participation and responsibilities of women in feminine cultures was associated with negative affect during the pandemic, but they also propelled plentiful expectations for the future “after COVID-19”.

A contingency approach to HRM and firm innovation: The role of national cultures

AbstractCompanies adopt various HRM practices to enhance employees' abilities, motivations, and opportunities to foster innovation. Are these practices universally effective or culturally contingent? In this study, we draw on the Ability‐Motivation‐Opportunity (AMO) model and examine the effectiveness of three representative practices using a dataset of 304 companies from 13 countries or regions. We find that HRM practices need to fit in a supplementary/complementary way with national cultures to facilitate firm innovation: 1. cross‐functional training (i.e., an ability‐enhancing practice) is more effective in collectivistic rather than individualistic cultures (supplementary fit); 2. financial rewards for innovation (i.e., a motivation‐enhancing practice) are more effective in masculine rather than feminine cultures (supplementary fit); and 3. employee participation (i.e., an opportunity‐enhancing practice) is more effective in high rather than low power distance cultures (complementary fit). By building on the notion of supplementary/complementary fit, these findings extend our knowledge of the AMO model in the context of HRM and innovation management with a cultural contingency perspective.

Whale Watching Tours as a Cultural Object in Fiction – Jojo Moyes’ Silver Bay

This paper starts from Jojo Moyes’ novel Silver Bay, looking at the way in which it presents tourism related to sea life watching and at aspects of people’s existence in a territory that has this type of potential. One of the aims is to raise awareness in what regards the specificity of such beach areas, in terms of not only opportunities, but also threats to sea ecosystems posed by excessive modernization driven by economic interests. Another aim is to interpret phenomena and attitudes presented in the story from a theoretical background, to make visible what mindsets the actions and behaviors in the novel manifest, from those discussed in intercultural, identity and cultural studies, which represent the academic theoretical approach in this research. Examples of these would be uncertainty (in)tolerance, masculine versus feminine cultures, dominant versus harmonizing (outer-directed) attitudes towards the environment. Moreover, certain potential iconoclastic interpretations, such as mystical exaggeration when it comes to interpreting whale communication may be elucidated. The analysis starts with the outline of the story and focal points, then pinpoints the significant role of sea life tourism in the novel. Afterwards, it goes on to set the explanatory background by looking at the polarity old-new and further superposed oppositions, to subsequently get to the description of whale watching, whale behavior and animal-related issues, and finally look into the metaphor of seeing the human being as a whale. The conclusions sum up the main findings: the fiction under the lens here is informative and raises awareness related to the abovementioned aspects (cultural identity and profiles, intercultural contrastive interpretations, typical forms of tourism, ecosystem preservation, irresponsible or illegal actions). They point out as well the relevance and placement of the topic in modern approaches on tourism, environmental concerns, sustainability and wildlife preservation in general.

The cross‐cultural moderators of the influence of emotional intelligence on organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior

AbstractThis meta‐analysis found that the emotional intelligence–organizational citizenship behavior relationship is stronger in long‐term oriented and restraint cultures. However, this relationship does not differ between individualistic and collectivistic cultures, masculine and feminine cultures, high uncertainty avoidance and low uncertainty avoidance cultures, and high power distance and low power distance cultures. The emotional intelligence–counterproductive work behavior relationship is stronger in collectivistic, feminine, high uncertainty avoidance, high power distance, long‐term oriented, and restraint cultures. Emotional intelligence–organizational citizenship behavior/counterproductive work behavior relationships are mediated by both state positive affect and state negative affect. Human resource development professionals from cultures where the effects of emotional intelligence are stronger are especially recommended to hire emotionally intelligent employees and/or provide emotional intelligence training to stimulate organizational citizenship behavior and to restrain counterproductive work behavior. Although there are important cross‐cultural differences, emotional intelligence universally encourages organizational citizenship behavior and almost universally diminishes counterproductive work behavior across cultures.

Половые различия в состоянии волевой регуляции у представителей маскулинных и фемининных национальных культур РФ и СНГ

The hypothesis about the relationship between masculinity of national culture and the severity of gender differences in the state of volitional regulation among its representatives is tested. Men and women were compared among representatives of masculine (Kabardin, Ossetian, Armenians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Tajiks) and feminine (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Komi, Mari, Koreans, Tuvans, Jews) ethnic groups. In total, 1453 people aged 18 to 30 years participated in the study. To diagnose the state of volitional regulation of the respondents, the following methods were used: “Action-control scale” by Yu. Kuhl, “Questionnaire for revealing the expression of self-control in the emotional sphere, activity and behavior”, self-appraisals of volitional qualities. It is shown that in masculine cultures, men and women significantly differ in terms of the “Action-control scale”, the severity of emotional, behavioral and social self-control, as well as self-assessments of volitional qualities, while in feminine cultures there are practically no differences. Men demonstrate qualities associated with the implementation of intentions in action, and women demonstrate qualities associated with the organization of their activities in accordance with the requirements of society.

Investigating the role of customers’ perceptions of employee effort and justice in service recovery

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is, first, to identify the relationship, if any, between customers’ perceptions of justice (functional element) and employee effort (symbolic element) and their effects on satisfaction and loyalty in the context of service recovery and, second, to determine the impact of cross-cultural differences on these relationships.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data from actual customers were gathered in three countries (n = 414) and analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results demonstrate the role of the constructs of perceived employee effort and perceived justice in influencing post-recovery satisfaction and loyalty across cultures. While perceived justice is valued across cultures, customers from feminine (masculine) cultures require more (less) employee effort to influence post-recovery satisfaction positively. Customers from low (high) uncertainty cultures are more (less) willing to give the provider another chance after a service recovery.Research limitations/implicationsThe study shows that both functional and symbolic elements of service recovery are important determinants of customer satisfaction and loyalty and that their influence can be significant in a cross-cultural context.Practical implicationsInternational service managers must consider the nature of cultural differences in their markets to develop and implement tailored recovery strategies that can result in satisfied customers.Originality/valueThis study is the first to integrate the functional and symbolic elements of service recovery, their impact on customers’ behavioral responses and the influence of cultural variations.

Why Abusive Supervision Impacts Employee OCB and CWB: A Meta-Analytic Review of Competing Mediating Mechanisms

Studies on abusive supervision have adopted justice and resource perspectives to explain its effects on employee organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). However, these studies have not provided a comprehensive account of why abusive supervision affects OCB and CWB and which of these two mediating mechanisms matters more. To address these questions, we conducted two studies using meta-analytic structural equation modeling. In the main study, we analyzed 427 primary studies that incorporated 973 independent correlations ( N = 336,236). The results showed that both organizational justice (the justice lens) and work stress (the resource lens) mediated the influence of abusive supervision on OCB and CWB. Furthermore, organizational justice accounted for a greater proportion of abusive supervision’s effect on OCB than did work stress, whereas work stress accounted for a greater proportion of abusive supervision’s effect on CWB than did organizational justice. Finally, between-study moderation analyses showed that the effect of abusive supervision on CWB was stronger in masculine cultures than in feminine cultures. The supplementary study incorporated effect sizes from six existing meta-analyses ( N = 151,381) and largely replicated the main study’s findings.

Entrepreneurial Orientation Rhetoric in Franchise Organizations: The Impact of National Culture

This study examines the role of national culture on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) rhetoric contained within franchisee recruitment promotional materials, where EO rhetoric is defined as the strategic use of words in organizational narratives to convey the risk taking, innovativeness, proactiveness, autonomy, and competitive aggressiveness of the firm. The sample comprised 378 franchise organizations, in five different countries (Australia, France, India, South Africa, and the UK). The results indicate that franchise systems operating in high uncertainty avoidance and feminine cultures use less entrepreneurially oriented rhetoric, suggesting that EO rhetoric in franchise organizations varies according to different national cultural contexts.

Masculinity vs Femininity in Polish and Ukrainian Organisational Cultures

Abstract One of the five cultural dimensions suggested by G. Hofstede, the dimension of masculinity and femininity, is very controversial. Defining cultures as feminine and masculine results in two issues. In the first, the content one, masculine cultures are characterised by “hard”, instrumental values, whereas feminine cultures by “soft” values whose core is the quality of interpersonal relations. In feminine cultures gender differences disappear, however, with the increase in the masculinisation of culture, the differences in the range of gender values grow. The article is of cognitive character. It shows the results of the research concerning the values and basic objectives in the range of dimensions of masculinity and femininity carried out in Polish and Ukrainian organizations.

‘They’re my Contacts, not my Friends’: Reconfiguring Affect and Aspirations Through Mobile Communication in Nigeria

ABSTRACTIn Calabar, Nigeria, young women envisage their futures to be full of possibilities. By contrast, their present realities often see them stuck in the house enduring long periods of waiting. Restricted by failing institutions, family and church pressures, and the fear of others’ jealousy, young women find that there is no clear route to realising their aspirations. As they wait alone in the house, they constantly communicate with others on mobile phones and BlackBerries. This paper examines how young women in Calabar use mobile phones as a way of reconceptualising issues of trust, affect and intimacy. It argues that where they employ methods of concealment to chat with others – revealing neither their true identity nor personal details – mobile communication enables distance, becoming an invaluable means for creating new forms of sociality and future opportunities. Illuminating ‘feminine cultures of waiting’, this paper furthers recent analyses of youth, time and productivity.

Emotional reactions to crime across cultures.

Information about the emotions experienced by observers when they witness crimes would have important theoretical and practical implications, but to date no study has broadly assessed such emotional reactions. This study addressed this gap in the literature. Observers in seven countries viewed seven videos portraying actual crimes and rated their emotional reactions to each using 14 emotion scales. Observers reported significantly high levels of negative emotions including anger, contempt, disgust, fear and sadness-related emotions, and anger, contempt and disgust were the most salient emotions experienced by viewers across all countries. Witnesses also reported significantly high levels of positive emotions as well (compared to not feeling the emotion at all), which was unexpected. Country moderated the emotion ratings; post-hoc analyses indicated that masculine-oriented cultures reported less nervousness, surprise, excitement, fear and embarrassment than feminine cultures.

Cultural determinants of infection control behaviour: understanding drivers and implementing effective change

Despite dealing with biomedical practices, infection prevention and control (IPC) is essentially a behavioural science. Human behaviour is influenced by various factors, including culture. Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions proposes that national cultures vary along consistent dimensions which can be grouped and scored as specific constructs. Studies have reported that three Hofstede constructs--power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity--show significant association with several key performance indicators relevant to IPC and antibiotic stewardship. In addition, national meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) levels within Europe correlate well with general quality-of-care indices, including preventive strategies and patient rights. This suggests that IPC may be simply a microcosm of overall quality and safety standards within hospitals and countries. Effective improvement would therefore need to address underlying and embedded core cultural values relevant to patient safety and quality of care. Successful IPC strategies are likely to be those that are compatible with the cultural background where they are implemented. To this end, content analysis of many current IPC improvement tools identifies elements of strong compatibility with cultures that are low in uncertainty avoidance and power distance, and high in individualism and masculinity. However, this cultural combination is largely restricted to Anglo-Saxon countries, where most of the recent improvements in healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) incidence have taken place. There is a paucity of research on IPC behaviour change in different cultural backgrounds, especially countries that score high for power distance and/or uncertainty avoidance. This information is vital to inform IPC campaigns in these countries, which often show high HCAI prevalence.

Cultural Influences on Strategic Behavior of Hotel Executives: Masculinity and Femininity

As more hotel companies progressively internationalize their operations, the composition of their top management teams becomes more diversified. This necessitates the understanding of whether variations in strategic behavior and philosophy among these executives exist, which can be partially explained by differences in their national cultures. This article investigated the potential influence of masculinity on strategic behaviors by comparing hotel executives from three countries, the U.S., Thailand and Turkey. The findings indicated that executives associated with masculine cultures tended to use less involvement of others and less rationality in strategy development than their counterparts from feminine cultures. No differences were found regarding emphasis on content of strategic goals and openness to strategic change. Managerial implications and directions for future research are presented.

Persistent Inequalities in Time Use between Men and Women: A Detailed Look at the Influence of Economic Circumstances, Policies, and Culture

The aim of this contribution is to refine explanations for inequalities in the amount of time men and women spend in paid work and housework by breaking down institutional conditions into economic circumstances, policy conditions, and cultural influences. We indicate our expectations for these macro indicators as well as for their interaction with micro level indicators. We expect, for example, that the negative effect on paid work for married women becomes stronger in more masculine countries. Using the Multinational Time Use Archive, we analysed 17 countries in the 1965–1998 period. Multilevel analyses show the importance of institutional conditions for paid work: men and women in highly developed economies and in countries with high rates of child-care facilities do more paid work, although they spend less time on paid work after having children. With respect to the influence of culture, it appears that highly educated and married women in masculine cultures do less paid work, and that married women also do more housework, than their counterparts in more feminine cultures.

The psychology of voice and performance capabilities in masculine and feminine cultures and contexts.

In this article, we examine the hypothesis that in masculine cultures or in other contexts that emphasize competitive achievement, those with higher performance capabilities will feel empowered to have input in decisions and, hence, will desire opportunities to voice their opinions about decisions to be made. In contrast, in more feminine cultures or in other contexts that value the importance of nurturing people with lower capability, those with lower capabilities will feel valued as important group members, will feel worthy of receiving voice and, hence, will appreciate voice opportunities. We provide evidence for these predictions in 2 studies, 1 conducted in the United States (a more masculine culture) and 1 in the Netherlands (a more feminine culture). Evidence also comes from experimental conditions in both studies, in which we made salient to participants countercultural norms and values, that is, nurturing the less capable in the United States and competitive achievement in the Netherlands. Implications for the psychology of voice and cross-cultural research are discussed.

The Effects of Cultural Adaptation in Fundraising Letters: The Case of Help-Self and Help-Others Appeals in a Feminine Culture

Gender has been shown to affect the persuasiveness of help-self and help-others appeals in fundraising: men prefer help-self appeals, and women help-others appeals. This gender difference has been attributed to world-view differences. Women have a care-oriented world-view and men a justice-oriented world-view – at least in masculine cultures. In feminine cultures, however, both men and women have a care-oriented world-view. The present study investigated whether in the feminine, Dutch culture the culturally adapted help-others appeal was more persuasive than the culturally unadapted help-self appeal for both men and women (N = 166). Results showed that the culturally adapted help-others appeal was the most persuasive appeal for men and women, who were both found to have a relatively care-oriented world-view.

A cross-national exploration of the potential cultural antecedents of organisational improvisation

In this paper, the author extends the existing theory of improvisation in business to an international setting. The author develops a theoretical framework for an analysis of the potential influence of national culture on the propensity for organisational improvisation. Specifically, the author suggests that organisational improvisation may be more likely to occur in low rather than high uncertainty avoidance cultures, in collectivistic rather than individualistic cultures, in low rather than high power distance cultures, and in masculine rather than feminine cultures. Additionally, the author provides a preliminary analysis of the potential for propensity for organisational improvisation in 50 countries and three regions based on their cultural characteristics.