Influence Of National Culture Research Articles

Cultural values reflected in the adoption of social networking sites

This study investigates the impact of two dimensions of Hofstede's cultural framework, namely, individualism and masculinity, on the adoption of social networking sites across countries, controlling for social-economic factors such as mobile internet penetration, a country's median age and urban population. Hierarchical regressions are conducted to test the hypothesised effects using a large-scale secondary dataset for 23 countries. Our findings reveal that both individualism and masculinity have significant impact on nations' adoption levels of social networking sites above and beyond the effects of the social-economic factors. Since little can be found in the extant literature about the influence of national culture on the use of social media, our study is among the first to provide a theoretical framework and supporting empirical evidence to establish the importance of understanding how culture impacts consumers' social networking sites adoption behaviour across countries. Limitations and implications, along with directions for future research are discussed.

Culture and the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities: The mediating role of social capital

The aim of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it intends to analyze the influence of national culture and social capital on the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities. Secondly, this study...

Impact of National Culture on the Use and Outcomes of E-HRM

This study examined data from over 4,000 organizations in 21 countries to address two complementary issues: (a) the influence of national culture on the use of e-HRM for payroll, benefits, time and...

The Influence of National and Organisational Culture on Knowledge Sharing in Distributed Teams

In today's competitive business environment increasingly large numbers of organisations use distributed teams in their international operations. This paper provides a basis for discussion and analysis of knowledge sharing between distributed team members working in a global context in different organisational and national cultures. Examining the different cultural values and perceptions related to knowledge sharing, the authors aim at making more explicit the human and cultural dynamics that bear on knowledge sharing and knowledge management success. A lifecycle for knowledge creation and sharing is discussed. The use of Cultural and Organisational Diversity Evaluation (CODE) is proposed for assessing the fit between national and organisational culture. The objective of using the CODE model is to raise awareness of the cultural values and attitudes in distributed teams and in combination with the life-cycle to ensure an effective process quality management and foster a knowledge sharing culture within distributed team members.

The Effects of National Culture Values on Consumer Acceptance of E-commerce: Online Shoppers in Russia

This study investigated the influence of national culture on the consumer acceptance of e-commerce in Russia. This study suggests that behavioral patterns are not universally held in different cultures, the facts define national cultural values as an important set of individual difference moderators in the adoption of technology. Hofstede's cultural dimensions, power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation were taken as moderators. These cultural aspects of masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance were included as moderators in an extended model of technology acceptance. Our model of consumer acceptance of e-commerce has considered the impact of culture on the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust and intention to use.

The relationship between national culture and safety culture: Implications for international safety culture assessments.

In this article, we examine the relationship between safety culture and national culture, and the implications of this relationship for international safety culture assessments. Focussing on Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance (UA) index, a survey study of 13,616 Air Traffic Management employees in 21 European countries found a negative association between safety culture and national norm data for UA. This is theorized to reflect the influence of national tendencies for UA upon attitudes and practices for managing safety (e.g., anxiety on risk; reliance on protocols; concerns over reporting incidents; openness to different perspectives). The relationship between UA and safety culture is likely to have implications for international safety culture assessments. Specifically, benchmarking exercises will consistently indicate safety management within organizations in high UA countries to be poorer than low UA countries due to the influence of national culture upon safety practices, which may limit opportunities for identifying and sharing best practice. We propose the use of safety culture against international group norms (SIGN) scores to statistically adjust for the influence of UA upon safety culture data, and to support the identification of safety practices effective and particular to low or high UA cultures.Practitioner points National cultural tendencies for uncertainty avoidance (UA) are negatively associated with safety culture.This indicates that employee safety‐related attitudes and practices may be influenced by national culture, and thus factors outside the direct control of organizational management.International safety culture assessments should attempt to determine the influence of national culture upon safety culture in order that benchmarking exercises compare aspects of safety management and not national culture.Safety culture against international group norms (SIGN) scores provide a potential way to do this, and can facilitate the identification of best practice within countries operating in a low or high UA cultural cluster.

Leadership Development Programs: Investigating the Impact of Contextual and Cultural Factors on LDP Effectiveness in the United Arab Emirates

The interest in leadership continues to grow over the past few decades. Leadership Development Programs (LDPs) have become a priority for all sectors, especially for the public sector. However, LDPs tend to be based on Western leadership theories, and predominantly utilize Western leadership development approaches, and do not consider the influence of national culture in their utilization, namely high-context cultures, as exists in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This exploratory study focuses on elucidating leadership conceptualizations among Emirati leaders identifying their perceptions of the factors that impact on LDPs and leadership outcomes in the UAE public sector. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 leaders from three Dubai government organisations and data were analyzed using NVivo 10. The significance of the findings of the study are: (1) leadership conceptualizations were based on the common themes of inspiring others and communication, (2) mentoring and coaching were noted to be among the best mechanisms utilized in LDPs, (3) leadership challenges included access to financial resources, adapting to ‘smart’ government, and building and retention of leaders– hence the need for effective LDPs. The study provides a unique and significant contextual contribution highlighting improvement in opportunities for leadership development programs in the UAE public sector.

How National Culture Influences Judgment and Decision Making (JDM)

Research using a variety of frameworks has shown that national culture and the values they espouse influence workplace behaviours, attitudes, and other organizational outcomes. (Kirkman, Lowe, and Gibson, 2006). Other frameworks used in studies relating national culture and workplace behaviours, attitudes, and other organizational outcomes include, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961), Hall (1976), Trompenaars (1993), Schwartz (1994), and Ronen and Shenkar (1985). The most influential of these frameworks is that of Hofstede (1980 and 2001), and it has had by far the greatest impact in studies relating national cultural values to workplace behaviours, attitudes, and other organizational outcomes. (Sivakumar & Nakata, 2001). For example, the Social Science Citations Index (SSCI) indicates that Hofstede’s work is more widely cited than others (cited 1,800 times through 1999). (Hofstede, www1980 and 2001). Trompenaars (1993), who has a competing framework, credits Hofstede for ‘opening management’s eyes to the importance of the [cross-cultural management] subject’.In Part A of this essay, the details of Bonner’s model for JDM research is evaluated in terms of the role national culture plays in the JDM quality of Accounting Professionals, and suggestions are made to enhance Bonner’s Model to better incorporate different national cultural perspectives.In Part B a comparison is made between the accounting scandal involving Bernard Madoff in his firm in the United States of America, and the accounting scandal in Olympus Corporation of Japan. In the process the JDM assessment differences, which could be attributed to cultural differences between the United States of America and Japan, are discussed.Finally in Part C an evaluation is made of the impact of national culture in a globalized decision making environment; what implications there might be for judgment and decision making in such a globalized decision making environment; how appropriate the model espoused by Hofstede (1980 and 2001) is when evaluating the potential national culture impact on JDM quality according to Bonner’s model; and what recommendations can be made to account for national cultural influences in JDM quality assessments.

National culture and higher education as pre-determining factors of student entrepreneurship

Our purpose is to assess the influence of national culture and higher education on entrepreneurship among students and fresh graduates. The aim was to determine whether the grouping of students based on certain personality traits (most of which are connected to culture) is effective at predicting entrepreneurial intention and whether entrepreneurial training over the course of their studies significantly influences their entrepreneurial intention and capability. A hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis generated four student typologies: mediocre, goal-oriented, withdrawn and opportunistic. Both the personality and academic profile-based groupings showed a weak, but significant effect on entrepreneurial intention; however, the second method had a slightly higher statistical relevance. The results also showed that receiving entrepreneurial training over the course of university enrolment is a determining factor when choosing an entrepreneurial career and that national culture likely has a moderating influence over the relationship between feasibility and intention to become an entrepreneur.

National Culture and Corporate Governance

ABSTRACT This paper examines the influence of national culture on corporate governance. We postulate that national culture can shape the contracting environments by serving as an informal constraint that affects incentives and choices in corporate governance. We hypothesize that national culture can explain cross-country variations in corporate governance after controlling for legal, political, financial, and economic institutions. We develop a Rule Preference Index as a proxy of national culture for a sample of 12,909 firm-year observations from 41 countries. Employing a hierarchical linear modeling approach to isolate the effects of firm-level and country-level variables, we find robust evidence that firms (and countries) with a higher Rule Preference Index tend to have better corporate governance.

Familiarity of Western melodies: An exploratory approach to influences of national culture, genre and musical expertise

It is unknown to what extent listeners in different Western countries share long-term representations of melodies as well as their genre associations, and whether such knowledge is modulated through music training. A group of German listeners ( N = 40) rated their familiarity with 144 melody excerpts from different genres implicitly (melody structure) and explicitly (melody title). Melodies were identical to those used in a previous Franco-Canadian study (Peretz, Babaï, Lussier, Hébert, & Gagnon, 1995). In addition, melodies were attributed by the participants to predefined genre categories, and similarities between pairs of melodies were computed, using an algorithm by Müllensiefen and Frieler (2006). Results revealed patterns of (un)familiarity, which, in part, deviated from the previous study. Melodies from classical, ceremonial, and – to a lesser extent – children’s songs categories were rated as most familiar, whereas traditional and more recent francophone tunes from mixed categories were judged as unfamiliar. Music training had no significant influence on implicit memory for melodies but rather on explicit knowledge of their titles. Computational analyses suggest that highly familiar and highly unfamiliar tunes share structural features with melodies belonging to the same category, whereas dissimilarities were detected between certain clusters of genre categories. Taken together, these results suggest that long-term representation of melodies is influenced by a listener’s (Western) national background. Representations are differently affected by specific genres but only partially influenced by music training and by structural properties.

How do ownership control position and national culture influence conflict resolution strategies in international joint ventures?

In this study, we investigate the relationship between ownership control position, national culture, and selection of conflict resolution strategies (CRS) of multinational corporations (MNCs) in their attempts to solve conflicts with local partners in international joint ventures (IJVs). The empirical evidence is based on a survey of 89 Nordic MNCs. The results show that MNCs select their CRS depending on their national culture and their ownership control position in IJVs. In addition, interesting results were found related to the interaction effects on the choice of CRS of national culture and ownership control position as well as of the trust between partners and national culture.

Performance outcomes of behavioral attributes in buyer-supplier relationships

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explain the impact of relationship capital (trust and commitment) and the exchange climate (communication, conflict resolution and cooperation) on performance satisfaction in the context of buyer–supplier relationships. The study also examines the influence of national culture on the proposed relationships.Design/methodology/approach– A conceptual model and accompanying research hypotheses are tested on data from a survey of 169 US and 110 Brazilian buyers. Structural equation modeling (AMOS 18.0) is used to test the hypotheses.Findings– Results suggest that performance satisfaction is highly dependent on the level of relationship capital and climate of information exchange between buyer and supplier. Quality communication and conflict resolution have the greatest impact on performance satisfaction while trust’s influence is both direct and mediated by the exchange climate.Research limitations/implications– The study is limited to a two-country sample in a business-to-business (B2B) context. Also, this study examines only the impact of socio-psychological behaviors on performance outcomes; economic variables are not considered.Practical implications– Results provide insight into what behavioral attributes are most influential in increasing a buyer’s satisfaction with a supplier’s performance in distinct countries. Based on the findings, suppliers can better formulate strategies to enter overseas markets.Originality/value– This study extends the strategic alliance literature on performance-relevant behaviors to the context of buyer–supplier relationships. In addition, the study contributes to the extant literature by including a sample from an emerging market.

The Influence of National Culture on Business Negotiations: An Exploratory Study of Venezuelan and British Managers

The Influence of National Culture on Business Negotiations: An Exploratory Study of Venezuelan and British Managers

How National Culture and Parental Style Affect the Process of Adolescents’ Ecological Resocialization

The role of adolescents as influencers on their families’ environmental behavior is potentially a catalyst for change towards increasing eco-friendly actions. In this paper, the authors report on a cross-cultural study of ecological resocialization in France and India. Using in-depth dyadic interviews, they investigated parental styles, cultural attributes and extent of adolescents’ influence over parental eco-behavior. The study reveals that ecological resocialization across countries differs substantially, according to a combination of national cultural values, parental style and influence strategy. French teens exhibit a greater impact than Indian teens on their parents’ eco-behavior and use bilateral influence strategies. In India, not all mothers engage in ecological resocialization, but those who do are susceptible to unilateral strategies. The role of environmental knowledge, and the context and effectiveness of each kind of strategy is discussed. The findings have implications for how public policy officials and agencies can encourage adolescents as key resocialization agents to influence their parents’ pro-environmental consumption by using the most adapted influence strategy across cultures.

Differences in Competency Management – Comparative Analysis between Polish, Spanish, and Austrian Business Practices

Abstract The main goal of the article is to present some differences in the practice of competency management, perceived as a part of human resources management, that were identified in the empirical research conducted in three countries, that is Poland, Spain, and Austria. Our research is placed within cross-cultural HRM and comparative HRM, that together with corporate-international HRM make three theoretical and research streams within international human resources management (IHRM). This is because on one side, the analysis of the research data covers comparison of competency management systems and practices both at the organizational and national level in different countries, but on the other side, we make an attempt to discuss the possible influence of national culture on identified differences.

Accountability in Northern Uganda: Understanding the Conflict, the Parties and the False Dichotomies in International Criminal Law and Transitional Justice

AbstractThe conflict in northern Uganda presents a unique study in comparing international, domestic and traditional responses to justice and stability amid prolonged conflict. This article explains the colonial and political background of the country and the emergence of the parties to the fighting, and describes the violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed by all armed groups. It examines the various responses to these violations, focusing on Uganda's Amnesty Act, International Criminal Court indictments, the Juba peace talks, and traditional conflict resolution and reconciliation ceremonies, and explores how these mechanisms for negotiating peace and instilling justice are facilitating or interfering with each other. Overall, it attempts to discover how this interplay between international idealism, regional and national politics, cultural influences and logistical feasibility not only presents important lessons concerning the conflict in Uganda, but also reflects and informs false dichotomies in international criminal law and transitional justice.

The Influence of Organizational and National Culture on New Product Performance

The authors conduct a meta‐analysis on the combined influence of organizational and national culture on new product performance. For this purpose, they refer to the effectiveness of value congruency and develop a conceptual model describing the fit between organizational culture types as suggested by the competing values framework and national culture, as described by Hofstede's cultural dimensions. The meta‐analysis is based on 489 effect sizes taken from 123 manuscripts. The findings show that organizations with a market culture show the highest new product performance, while hierarchy‐type organizations show the lowest performance. The influence of national culture variables supports the effect of value congruency, and shows that in individualistic cultures the impact of a clan culture decreases, the impact of an adhocracy culture type decreases with uncertainty avoidance, and the influence of a hierarchy culture type increases with power distance. The superior effect of a market culture type can be matched by other organizational orientations, but in particular national cultures only. The combined findings underline the importance for firms that seek to improve the success rate of new products on international markets to consider the fit of a national culture with a firm's organizational culture.

National culture and firm investment efficiency: international evidence

This paper examines the impact of national culture on firm investment efficiency using data of listed companies from 18 countries. We measure culture using Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity. We follow extant literature to measure firm investment efficiency. Our results indicate that individualism is positively correlated with firm investment bias and that uncertainty avoidance and masculinity are negatively correlated with firm investment bias. In addition, the influence of national culture on firm investment efficiency was more pronounced during the global financial crisis of 2008. Our results show that national cultures have significant influence on firm investment efficiency. This paper enriches the literature on the relationship between national culture and firm investment and has important implications for the investment decisions of firms.

Test Governance Framework for contracted IS development: Ethnographically informed action research

ContextOver the past two decades, interest has increased in software development and testing outsourcing. Although the decision to outsource development or test processes is founded on various background motives, e.g., costs, capacity, time-to-market, etc., additional factors that influence the outsourcing relationships are frequently overlooked by client organizations. ObjectiveThe main objectives of this paper are to investigate the role of testing in contracted software development projects and examine the interactions between both parties during the process. A Test Governance Framework (TeGoF) was developed to propose an organization-wide but project-centred mechanism for control of the test process in contracted software development projects. MethodThe principles of design science were applied to develop the TeGoF. The principles of ethnographically informed action research were used to evaluate this management artefact in an industrial context and examine the impact of a particular organizational setting on the framework. ResultsOf a total of three projects, the TeGoF was applied smoothly in only one case. However, this observation should not be interpreted as a TeGoF deficiency because its primary goal is to define a powerful detection mechanism to cope with quality-related issues in contractual relationships. In this sense, the TeGoF proved itself as a feasible tool. Additionally, an analysis is presented that describes the factors that contributed to the implementation difficulties of the TeGoF principles in the two remaining projects. Finally, the relationships among trust, control and power are indicated as well as the potential influence of national, organizational and occupational culture. ConclusionThe main contribution of this paper consists in the development of the TeGoF as a tool that pinpoints significant limitations in the current research related to control issues in the domain of contracted software systems testing. Additionally, the authors analysed key factors that influence the success of the TeGoF in client organizations.