Uncertainty Avoidance Cultures Research Articles

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.

Management Ethics and Social Responsibility Amid Diversity Across Nations

Managers, in both public and private sectors, are likely to face diverse and complex ethical challenges as they make decisions regarding functions such as hiring, promotions, compensation, suppliers and community affairs. Managers who work in a culturally diverse environment are likely to face even more difficult conflicts and decisions since people of different ethnic backgrounds are likely to have different rankings for various decisions and values [1]. For example, people of low context cultures living in individualistic societies are likely to place a higher level of importance on facts or truth [2] like the universalists, while those living in high context cultures that tend to be collectivistic will place loyalty higher as they function more like particularists [3]. Workers working in high uncertainty avoidance cultures are likely to avoid conflicts that can jeopardize their relationships with superiors or colleagues, while those living in low uncertainty avoidance and low power distance environments tend to take more risks even when this can hurt a relationship in the workplace [4, 5]. Therefore, it is important for modern global managers to be aware of such differences in values, behaviors and expectations. They should always act ethically, while also making sure that they are being seen as socially responsible and culturally competent in order to cohesively and synergistically work with and inspire workers toward creativity, innovation and higher productivity [6].

Relationship between Uncertainty Avoidance Culture, Entrepreneurial Activity and Economic Development

The aim of this study is to observe uncertainty avoidance as an important national cultural dimension and to analyze uncertainty avoidance effect on “Total Entrepreneurial Activity”. Total entrepreneurial activity measures the level of the economic development and entrepreneurship. The relationship between uncertainty avoidance, entrepreneurship and economic development was analyzed by three hypothesises. Correlational regression analysis in SPSS was used, and as a result of analysis, it has been found that a country’ economic development level (GDPPC) influence its uncertainty avoidance level and the total entrepreneurial activity (TEA)rate.

The impact of culture on the relationship between governance and opportunism in outsourcing relationships

To address concerns of opportunism, outsourcing firms are encouraged to deploy contractual and relational governance. The individual and collective effects of these mechanisms have been previously examined but not in specific contexts. This study examines the effects of contractual and relational governance on provider opportunism, incorporating the moderating influence of a “shift parameter”—national culture. Our results reveal that contractual governance is more effective in individualistic and low uncertainty avoidance cultures. Relational governance is more effective in collectivist and high uncertainty avoidance societies. The individualism–collectivism dimension also moderates the joint effect of these mechanisms. While the mechanisms are generally complementary in mitigating opportunism, a singular focus on either contractual or relational can be just as effective under situations of high individualism and collectivism, respectively.

Mediating Effect of Uncertainty Avoidance on the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Talent and SMEs Performance in Nigeria: A Conceptual Analysis

Several studies have established the relationship between entrepreneurial talent and performance. However, these studies present inconsistent findings, some found negative, positive or weak relationship. But, to date, most of these studies were conducted in developed economy as such there were few or no studies on entrepreneurial talents effect on SMEs performance in developing countries like Nigeria. The paper suggests that entrepreneurs that possess entrepreneurial talent are likely to achieve greater performance. It also argued that in contrast to high uncertainty avoidance culture where people will make sure that they have all the necessary talent requirements before starting any entrepreneurial journey, people in low uncertainty avoidance culture just storm the castle without considering whether or not they have what it takes to be entrepreneurial. Given that entrepreneurial talent is important to aspiring individuals and the economy as a whole, this paper provides propositions that will guide the future studies and provide suggestions to entrepreneurs/managers and policy makers to improve SMEs performance. It provides a conceptual analysis of moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance on the relationship between entrepreneurial talent and SMEs performance in Nigeria.

New Technologies and Traditional Innovation Determinants in the Greek Economy

It is widely recognized that the recent economic crisis in Greece is due not only to excessive government spending and tax evasion, but also to the low competitiveness of its economy. Innovation has become of critical importance for the competitiveness of firms, sectors and countries in the modern economy. This paper presents an empirical study of the ‘new’ innovation determinants based on information and communication technologies (ICT) and also of the ‘traditional’ innovation determinants in the Greek economy. In particular, it investigates the impact of three different ICT (internal information systems (IS), e-sales and e-procurements) and also of six important traditional innovation determinants identified by previous relevant research (four ‘external’ ones—demand expectation, price and non-price competition, market concentration—and two ‘internal’ ones—investment in research and development (R&D) and firm size), on the innovation performance of Greek firms. It is based on firm-level data collected through a survey of 271 Greek firms before the start of the economic crisis, which have been used for the estimation of regression models. It is concluded that in the Greek ‘innovation-averse’ national context (characterized by low level of innovation and uncertainty avoidance culture) none of the examined external (market-related) traditional innovation determinants has an impact on product or process innovation of firms, while on the contrary the internal ones, R&D expenditure per employee and size, affect positively both. Furthermore, the examined new technologies seem to be important drivers of innovation: it is concluded that the internal IS have a positive impact on both product and process innovation, the e-sales only on process innovation, but the e-procurement on none. Our results indicate the high potential of ICT as innovation drivers even in such innovation-averse and lower economic development contexts, which, however, vary between different types of ICT.

The Home Country Cultural Determinants of Firms' Foreign Market Entry Timing Strategies

Firms choose foreign market entry timing strategies based on their perceptions and evaluations of the risks and rewards inherent with early versus late entry into that market. We expect a firm's home country culture to have a strong impact on these perceptions, resulting in systematic variation in firm entry timing strategies across firms' country of origin. To this perspective, we integrate extant research which suggests that the host country political environment will also impact entry timing. Our findings support the argument that home country cultural attributes directly influence whether a firm decides to enter a country earlier or later than other firms, and that the host country's political environment moderates these effects. Specifically, we find that firms from high performance orientation and high power distance tend to enter countries earlier on average; we also find that countries with weak political freedoms trigger late-entry strategies for firms from high uncertainty avoidance cultures, but early-entry strategies for firms from collectivist cultures. Our findings are the first in the entry timing literature to examine the role of a firm's home country cultural attributes and underscore the importance of the cultural and political environments on strategic decision-making across diverse home and host country contexts.

Cultural variations in the use of marketing signals: a multilevel analysis of the motion picture industry

Movies are experiential products that include a myriad of cultural cues, and their box office performance varies across countries with different cultural backgrounds. The profusion of studies on the motion picture industry notwithstanding, this aspect has been largely ignored in the literature. Drawing on signaling theory, this study examines how a country’s cultural fabric moderates the impact of movie-related signals on the opening weekend box office performance. We test our hypotheses using a multilevel model and a comprehensive dataset of 1,116 movies released in 27 countries between 2007 and 2011. Results reveal that the impact of star power on box office performance is amplified in high uncertainty avoidance and indulgent cultures, while it is attenuated in high power distance cultures. Moreover, the positive relationship between sequels and performance wanes in individualist cultures. Movies with high production budgets perform better in culturally open countries, while critics’ reviews are more instrumental in high uncertainty avoidance cultures.

Examining Uncertainty Avoidance, Relationship Quality, and Customer Loyalty in Two Cultures

ABSTRACT The study examines culture's role in the association of relationship quality with customer loyalty. Specifically, the association of relationship quality dimensions with loyalty was examined in a European high uncertainty avoidance culture (Turkey) and an Asian low uncertainty avoidance culture (Malaysia). Data were collected through a field survey of randomly selected bank customers in Ankara and Kuala Lumpur. Factor and Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses (HMRA) were employed for data analysis. The results show that relationship quality dimensions explain a significant amount of variance in customer loyalty. Trust and satisfaction are significantly associated with customer loyalty. Uncertainty avoidance is significantly associated with loyalty. The impact of trust on loyalty is moderated by uncertainty avoidance. As such, culture is an explanatory variable for customer loyalty.

The Influence of National Culture on the Use of Management Consultants

The current paper aims at explaining variations in the “make-or-buy” decision when it comes to management consultants across national contexts. Within Europe, spendings on consultants vary from 0,1% of GDP in e.g. Poland to 1,2% of GDP in the UK. The current paper presents a model based on transaction costs economics identifying differences in the cultural dimensions Uncertainty Avoidance and Masculinity as central explanatory factors. The model is tested on data on the volume of management consulting services as % of GDP in 22 European countries. The results indicate that a country’s preference for Uncertainty Avoidance is negatively related to the use of management consultants. This is explained in relation to the higher perceived uncertainties and thus transaction costs in high Uncertainty Avoidance cultures. We also find that the cultural dimension Masculinity-Femininity moderates the relationship between uncertainty avoidance and the use of consultants such that the negative effect of uncertainty avo...

The home country cultural determinants of firms' foreign market entry timing strategies

Firms choose foreign market entry timing strategies based on their perceptions and evaluation of the risks and rewards inherent with early versus late entry into that market. We expect a firm’s home country culture to have a strong impact on these perceptions, resulting in systematic variation in firm entry timing strategy across firms’ country of origin. To this perspective, we integrate extant research which suggests that attributes of the host country environment will impact entry timing as well. Our findings support the argument that home country cultural attributes directly influence whether a firm decides to enter a country earlier or later than other firms, and that the host country’s political environment moderates these effects. Specifically, we find that firms from high performance orientation and high power distance tend to enter countries earlier on average; we also find that countries with weak political freedoms trigger late-entry strategies from high uncertainty avoidance cultures, but earl...

Time and Country Specific Institutional Effects on Corporate Social Disclosure by Financial Institutions: Evidence from Fourteen European Countries

In this paper, we examine time and country specific institutional effects on CSR disclosures by big bank in fourteen Western European banks. For time effect, we compared banks’ CSR disclosures in 2005, when societal expectation of banks’ CSR disclosures was considered low, to their CSR disclosures in 2008, when social expectations from banks were higher due to the legitimacy gaps. For the institutional effects, we examine the impacts of legal origin and cultural institutions on CSR disclosures of banks in the countries studied. We find that banks are intransigent in their CSR disclosures as they maintained a constant CSR score for both periods. We also find significant relationships between countries’ legal origin and the nature of disclosures made by banks. Consistent with our hypotheses, we find that banks operating in high uncertainty avoidance cultures make more CSR disclosures than banks in low uncertainty avoidance culture, but individualism/collectivism cultural dimensions were not relevant to banks CSR disclosures. We made important contribution to literature and identified policy implications of our findings.

A cross-cultural study on consumers level of acceptance toward marketing innovativeness

This research applied Hofstede’s five culture dimensions to examine the cross-cultural consumer differences in acceptance of marketing innovativeness. The participants of this study are consumers from various countries; namely, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Macao, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Taiwan. This research was conducted to provide evidence on the relationship between national cultures and consumer’s level of acceptance toward innovative marketing through 446 valid questionnaires. The results of logarithmic regression indicated that consumers from different national cultures varied in their marketing innovativeness. Consumers from the higher power distance and uncertainty avoidance cultures were weaker than lower ones on acceptance of innovative marketing. Marketing innovativeness was stronger in higher individualism, masculinity and long-term orientation than lower ones. Furthermore, this research employs neural network to demonstrate the relationship between national cultures and marketing innovativeness. The managerial implication of this study suggested several strategies that may be helpful to marketers aiming at different cultures. Further research could examine other countries and do a cross-culture investigation on consumer or other pertinent issues. Key words: National culture, marketing innovativeness, innovativeness.

New entrepreneurial ventures in a globalized world: The role of market orientation

The present study examines the performance consequences of a market orientation for new entrepreneurial ventures in a globalized world. We show that market orientation indeed positively impacts the performance of new entrepreneurial ventures, regardless of their geographical setting. While market orientation turns out to be a general success factor in a globalized world, the strength of the performance relationship however is contingent to the national culture as one major differentiator between geographical settings. The effect turns out to be stronger in collectivist and high uncertainty avoidance cultures. Findings are derived based on large samples with German and Thai new entrepreneurial ventures. Partial least square is applied as the method of analysis.

A comparative study of perceptions toward “scratch and save” promotions in Canada and Korea

PurposeThe paper seeks to examine cross‐cultural differences in how consumers evaluate “scratch and save” (SAS) promotions (which are characterized by uncertainty of savings outcomes) between Canada and Korea, where the promotion tool is widely used but the countries have different cultural values.Design/methodology/approachAn experiment was conducted to examine cross‐cultural differences in SAS promotion evaluations between Canada (n=77) and Korea (n=78).FindingsSAS promotions effectively stimulate favorable shopping intentions in Canada, a country with a low uncertainty avoidance culture, more so than in Korea, a country with a high uncertainty avoidance culture. However, subjects in Korea show consistently higher savings expectations from SAS promotions than subjects in Canada. Thus, the results report that consumers with the highest savings expectations do not necessarily have the highest intention to shop. In addition, in Korea, a SAS promotion with guaranteed minimum savings is found to be very effective due to reduced ambiguity about its outcome.Research limitations/implicationsThe study suggests cross‐cultural differences in the applicability of the disjunction effect.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that when SAS promotions are presented in a country with high uncertainty avoidance, retailers should explicitly indicate the value of the guaranteed minimum savings. By promising guaranteed savings, retailers can reduce consumers' relatively high concerns about unknown SAS outcomes, which results in a greater advantage in building favorable perceptions.Originality/valueVery little work has been undertaken into SAS promotions and no known empirical research has been undertaken into cross‐cultural differences. This paper fills some of the gaps.

An Exploratory Study of Myanmar Culture Using Hofstede's Value Dimensions

This paper is an exploratory investigation into the cultural classification of Myanmar (Burmese) culture using the Hofstede-Bond typology. Myanmar was not included in the original or subsequent Hofstede studies, and no empirical data are found in the literature concerning the cultural classification of this country. The results indicate that Myanmar is a low power distance, highly feminine, moderately individualistic, high uncertainty avoidance culture with a moderate long-term orientation. The paper also addresses the similarities and differences between Myanmar and its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Cultural Consequences on Excellence in Public Diplomacy

The purpose of this study is to advance the contextual study of public diplomacy—the inquiry into the influences of a government's contextual variables on its practice and management of public diplomacy. To meet this aim, this study investigated the empirical associations between Hofstede's cultural dimensions and Excellence in public diplomacy, a conception of excellence in public diplomacy developed from the Excellence study, based on survey data from 52 embassies in Washington, DC. The findings suggest that the uncertainty avoidance dimension has substantial and significant empirical associations with Excellence in public diplomacy. Additionally, not only low uncertainty avoidance cultures but also individualist and low power distance cultures are more conducive to the Excellence than are their counterparts. Nonetheless, the findings have an implication that, in terms of associational magnitude, the overall contextual effects of societal culture on the Excellence may not be strong.

Transformational leadership: Its relationship to culture value dimensions

Abstract This study examines the relationships between overall transformational leadership, as well as its five aspects (challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way and encouraging the hearth) as identified by Kouzes and Posner, and Hofstede's culture value dimensions by investigating the responses of Pakistani, Kazakh and Turkish business students. The evaluation of the responses indicates that a significant and negative relationship exists between the uncertainty avoidance culture value dimension and overall transformational leadership. Further analysis revealed that some aspects of transformational leadership are found to be common, whereas others are culture-specific. The transformational leadership aspects such as challenging the process and enabling others to act were not found to be related to any of the culture value dimensions. Inspiring a shared vision and modeling the way were significantly and negatively related to uncertainty avoidance while encouraging the hearth was positively related to power distance.

How cultural differences in uncertainty avoidance affect product perceptions

PurposeTo examine how people from countries that vary in uncertainty avoidance (UA) use information about product uncertainty when evaluating products.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies were conducted that vary in methodology, sampling and analysis. First, an experiment was designed to manipulate product uncertainty through the use of country of origin (COO) quality‐stereotypes. It was administered to university students from a diverse range of countries, all studying in the USA. Next, data from a large‐scale survey of consumers from ten countries was submitted to hierarchical binary regression analyses to include variables at the country and individual level.FindingsThe studies support an interaction between product uncertainty (PU) and cultural UA on quality perceptions and behavioural intentions. Consumers from high UA countries evaluated high PU offerings less positively and held weaker behavioural intentions than those from low UA countries, but for low PU offerings, no difference was found. The effect of UA was reduced for people with more experience and those who were younger.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough we isolated the effects of UA from other cultural and individual level variables, it would be useful to directly cross individualism with UA in an experimental design, as these two variables are highly correlated.Practical implicationsThis study suggests products with higher levels of PU will have more opportunity to prove themselves in low uncertainty cultures.Originality/valueThis study should be valuable for marketing managers devising rollout strategies for products with higher levels of PU or weaker quality stereotypes.

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.