Understanding Of Cross-national Differences Research Articles

Modelling the Asymmetrical Relationships between Digitalisation and Sustainable Competitiveness: A Cross-Country Configurational Analysis

Sustainable competitiveness (SC) encourages nations not only to meet the needs of the current generation but also to sustain or even expand national wealth in the future without depleting natural and social capital. Drawing on complexity theory, we used a configurational approach to identify under what necessary and sufficient conditions, digitalisation contributes to achieve higher SC. Shifting attention from net effects to configuration analysis improves our understanding of cross-national differences in sustainability by exploring how the digitalisation factors combine to strengthen SC power across countries. To address the complexity of this configuration, we have incorporated fsQCA and NCA techniques in the modelling of high and low levels of sustainable competitiveness recipes. Analysis of data from 127 countries advanced our perception of how access to ICT infrastructures and capabilities, combined with the adoption and usage of ICT could result in different degrees of sustainable competitiveness. Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature on digitalisation and national sustainability; and it can practically act as a guideline for policymakers to understand the complex interactions and causal configurations of digitalisation factors on sustainability.

Why Do Japanese Bully More than Americans? Influence of External Locus of Control and Student Attitudes Toward Bullying

It is widely accepted that Japanese, compared to Americans, commit fewer criminal and other forms of deviant acts. However, there is evidence that Japanese students have an unusually high prevalence of bullying. In the current study, we develop a rationale for predicting that Japanese students, relative to Americans, should be oriented more strongly toward an external locus of control and have more favorable attitudes toward bullying, which, in turn, might explain why student bullying is more prevalent in Japan than in the U.S. Analyses of comparable survey data from college students in Japan (N = 584) and the U.S. (N = 623) provide generally supportive evidence for our predictions. In agreement with expectations, Japanese students committed more bullying acts during their high school days than Americans. Further, Japanese students were oriented more strongly toward an external locus of control and had more favorable attitudes toward bullying. After controlling for both an external locus of control and student attitudes toward bullying, the initially significant difference between the two samples in student bullying disappeared. We discuss the utility of comparative research to increase our understanding of cross-national differences in student bullying. We suggest that longitudinal comparative data on an external locus of control and student attitudes toward bullying, both of which reflect individual cognitive orientations, are an important resource for further development of school intervention programs around the world.

Prevention of and interventions in workplace bullying: a global study of human resource professionals’ reflections on preferred action

The aim of this study was to analyze Human Resource Professionals’ reflections on the prevention of and intervention in workplace bullying across different countries. More specifically, the study sought to identify what actions were, in the experience of human resource professionals, best to prevent and intervene in bullying and uncover organizations’ motives for engaging in such work. The study was conducted through semi-structured interviews (n = 214) in 14 different countries/regions, representing all continents and all GLOBE cultural clusters. Qualitative content analysis was performed to analyze the material. The findings indicate that bullying was largely conceptualized as a productivity and cost issue, and that was largely driving efforts to counter bullying. Training and policies were highlighted as preferred means to prevent bullying across countries. In contrast, there were large national differences in terms of preferences for either disciplinary or reconciliatory approaches to intervene in bullying. This study advances our understanding of what human resource professionals consider preferred ways of managing workplace bullying, and adds to our understanding of cross-national differences and similarities in views of this phenomenon. As such, the results are of relevance to both practitioners and scholars.

Generational Shifts in Managerial Values and the Coming of a Global Business Culture

In a globalizing world, cross-national differences in values and business culture and understanding these differences become increasingly central to a range of managerial issues. Studies of cultural (dis)similarities in the values of managers (so-called managerial values) and the development of a unified, global business culture, however, have hardly developed beyond static, bi-country comparisons of managerial values. This paper addresses three recent critiques of the literature on cultural convergence. It develops a theory-driven empirical approach to the study of change in countries’ business cultures that revolves around generational differences in managerial values and brings important advancement in our understanding of cross-national differences in managerial values and the dynamics therein. We use longitudinal data that cover 37,254 managers and are able, for the first time, to consider a sample of countries that is large and diverse enough to allow for credible international generalizations. Results show systematic generational shifts in managerial values towards a steady waning of cultural dissimilarities between managers. Interestingly, cultural convergence is not universal across values domains. Nevertheless, nationality is increasingly becoming a less relevant factor in managerial values. We now have strong empirical reason to move beyond thinking in simple country dichotomies when considering managerial values and business culture.

Generational Shifts in Managerial Values and the Coming of a Global Business Culture

In a globalizing world, cross-national differences in values and business culture and understanding these differences become increasingly central to a range of managerial issues. Studies of cultural (dis)similarities in the values of managers (so-called managerial values) and the development of a unified, global business culture, however, have hardly developed beyond static, bi-country comparisons of managerial values. This paper addresses three recent critiques of the literature on cultural convergence. It develops a theory-driven empirical approach to the study of change in countries’ business cultures that revolves around generational differences in managerial values and brings important advancement in our understanding of cross-national differences in managerial values and the dynamics therein. We use longitudinal data that cover 37,254 managers and are able, for the first time, to consider a sample of countries that is large and diverse enough to allow for credible international generalizations. Results show systematic generational shifts in managerial values towards a steady waning of cultural dissimilarities between managers. Interestingly, cultural convergence is not universal across values domains. Nevertheless, nationality is increasingly becoming a less relevant factor in managerial values. We now have strong empirical reason to move beyond thinking in simple country dichotomies when considering managerial values and business culture.

Schizophrenia Prognosis: Debate Rages On

Schizophrenia Prognosis: Debate Rages On

Cross-National Comparisons: Problems in Interpretation When Studies Are Based on Prevalent Cases

Cross-National Comparisons: Problems in Interpretation When Studies Are Based on Prevalent Cases

Symmetry and hierarchy in social mobility: a methodological analysis of the CASMIN model of class mobility

The CASMIN model of class mobility proposed by Erikson and Goldthorpe advances our understanding of cross-national differences in social mobility in a number of important ways most notably by showing how differences in the association between social origins and destinations reflect consequences of public policies that enhance or restrict opportunities. We respecify the CASMIN model in ways that clarify (a) the role of socioeconomic differences among classes in mobility processes and (b) the extent of cross-national variation. In particular the problems with the CASMIN model are its application to highly aggregated occupational classes its suppression of hierarchical or vertical differences among classes and its asymmetric classification of origin and destination classes. Our alternative specification is based on greater occupational detail incorporates continuous covariates in linear-by-linear expressions that are analogous to regression models and imposes symmetry on the association between origins and destinations. We find that the CASMIN model understates the importance of hierarchy relative to sector and inheritance in the determination of mobility patterns generally as well as in cross-national differences. Furthermore the symmetry of our model facilitates the analysis of structural mobility as a factor that contributes to cross-national differences in overall mobility rates. (authors)