The influence of organizational culture on how we define and pursue goals: The value of regulatory focus

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a model of organizational culture capable of more strongly predicting individual work behavior. For this purpose, the authors integrate the organizational culture profile (OCP) with two independent theories – regulatory focus theory and the theory of basic values.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data were collected from 22 US public accounting firms. Partial least squares confirmatory composite analysis was used to test the theoretical structure and measurement metrics of the proposed factors.

Findings

The results support that the influence of organizational culture can be conceptualized consistent with a regulatory focus framework. The findings of our research indicate that promotion-focused culture is distinct from prevention-focused culture.

Practical implications

The results raise questions about the common practice across existing person-organization fit research of expecting generic effects across all seven OCP dimensions when predicting individual behaviors. Moreover, empirical evidence for the separate higher-order cultural dimensions supports the conclusion that the OCP’s seven dimensions reflect different underlying motivations likely important in predicting individual work behavior.

Originality/value

This study is the first to not only provide a confirmatory composite analysis of the measure of culture based on the OCP’s original seven cultural dimensions, but also examine the motivational properties of organizational culture through a regulatory focus framework.

Citation

Rich, L.L., Rich, J. and Hair, J. (2018), "The influence of organizational culture on how we define and pursue goals: The value of regulatory focus", Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 259-277. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-03-2018-0017