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The purpose of the current study is to examine the effects of spiritual and emotional intelligences of managers in manufacturing industries on the ambiguous activities of tax avoidance and corporate disclosure quality.

Managers of 178 manufacturing companies have undergone a test regarding spiritual intelligence and emotional intelligence, of which 119 responded to the online questionnaire. Information on these two psychometric items was collected through King–Baron standard questionnaire, and quantitative data on tax avoidance, disclosure quality and performance were collected through the Rahavard Novin application, financial statements and Stock Exchange website. Obtained data were analyzed using factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

The results show that a relationship exists between the level of intellectual skills of managers (spiritual intelligence and emotional intelligence) and tax avoidance activities.

The current study is almost the first study in developing countries which focuses on the subject of the study.

Ambiguity has become a central concept in strategic communication research in recent years. This paper addresses three central deficits in the research to date. First, clarity-focused approaches and ambiguity-focused approaches are in opposition to each other, resulting in an exaggeration of the advantages and opportunities of the respective favored perspective and affording the opposing position little justification at best. Second, research on strategic ambiguity is by and large limited to the organizational perspective and has little interest in societal change. Third, there has been barely any research into concrete practices of strategic ambiguity and these practices have never been systematized.

The research questions will be answered on the basis of the “Theory of Social Systems” (TSS) by Niklas Luhmann, which can be attributed to the “Communication Constitutes Organization” (CCO) perspective. This perspective seems appropriate because the important concepts of communication and decision making play a central role in the TSS.

Strategic communication oscillates between clarity and ambiguity in order to defuse the dilemma and paradox. The re-entry of the distinction is a second-order observation and, thus, reveals the blind spots of clarity- and ambiguity-focused approaches. On this basis, a systematic approach is developed that encompasses various different dimensions of strategic clarity and ambiguity.

The paper focuses on the oscillation between strategic ambiguity and strategic clarity, making clear that the aim is not simply to substitute a new dominance of ambiguity for the clarity that has dominated textbooks thus far. Instead, it is a matter of reflective management of the distinction between strategic ambiguity and strategic clarity. The systematization of the practices of strategic ambiguity and strategic clarity can ultimately be used as a toolbox for the concrete application of strategic ambiguity and strategic clarity.

Overcoming the dualism of clarity-focused and ambiguity-focused approaches makes it possible, first, to explore the situational use of strategic clarity and strategic ambiguity. Second, the societal theoretical perspective shows the way in which organizations respond with strategic ambiguity to the increase in social contradictions without, however, being able to abandon strategic clarity. Third, using the systematic approach to the dimensions presented here, these practices can be described and examined in context.

In the last 3 decades, organization-wide programs and practices based on the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy have become central to continuous improvement (CI) strategy in both public and private enterprises. However, there is paradoxical evidence of TQM-firm performance linkage in non-Japanese contexts. This study presents a meta-analysis of empirical research on TQM-firm performance linkage and investigates the moderating influence of national cultural (NC) values on this relationship.

Meta-analytical procedures are adopted to analyse 364 effects accumulated from 135 independent samples across 31 nations, for 30,015 firm observations. Additionally, weighted least square (WLS) meta-regression is used to test the moderation effects of four NC dimensions based on the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) model.

The meta-analysis results reveal that the strengths of the association varied across five soft and hard TQM dimensions and three firm performance dimensions Meta-regression indicate that the effectiveness of the TQM program is high in cultures which reward collectivist behaviours, equity of power distribution and avoidance of ambiguity in rules/structures.

The study contributes to international operational management theory on cultural influences on the effectiveness of operations strategies and decisions.

Previous literature has reported inconsistent findings regarding the impact of uncertainty avoidance (UA) on intercultural experiences. This includes positive, negative and insignificant associations between UA on the one hand and cosmopolitanism or comfort with intercultural service encounters (ICSE) on the other hand. The purpose of this paper is to participate in addressing these contradictions. More specifically, this study examines how UA affects expatriate cosmopolitanism as well as approach of service environments patronized by local customers by introducing two moderators: national identification and perceived discrimination.

The authors propose a conceptual model based on the results of a literature review. The authors test it with survey data collected from Indian expatriates (n=341) living in Qatar, using structural equation modeling.

The results corroborate the moderating role of national identification. Under low identification, expatriate consumers engage in a prospective form of uncertainty management, leading them to adopt a more cosmopolitan stance. Under high identification, their uncertainty plays an inhibitory role, reducing their cosmopolitanism and negatively affecting their approach of service places patronized by local consumers. Perceived discrimination did not moderate the impact of UA as expected on either cosmopolitanism or approach.

This paper extends the prior research on UA by testing how two moderators could activate either a prospective or an inhibitory form of uncertainty. It also contributes to research on ICSE, by focusing on customer-to-customer interactions in a multicultural marketplace.

Addresses two important aspects which need to be considered when attempting to maximize excellence in an internal audit department. Suggests that individual auditors′ risk‐taking propensity and tolerance for ambiguity can adversely affect many important decisions, such as sample size selection, which in turn leads to costly as well as ineffective audits; and that internal audit directors utilize interpersonal methods of control, personality assessment of audit team members, and continuous evaluation of budgeted with actual audit hours, to overcome any such adverse effects.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a model that explores various possible determining factors in the rate of franchising among emerging nations. Emerging markets are some of the fastest growing economies in the world; moreover, the countries they represent are undergoing substantial economic transformations. Yet despite all this, little is known about the factors influencing country selection for expansion into these markets. In an attempt to enhance the knowledge that managers and scholars have on franchising expansion, the present study examines how market conditions may constrain diffusion of franchising into emerging markets. They are: geographical distance; cultural distance; uncertainty avoidance; individualism; political stability, and corruption. The author also controlled for gross domestic product, the efficiency of contract enforcement, and nascent entrepreneurship.

This study uses a quantitative approach applied to a sample of 63 Spanish franchisors with 2,836 franchisee outlets operating across the emerging countries.

Results conclude that geographical distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, political stability, corruption, gross domestic product, efficiency of contract enforcement, and nascent entrepreneurship are able to constrain the spread of franchising across emerging nations.

This study provides readers with a general overview of the current state of global franchising diffusion overseas. Results obtained in this study are useful for understanding and predicting the demand for franchising in emerging countries.

The present manuscript develops and tests a model that can be useful not only to academics interested in broadening their knowledge regarding global franchising, but also to firm managers wanting to establish new outlets in emerging nations. Thus, franchisors may use the results of this study as a starting point for identifying the emerging regions whose characteristics best meet their needs of expansion.

This paper explores how certain market conditions may drive international diffusion of franchising into emerging markets. The scant theoretical or empirical attention given to this topic has usually been examined from a US base and focused on developed markets. To fill this gap, the present study analyzes the international spread of the Spanish franchise system, which since 2008 has ranked fifth worldwide in terms of both the number of franchisors and the quantity of franchisee outlets across emerging markets.

This paper aims to examine the impact of national culture on private credit availability. The authors particularly focus on the masculinity dimension, as previous studies have not been able to reconcile this dimension in terms of results aligning with expectations.

Least-squares regression with country-cluster standard errors is used to estimate the impact of a nation’s cultural dimensions. Culture is assessed using Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions: masculinity, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, long-term orientation and indulgence. Estimation controls for country-level measures of economic growth and development, inflation, financial market development and the institutional, legal and bank environments. Data on more than 70 countries were collected from 2005 to 2014.

The authors find the masculinity dimension of culture has a significant negative impact on private credit access. Moreover, this result is driven by middle-income versus high-income countries. Interestingly, the authors also find the power distance dimension has a significant negative impact; however, this result is driven by high-income versus middle-income countries. Overall, these results are consistent with the authors’ argument that masculinity may be capturing traditionally defined gender roles, that masculinity (as the authors define it) is different from what power distance is capturing and that the impact of masculinity is influenced by a country’s economic stage.

The authors’ interpretation of masculinity, coupled with their results, presents researchers with an alternative perspective of a cultural dimension that previous studies have not been able to reconcile in terms of results aligning with expectations. Moreover, the authors show that the impact of the cultural dimensions on private credit differs for high- and middle-income countries, and thus has important implications.

This study is a replication of Tosi and Greckhamer's work examining how uncertainty avoidance, power distance, individualism and masculinity/femininity are related to total CEO pay, the ratio of variable to total CEO pay and the ratio of CEO pay to the pay of the lowest level employees in 23 countries. Its main purpose is to investigate whether the replication confirms, questions or extends the results of TG2004.

Tosi and Greckhamer used generalized linear modeling (GLS) to analyze the relationships between Hofstede's four cultural dimensions and CEO compensation. In the replication, the author used GLS to retest the original seven hypotheses with more recent data from Hofstede and test the same hypotheses relying on cultural values and practices scores from the GLOBE study. Further, using firm-level data unavailable for the original study, the author analyzed fixed and random effects in mixed models.

The replication generally confirms the findings of the original study for the effects of power distance, individualism and masculinity on CEO total pay. Results are mixed or indicate the lack of significant effect for other relationships.

This study reexamines the effects of country-level contextual variables in the area of CEO compensation.

The replication presents firm-level CEO compensation and firm performance data from 21 countries, extending the original study and unveiling possible spurious effects.

On the more fundamental level total quality management (TQM) is based on a number of core values. Implementing these values requires a cultural transformation of the company. The purpose of this study is to add more understanding of how the fundamentals of TQM are viewed in different cultural settings. Hypotheses are formed regarding possible correlations between values of quality management and cultural dimensions. The hypotheses are tested with a questionnaire answered by quality managers from the SKF group from 30 countries world‐wide. It is found that the cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and individualism‐collectivism have an influence on the values of TQM. This influence is described and the managerial implications of it are discussed.

This study aims to analyze the effects of cultural orientations (performance and sociality) on the trajectories of innovation inputs and their results in different countries worldwide between 2011 and 2021.

As a technique for data analysis, one of the spatial Bayesian models and Gray forecasting methods is used. This technique is adequate to achieve the objectives of the investigation because it allows analyzing how the variables move in time ranges and allow the generation of forecasts. This model also allows knowing if there are spills, which investing in a country can positively affect countries with geographical proximity. The databases used were the Global Innovation Index with data from 131 nations and the Globe Project with data from 157 countries between 2011 and 2021. The variables analyzed are institutions, human capital, research infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication. On the other hand, regarding moderations of cultural orientations, The Globe Project developed two factors: performance orientation (high degree of masculinity, avoidance of ambiguity, power distance and future orientation) and humane orientation (high-level of femininity, institutional and societal collectivism).

The results reveal that all inputs grow at different rates over time. In the case of institutions, it is the most difficult to generate changes over time. However, human capital, market sophistication and business sophistication are the ones that have grown the most over time, regardless of the country’s cultural orientation.

Among the main limitations is the set of data used because it only considers one approach to culture, especially the one considered by Hofstede. However, other approaches could help evaluate the results of this research. Considering the results obtained, the study attempts to provide a different view of the effects of cultural variables on companies’ innovation performance in different countries in the world. In the same way, evaluating these effects allows firms to consider variables associated with the country that will affect the strategies and performance of the firm.

The results achieved make it possible to strengthen the analysis of the countries’ strategies when it comes to innovation, especially in the permanent evaluation of the results that allow to encourage changes in the execution of innovative activities to maintain their performance over time.

The contributions allow us to understand the dynamics of innovation in the knowledge and creative outputs of countries over time.

The trajectory analysis used in the data analysis is perhaps one of the most robust techniques that makes a time series analysis. This allows identifying trajectories for the independent variables of the study and their influence on the innovation of the country.