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1 – 10 of over 29000Vesa Suutari, Kusdi Raharjo and Timo Riikkilä
International assignments are becoming more and more typical parts of a managerial career. As an outcome, cross‐cultural leadership competencies are required within international…
Abstract
International assignments are becoming more and more typical parts of a managerial career. As an outcome, cross‐cultural leadership competencies are required within international companies. Still, real cross‐cultural leadership interaction between expatriate managers and their local subordinates has not been much studied. In the light of this, the goals of the present study were to analyse whether and how expatriate managers adjust their leadership style due to cross‐cultural differences, and whether and how local subordinates perceive the styles of expatriate managers to differ from the styles of local managers after possible adjustments. The data were collected by interviewing Finnish expatriate managers and their Indonesian subordinates in real cross‐cultural business settings with a bicultural interview team.
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Ayala Malach‐Pines and Oshrit Kaspi‐Baruch
The paper addresses the influence of culture and gender on the choice of a management career among men and women MBA students in Israel, the USA, the UK, Turkey, Cyprus, Hungary…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper addresses the influence of culture and gender on the choice of a management career among men and women MBA students in Israel, the USA, the UK, Turkey, Cyprus, Hungary and India. The culture by gender comparison enabled an examination of five theories: two that focused on culture (Hofstede's and an application of Schneider's ASA model) and three that focused on gender (evolutionary theory, social role theory and social construction theory). The five theories have contradictory predictions about the relative influence of culture and gender.
Design/methodology/approach
Seven hundred and forty‐seven MBA students (390 male and 357 female and approximately 100 in each country) responded to a self‐report measure that was assembled especially for the purpose of the study.
Findings
The findings showed large cross‐cultural differences and small gender differences in the influences and aspirations associated with a career choice in management.
Research limitations/implications
The findings support Hofstede's research and social construction theory, which predicted the cross‐cultural differences. They provide some support for social role theory, which predicted both gender and cross‐cultural differences, and very limited support for evolutionary theory, which predicted large and universal gender differences, and for the application of Schneider's ASA model, which predicted no cross‐cultural differences.
Originality/value
The findings are important in light of the small percentage of women in top management positions and the view of an MBA as means for breaking through the glass ceiling into top management. The findings can be translated to recommendations for encouraging women's entry into management.
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Sara Dolnicar and Bettina Grün
The existence of variable response styles represents a major threat to the correct interpretation of market research findings. In international marketing, this threat is further…
Abstract
Purpose
The existence of variable response styles represents a major threat to the correct interpretation of market research findings. In international marketing, this threat is further increased due to samples of respondents from different cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this paper is to extend the investigation of differences in cross‐cultural response styles by studying full response patterns instead of extreme values, quantify the extent of the potential mistake of not accounting for cross‐cultural differences in response behaviour and present a simple way of testing whether or not data sets from various cultural backgrounds can be used without correcting for cross‐cultural response styles.
Design/methodology/approach
Two independent data sets are used. Extreme response style (ERS) scores are compared by testing for equality of proportions. Respondents' answer patterns are partitioned using the k‐means algorithm, the resulting differences between cultures tested using a Fisher's exact test for count data. The extent of inter‐cultural difference in responses is assessed using ANOVA.
Findings
Asian and Australian respondents differ significantly in ERS and full response patterns. Differences in cross‐cultural response patterns account for up to 6 per cent of the variance in the data, thus representing a significant potential source for misinterpretation in cross‐cultural studies.
Practical implications
International market researchers using samples including respondents from more than one cultural background have to be aware of the potential source of misinterpretation caused by cross‐cultural differences in response patterns. A simple ANOVA‐based procedure allows researchers to determine whether data can be used in its uncorrected form.
Originality/value
The paper investigates cross‐cultural response styles for new groups of respondents (Australian vs Asian), extends the study from the investigation of extreme values to full response patterns and gives market researchers in the international marketing context an indication of how high the level of potential misinterpretation can be and presents a simple means of checking how necessary it is to account for cross‐cultural differences in response behaviour.
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Naresh K. Malhotra, James Agarwal and Mark Peterson
Notes that methodological problems are hampering the growth of cross‐cultural marketing research and presents a review of methodological issues to address these problems…
Abstract
Notes that methodological problems are hampering the growth of cross‐cultural marketing research and presents a review of methodological issues to address these problems. Organizes these issues around a six‐step framework which includes elements such as problem definition, the development of an approach and research design formulation. Notes that the marketing research problem can be defined by comparing the phenomenon or behaviour in separate cultural contexts and eliminating the influence of the self‐reference criterion. Discusses issues in data analysis such as treatment of outliers and standardization of data. Concludes with an interpretation of results and report presentation.
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Cross-cultural research constitutes a pivotal topic for marketing; however, the literature indicates that there are a few studies analyzing social media reviews from a…
Abstract
Purpose
Cross-cultural research constitutes a pivotal topic for marketing; however, the literature indicates that there are a few studies analyzing social media reviews from a cross-cultural perspective using cultural proximity (supra-national level) as a proxy of culture. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify cross-cultural differences in service evaluations and specifically, in hotel appraisals among tourists from Central, Eastern (including Post-Soviet States), Northern and Southern Europe.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach has been taken by studying online user-generated ratings of hotels on Trip Advisor. In total, 1,055 reviews of five hotels in Greece were used for the study.
Findings
Multivariate analysis of variance and analysis of variances results confirm cultural differences in overall service evaluations and attributes (value, location, sleeping quality, rooms, cleanliness and service) of tourists from various European regions. Specifically, Eastern Europeans uploaded more reviews than any other European group, whereas Northern Europeans were more generous in their appraisals than Eastern, Southern and Central Europeans.
Practical implications
The results of the study could be used for segmentation purposes of the European tourism market and for recognizing, which aspects of their services need to be improved based on the segments they serve. Moreover, managers should encourage Northern and Eastern Europeans to upload their reviews as both groups are more generous in their evaluations. Moreover, the findings are useful to marketers of other services.
Originality/value
To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that examines cross-cultural differences in hotel appraisals from a supra-national perspective including developed (Northern and Western Europe), developing (Southern Europe) and emerging tourism markets (Eastern Europe).
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Chu-Hsiang (Daisy) Chang and Samantha K. Baard
Given the increasing global focus of many aspects of our society, researchers have taken significant steps in understanding the impact of culture on various psychological states…
Abstract
Given the increasing global focus of many aspects of our society, researchers have taken significant steps in understanding the impact of culture on various psychological states. This review focuses on the stressor–strain relationships within the context of cross-cultural and cross-national studies. Using research findings from the United States as a baseline, we identify common and unique themes concerning the stressor–strain relationships between different countries, and clarify the differences between cross-national and cross-cultural studies. Furthermore, we consider cross-cultural and cross-national occupational stress research from an individual differences perspective. We encourage future studies to adopt this perspective and carefully consider the implications of cultural values on occupational stress research at the individual, group, and country levels.
Nancy J. Adler and Zeynep Aycan
Pervasive forms of worldwide communication now connect us instantly and constantly, and yet we all too often fail to understand each other. Rather than benefiting from our…
Abstract
Pervasive forms of worldwide communication now connect us instantly and constantly, and yet we all too often fail to understand each other. Rather than benefiting from our globally interconnected reality, the world continues to fall back on divisiveness, a widening schism exacerbated by some of the most pronounced divisions in history along lines of wealth, culture, religion, ideology, class, gender, and race. Cross-cultural dynamics are rife within multinational organizations and among people who regularly work with people from other cultures. This chapter reviews what we know from our scholarship on cross-cultural interaction among expatriates, negotiators, and teams that work in international contexts. Perhaps more important, this chapter outlines what we need to learn – and to unlearn – to be able to see diversity as an asset in helping individuals, organizations, and society to succeed rather than continuing to understand it primarily as a source of problems.
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Sophie Revillard Kaufman and Alvin Hwang
The purpose of this paper is to develop the mindfulness construct in Thomas’ (2006) cultural intelligence (CQ) model and identify three mindfulness facets based on the mindfulness…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop the mindfulness construct in Thomas’ (2006) cultural intelligence (CQ) model and identify three mindfulness facets based on the mindfulness literature: empathy, open-mindedness and using all senses. Relationships among mindfulness, cross-cultural knowledge and cross-cultural behavioral ability are explored.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study of two French banking institutions operating in the USA is used incorporating multiple sources of data: participant observations, primary public and private documentation sources, archival records, secondary data and open-ended interviews with a key informant.
Findings
The two organizations showed similar emphasis on cross-cultural knowledge but differences in cross-cultural behavioral ability. These differences were traced to the posited mindfulness components of empathy, open-mindedness and using all senses.
Research limitations/implications
The two-sample case only provides emerging evidence of the role of mindfulness in linking cross-cultural knowledge to behavioral ability and will require validation through empirical studies to test for significance of relationships among these CQ facets.
Practical implications
Thomas’ (2006) CQ model and the authors’ understanding of its underlying mindfulness components provide insight in predicting cross-cultural potential of employees and designing customized employee training to help organizations meet the needs of a globally diverse workplace.
Social implications
The development of mindfulness qualities should improve interactions among individuals in any organizational setting, with added benefit of bridging cross-cultural differences.
Originality/value
This paper helps extend research on CQ facets using a qualitative method incorporating multiple sources of evidence to explore the mindfulness CQ construct.
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