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1 – 10 of over 171000
Book part
Publication date: 4 September 2007

Satu Teerikangas

Different forms of inter-organisational encounters, including joint ventures, alliances, mergers and acquisitions, have over the last decades become fashionable and much-sought…

Abstract

Different forms of inter-organisational encounters, including joint ventures, alliances, mergers and acquisitions, have over the last decades become fashionable and much-sought means of globalisation. A continuous concern shared by managers involved in these different forms of inter-organisational encounters is the challenge of making them work in practice – their successful implementation and management. The cultural dimensions of these different kinds of inter-organisational encounters, particularly in cross-border contexts, have been deplored as being particularly difficult. This paper builds on prior research and aims to understand how the cultural dimensions of inter-organisational encounters have been approached by researchers on mergers and acquisitions on the one hand and researchers on alliances and joint ventures on the other hand. Based on a comparative literature review, the findings suggest that the two fields, despite their valuable contributions and the similarities in the phenomena they study, have remained surprisingly isolated from one another and would offer opportunities for cross-fertilisation. Through its theoretical contribution, the paper intends to offer insights to researchers in both streams of research.

Details

Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1381-5

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2016

Taran Patel

The purpose of this paper is to address four questions: what are the drawbacks of an over reliance on the objectivist tradition in culture in international business (CIB…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address four questions: what are the drawbacks of an over reliance on the objectivist tradition in culture in international business (CIB) scholarship? Is a shift from mono-paradigmatic to multi-paradigmatic cultural research justified? What explains scholars’ hesitation in engaging in multi-paradigmatic studies? What arguments can we offer to convince them otherwise?

Design/methodology/approach

Informed by the critical perspective, this paper encourages a shift from mono-paradigmatic to multi-paradigmatic cultural studies. Guided by an emancipatory interest, and treating the field of culture studies as a complex system, this paper offers an integrative complexity (IC) based argument in favor of multi-paradigmatic studies. It argues that multi-paradigmatic studies allow scholars to employ higher IC than mono-paradigmatic studies, resulting in more innovative research outputs.

Findings

While mono-paradigmatic studies can achieve either predictability of output or in-depth understanding of cultural phenomena, multi-paradigmatic studies are capable of attaining both. The authors illustrate this through the example of a recent multi-paradigmatic study.

Research limitations/implications

This paper does not offer insights for operationalizing multi-paradigmatic research, nor does it address factors other than IC that may impede scholars from engaging in such studies.

Practical implications

Shifting from mono-paradigmatic to multi-paradigmatic studies will enable scholars to address questions hitherto left unaddressed in CIB literature, facilitate a better understanding of new organizational forms, and redress the power disequilibrium between different paradigmatic schools. Implications are also offered for the training of cultural researchers in business schools.

Originality/value

This paper is the first of its kind to relate IC to merits of multi-paradigmatic cultural studies.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 August 2020

Rana Zayadin, Antonella Zucchella, Nisreen Ameen and Craig Duckworth

The purpose of this study is to capture the variation in entrepreneurs' understandings and experiences through which they contextualise cultural factors within a national setting…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to capture the variation in entrepreneurs' understandings and experiences through which they contextualise cultural factors within a national setting to articulate how they use their knowledge and social capabilities to advance their activity.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts an interpretivist approach through which culture is investigated at the individual level. Phenomenography is used as a methodology to capture the variation in the entrepreneurs own understanding and experiences of the cultural factors.

Findings

The findings introduce four different understandings and eight experiences to explore how entrepreneurs contextualise culture in their environment. The findings present a change in the role of culture in influencing entrepreneurial social capabilities and confidence; and a change in the local culture from collectivism to individualism. Furthermore, the findings show how entrepreneurs use their knowledge, experience and understanding to achieve socially driven acts to pursue economic value, integration and acceptance.

Research limitations/implications

We encourage further research in the Middle-East region to examine the model and identify other factors that affect entrepreneurial behaviour, including the important developments with regard to women entrepreneurs. While Jordan has embarked on introducing policy level changes to support entrepreneurship, the findings report that the culture of collectivism is changing. This requires a longitudinal research to capture the change and its implication on entrepreneurial activity in Jordan and its impact on unemployment and economic value.

Practical implications

In terms of practical contribution, the study introduces a policy level contribution by answering the question presented by the GEM report (2014) pointing out the high entrepreneurial opportunity identification in Jordan, yet the country has the lowest entrepreneurial activity in the region. Although the report pointed out issues in policy and institutional support the role of culture was not addressed. The study recommendation is to celebrate and entrepreneurial activity and introduce entrepreneurial studies at schools to influence a positive change.

Social implications

We addressed some of the several calls to further investigate and understand the role of culture, how entrepreneurs contextualise it (Foss and Klein, 2012; Garud et al., 2016; Zahra et al., 2014; Welter et al., 2019). Our research provides a fertile ground for further enquiries that pose questions such as “What other factors do entrepreneurs contextualise in their environment?” and “how these factors are contextualised?” The use of phenomenography as an interpretive methodology might therefore assist in revealing further shared understandings of the variation in entrepreneurs' behaviours. Further research on capturing “understanding” presents the complex forms of interactions and mechanism in the cognitive world of the entrepreneurs (Barandiaran et al., 2009; Brannback and Carsrud, 2016).

Originality/value

In this study, phenomenography has enabled new insights into the multiplicity and idiosyncratic role of culture within a national setting and introduces a model of social capability and integration which capture the contextualisation of cultural factors. The study contributes to entrepreneurship literature as follows: first, the implicit assumption in this research is that culture is an active construct that entrepreneurs understand, experience and also influence; second, the variation in entrepreneurs' outcomes is based on their subjective and personal understandings which form the ways of contextualisation. Third, the variation in understanding and experiences captures the different ways entrepreneurs use their social capabilities to achieve integration and economic value.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 26 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 July 2020

Stephen Chen and Nidthida Lin

Culture has been identified as one of the main drivers of the “competitive productivity” (CP) of nations. However, research studies examining the relationships between culture…

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Abstract

Purpose

Culture has been identified as one of the main drivers of the “competitive productivity” (CP) of nations. However, research studies examining the relationships between culture, competition and productivity are highly fragmented across different streams of literature, leaving researchers with a lack of a holistic view of the topic. This study reviews research studies that examined the relationships between culture and productivity and between culture and competitiveness, as well as the joint relationships between culture, productivity and competitiveness in leading economic, business and management journals in the period 2009–2018 in order to identify research gaps and opportunities for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a combination of bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer, text analysis using Leximancer and systematic review by expert reviewers to analyze 293 articles that consider culture, productivity and competitiveness published in leading business, management and economics journals in the period 2009–2018.

Findings

The findings indicate that, although productivity and competitiveness are often discussed jointly in some policy circles, research studies on the roles of culture on productivity and on competitiveness take place in quite different streams of academic literature, drawing on different sets of concepts and theoretical frameworks. The concept of innovation appears prominently in both sets of the literature as an antecedent of both productivity improvement and international competitiveness.

Research limitations/implications

The findings highlight the need for more research studies which jointly examine culture, productivity and competitiveness and the relationships between them.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first attempts to systematically analyze the literature on the relationship between culture and CP.

Details

Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, vol. 28 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5794

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 February 2010

Canchu Lin

The purpose of this paper is to propose a research agenda for studying Chinese culture and conflict.

4463

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a research agenda for studying Chinese culture and conflict.

Design/methodology/approach

Publications on Chinese culture and conflict are searched and reviewed to identify conceptualizations of Chinese culture and key findings on conflict.

Findings

A review of the scholarly literature on Chinese culture and conflict suggests that Chinese culture has been mainly conceptualized as Confucianism and collectivism. Inadequacies of such conceptualizations and their negative effects on empirical research on Chinese culture and management and organization in China have been addressed.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations were not being able to get an exhaustive list of research publications on Chinese culture and conflict.

Practical implications

The paper helps to reduce stereotypes about Chinese conflict management stemmed from previous research

Originality/value

On the basis of recognizing the importance of past research, new directions for researching Chinese culture and conflict that constitute a new research agenda have been proposed.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 21 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2015

Bill Buenar Puplampu

This paper aims to report the efforts to reverse a dire research output trend at a Ghanaian Business School, following a similar effort at a business school in New Zealand in the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to report the efforts to reverse a dire research output trend at a Ghanaian Business School, following a similar effort at a business school in New Zealand in the 1990s. African universities are often challenged by resource constraints, ageing faculty and low compensation regimes. The consequences of these challenges are particularly felt in the area of the research output of faculty members in the business and management area. The problem of low research output has been written about by management scholars who lament the weak showing of African management faculty in reputable journals and top-notch conference presentations.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a qualitative and phenomenological study of an applied intervention. Using a combination of open-ended questionnaires as well as open forums attended by faculty members of the business school, views, perceptions and opinions on factors mitigating research and issues on research culture were collected and analysed. Descriptive analyses were used to collate the dominant views and frequency of mention of such views.

Findings

Using the descriptive accounts of faculty of the Business School, the research finds that a research-oriented culture expressed through factors such as leadership, institutional support, articulation or otherwise of relevant values have significant impacts on research output.

Research limitations/implications

Based on the impacts reported here, this paper advances an intervention model to assist efforts towards improving the research culture and scholarly outputs in business schools in Africa. The paper also proposes a conceptual and research framework for examining and influencing the organisational and research culture of universities in Africa.

Originality/value

This paper is perhaps the only attempt to examine research culture in an African business school. It suggests that the research culture in a business school or faculty can be developed, reinvented or influenced and that research in African universities will not “just happen”, it has to be carefully planned for, nurtured and built into the fabric of university culture. This has significant implications for the growing effort to bring African scholarship in the management areas up to the point where it can more directly impact management thinking.

Details

European Business Review, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-534X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 April 2011

Jan vom Brocke and Theresa Sinnl

Business process management (BPM) is a management approach that developed with a strong focus on the adoption of information technology (IT). However, there is a growing awareness…

20620

Abstract

Purpose

Business process management (BPM) is a management approach that developed with a strong focus on the adoption of information technology (IT). However, there is a growing awareness that BPM requires a holistic organizational perspective especially since culture is often considered a key element in BPM practice. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of existing research on culture in BPM.

Design/methodology/approach

This literature review builds on major sources of the BPM community including the BPM Journal, the BPM Conference and central journal/conference databases. Forward and backward searches additionally deepen the analysis. Based on the results, a model of culture's role in BPM is developed.

Findings

The results of the literature review provide evidence that culture is still a widely under‐researched topic in BPM. Furthermore, a framework on culture's role in BPM is developed and areas for future research are revealed.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis focuses on the concepts of BPM and culture. Thus, results do not include findings regarding related concepts such as business process reengineering or change management.

Practical implications

The framework provides an orientation for managerial practice. It helps identify dimensions of possible conflicts based on cultural aspects. It thus aims at raising awareness regarding potentially neglected cultural factors.

Originality/value

Although culture has been recognized in both theory and practice as an important aspect of BPM, researchers have not systematically engaged with the specifics of the culture phenomenon in BPM. This literature review provides a frame of reference that serves as a basis for future research regarding culture's role in BPM.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2016

Sylvia Rohlfer and Yingying Zhang

This paper aims to unfold the path of how the complexity of culture issues leads to a rising pressure for paradigm changes in the research on culture in international management…

6757

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to unfold the path of how the complexity of culture issues leads to a rising pressure for paradigm changes in the research on culture in international management. In terms of academic debate about culture, the crucial paradigm shift has not yet happened. Research and writing are still dominated by a mechanistic-rational approach which does not quite know to handle cultural phenomena which by nature are mutuable, often transient and invariably context-specific. Rising pressure is observed for paradigm changes through three main trends: integration of West-East dichotomy, coexistence of convergence and divergence; and dynamic vs static perspectives. It is argued that the unresolved debate on the culture construct and its measurement, the epistemological stance by researchers and associated methodological choices in culture studies reinforce these trends pressuring for a paradigm shift.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reviews the knowledge based on culture studies to establish the contributions of culture studies in international business and the foundation of its knowledge base. The conceptual foundation of culture, its multi-level and multi-dimensionality and critical issues in research epistemology and methodology are analyzed to discuss emerging trends in the process of an imminent paradigm change.

Findings

By unfolding the nature of abstract and high-order definition of culture, the focus is on deciphering the complex construct and multi-level and multi-dimensionality in measurement, which, in turn, interact with the epistemology of culture researchers and the choice of methodology used to carry out culture studies. Eventually the interaction of the three studied elements drives the proposed three paradigmatic changes in the evolving business environment.

Research limitations/implications

The identified trends in existing culture research keep the importance of culture studies in international business management thriving as we point to their relevance for the envisaged paradigm shift.

Practical implications

The three paradoxes discussed challenge researchers who aim to contribute to the knowledge base of culture in international business. In addition, the debate cannot be ignored by international business managers as culture is a key informal institutional driver that influences international business performance.

Originality/value

The review of the knowledge base on culture studies in management contributes to a better understanding of the envisaged paradigmatic shift of the discipline. The debate on the complexity of culture studies is extended to three tendencies for potential paradigmatic change, with implications discussed to suggest future research.

Details

European Business Review, vol. 28 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-534X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2017

A. Ben Oumlil and Joseph L. Balloun

This study aims to examine the ethical beliefs and moral philosophical typologies, the relative effect of religiosity on personal ethical beliefs and behavior of the collectivist…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the ethical beliefs and moral philosophical typologies, the relative effect of religiosity on personal ethical beliefs and behavior of the collectivist and individualistic business executives.

Design/methodology/approach

This research assesses the relative impact of significant cultural factors on the business ethical decision-making process in a Western and individualistic cultural context (the USA) in comparison to a non-Western and collective cultural context (Morocco). To understand how cultural variations influence business ethical practices, this study adopts Hofstede’s cultural framework for comparison of business executives’ ethical decisions within a cross-cultural context. Hypotheses are tested on survey data on 172 business executives.

Findings

Results show that most collective business executives are “Situationists”. The findings reveal a strong, positive relationship between business managers’ religiosity and their idealism degrees. This study also reveals mixed findings in examining the correlation of religiosity with various components of ethical intentions.

Research limitations/implications

The link between religiosity and ethical intentions needs to be viewed with caution. This calls for expanding the scope of this study into other cultures and religions.

Practical implications

Differences of the findings in ethical typologies between collective and individualistic business executives may lead to different negotiation styles on ethical business decisions and issues. Managers from a collective culture are not as likely to exhibit much change in their initial ethical orientation(s). There is a strong positive relationship between a business manager’s religiosity and his/her degree of idealism. Thus, the more religious business managers are, the more Absolutist they are when making ethical and moral judgments.

Originality/value

This research works to fill the gap by examining the impact of culture on the business/marketing ethical decision-making processes within the contexts of a Western cultural and developed nation and a non-Western cultural, and developing/Mediterranean/North African nation. The findings clarify the influence of culture on business ethical decisions. Such an understanding can assist corporate managers in developing and successfully implementing business ethical codes that lead to enhanced moral conduct in their organizations.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 32 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 September 2021

Jimena Y. Ramirez-Marin, Adrian Barragan Diaz and Felipe A. Guzman

Drawing from the emotions as social information theory, this paper aims to investigate the differential effects of emotions in inter vs intracultural negotiations.

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing from the emotions as social information theory, this paper aims to investigate the differential effects of emotions in inter vs intracultural negotiations.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used one face-to-face negotiation and two experimental scenario studies to investigate the influence of emotions (anger vs happiness) and negotiation type (intercultural vs intracultural) on concession behavior.

Findings

Across the three studies, the results consistently show that angry opponents from a different national culture obtain larger concessions from negotiators. A face-to-face negotiation shows that happy opponents from the same culture are able to obtain larger concessions from negotiators. Additionally, the negotiator’s intentions to compromise and yield mediate the relationship between the interaction of emotions and counterpart’s culture on concessions.

Research limitations/implications

Two limitations are that the studies were conducted in a single country and that they use different types of role-playing designs. The empirical implications provide evidence of the moderating effect of the counterpart’s culture on the effect of anger on concessions. Then, providing two different mechanisms for concessions.

Practical implications

The research helps global negotiators who face counterparts from different nationalities. It suggests that these negotiators should be mindful of their counterpart’s emotions in intercultural negotiation as anger seems to generate more concessions in this setting.

Originality/value

The article is among the first studies to show that the combination of the counterpart’s culture and emotions has an effect on concessions in negotiation. Compromising and yielding are mediating mechanisms for this moderated effect. As opposed to previous studies that use one type of research design, the research combines face-to-face and scenario methodologies to test the predictions.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 33 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 171000