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1 – 10 of 252Bernhard Swoboda and Nadine Batton
Extending the holistic research on corporate reputation (CR), the authors examine whether and how single CR dimensions affect consumers' intentional loyalty toward multinational…
Abstract
Purpose
Extending the holistic research on corporate reputation (CR), the authors examine whether and how single CR dimensions affect consumers' intentional loyalty toward multinational corporations (MNCs) across nations. They study the dimensions of the predominant customer-based CR scale of Walsh and Beatty (2007): customer orientation, product range quality, social/environmental responsibility, good employer and reliability/financial strength. Furthermore, important country-level moderators – embeddedness and country development – are studied.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors refer to hierarchical data on 32,811 consumer evaluations of a MNC in 44 countries using the still novel method of multilevel structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results underscore a strong relationship between CR in general and consumers' loyalty but identify different effects for the CR dimensions (e.g. product quality, social/environmental responsibility dominate). The important national institutions reinforce or diminish some – but not all – effects of the CR dimensions.
Practical implications
The results are of importance for finer-grained cross-national reputation management. Studying both national culture and country development shows that MNCs face tradeoff decisions. Accordingly, the authors provide a country portfolio, which offers options for standardized operations in groups of countries with similar country characteristics and CR effects.
Originality/value
Disentangling the five CR levers emphasizes that CR is not a pure signal of quality. Two main levers emerge: one stable across countries and one strongly depending on a country's degree of country development, for example. A finer-grained management of CR signals across nations is possible, especially in emerging countries, with increasing importance for MNCs.
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Siew Imm Ng, Julie Anne Lee and Geoffrey N. Soutar
The purpose of this study is to propose an alternative basis for calculating cultural distance scores using Schwartz's cultural values.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to propose an alternative basis for calculating cultural distance scores using Schwartz's cultural values.
Design/methodology/approach
Cultural distance scores were calculated for 23 countries, based on the two most common measures of cultural difference (four cultural dimensions and Schwartz's 1994 culture level values), following Kogut and Singh's formula. Correlation analysis was used to assess the congruency between these two bases of cultural distance. In addition, their relationship with international trade figures was assessed, to understand how well each framework predicts the amount of trade between countries.
Findings
Inter‐country distances between 23 countries suggest that the two bases of cultural distance were not congruent. While the correlation between both cultural distance measures and international trade suggested a negative relationship, as expected, only cultural distance based on Schwartz's values was significantly related to international trade (p<0.05). It would appear that, at least in a trade context, Schwartz's values may play a more significant role than do Hofstede's dimensions.
Originality/value
To date, most cultural distance scores have been based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions. This paper provides the first analysis of cultural distance based on Schwartz's country level values. The paper shows that the two measures are not congruent and that, at least in the context of trade, cultural distance measures based on Schwartz's may be superior. Thus, researchers should carefully consider which cultural base is most appropriate for use in their study.
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Hassan Abu Bakar and Stacey L. Connaughton
The purpose of this paper is to assess statistically the shared cultural values scale that incorporates Malaysia’s multi-ethnic cultural values.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess statistically the shared cultural values scale that incorporates Malaysia’s multi-ethnic cultural values.
Design/methodology/approach
This study involved three phase statistical testing. In the first phase, the authors evaluated the 152 items for the affiliation, community embeddedness, respecting elders, harmony, faith, brotherhood, morality, future orientation, conformity and survival cultural dimensions with a sample of 270 employees from three organizations. In the second phase, 355 employees from two organizations completed a survey test-retest reliability and a factor analysis consisting of community embeddedness, focus on respect, conformity and future orientation as a four-factors solution with 22 items. Confirmatory factor analysis based on data from 310 employees in two organizations verified that the four dimensions correlated with affective commitment.
Findings
The results suggest that shared cultural characteristics is a multidimensional construct and at the individual level makes a unique contribution in explaining employees’ affective commitment. Managers from multinational corporations operating in this emerging market will benefit from this new scale because they can use it to identify specific individual cultural characteristics within their organization and develop a strategy to target employees’ affective commitment.
Originality/value
The new shared cultural characteristics scale for Malaysia’s multi-ethnic society demonstrates adequate reliability, validity and across-organization generalizability for this specific cross-cultural communication setting.
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This study aims at offering a comprehensive thesis about the relationship between different cultural values and innovativeness.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims at offering a comprehensive thesis about the relationship between different cultural values and innovativeness.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on the human emancipation perspective and using data from Hofstede’s, Schwartz’s, and Inglehart’s cultural frameworks, the authors conduct a cross-national investigation into the effects of cultural values on national innovativeness.
Findings
The analyses show that emancipatory cultural dimensions such as rationality, secularity, self-expression, individualism, low uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, mastery and autonomy have significantly positive associations with national innovativeness. The opposing cultural values, such as traditionalism, religiosity, survival, collectivism, high uncertainty avoidance, short-term orientation, harmony and conservatism, have negative associations with national innovativeness.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by putting forward a comprehensive and theory-driven explanation of the relationship between cultural values and innovativeness, by using all of Hofstede’s, Schwartz’s and Inglehart’s dimensions, by incorporating ethnic, linguistic and religious diversities and by applying alternative measures of the national innovativeness.
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Mehmet Yusuf Yahyagil and Ayşe Begüm Ötken
The purpose of this study is to portray societal/cultural values of Turkish people as perceived by managers and academicians. The study also aims to provide an understanding of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to portray societal/cultural values of Turkish people as perceived by managers and academicians. The study also aims to provide an understanding of the cultural context of the Turkish society in terms of socio‐cultural dimensions such as high and low context, monochronic vs polychronic, self‐determined, and temporal orientation.
Design/methodology/approach
Instead of using Schwartz's 56‐item questionnaire, the authors used seven cultural and ten individual dimensions as individual items. Cultural values were captured from managers' and academicians' perspectives by changing the frame of reference from self to others. The questionnaire was designed for two different age groups to find the magnitude of change in connection with cultural values.
Findings
Results indicate that Turkey can be defined as a conservative country. Hierarchy is ranked as the second most important polar dimension, and the order of cultural values indicates a reverse direction compared to the findings of similar studies with reference to European countries. It also deserves to emphasize the fact that the younger group of respondents is much more conservative and seeks more power over people and resources than the older group of respondents.
Originality/value
This paper, to some extent, may serve as a guide in reflecting today's cultural values in Turkey. It also makes a modest contribution to the relevant literature due to both the portraying cultural values of Turkish people, and the usage of methodological considerations for data collection purposes.
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Bernhard Swoboda and Nadine Batton
The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical and empirical comparison of four major national cultural value models for perceived corporate reputation (CR) of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical and empirical comparison of four major national cultural value models for perceived corporate reputation (CR) of multinational corporations (MNCs) across nations: Hofstede, Schwartz, the GLOBE study and Inglehart.
Design/methodology/approach
Two consumer surveys on an MNC and on competitors in 25 countries in the year 2015 (n=20,288 and 25,397) were used for the first time to compare the roles of the cultural value models as antecedents of CR, using multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM), which disentangles the explained variances on the country level and on the individual level.
Findings
National culture is strongly attributed to individual CR perceptions of MNCs across nations. However, the four conceptual cultural value models explain the variance differently (46.2–84.6 percent) as do particular cultural value dimensions within each model. The results are stable for both surveys.
Research limitations/implications
Novel insights into the roles of cultural value models are provided for international business research. For MNCs aiming to use their CR to attract target groups in foreign countries, this study identifies the most influential cultural value model and particular dimensions.
Originality/value
This study contributes to cultural research by deepening the understanding of the various cultural value models and their importance for MNCs. Moreover, the authors add to the CR research by providing new insights into perception differences and using the still novel MSEM.
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Carlos Morales, Steven A. Brieger, Dirk De Clercq and Felicia Josephine Martin
This study investigates the differential likelihood of being an entrepreneur among immigrants to and natives of a country. Using a mixed embeddedness perspective, the authors…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the differential likelihood of being an entrepreneur among immigrants to and natives of a country. Using a mixed embeddedness perspective, the authors outline how economic, sociocultural, and institutional embeddedness influence the likelihood of entrepreneurial activity exhibited by immigrant and native residents.
Design/methodology/approach
The tests of the hypotheses rely on a multilevel cross-country research design that uses secondary data from different sources.
Findings
Compared with their native counterparts, immigrants are more likely to start and run their own businesses, and an array of environmental factors influences this likelihood. The level of economic development and equality laws increase it; the abundance of market opportunities in an economy, entrepreneurship culture and cultural collectivism diminish it.
Practical implications
The findings provide policy makers and stakeholders with valuable insights into pertinent environmental factors that determine the differential propensities of immigrant and native residents to become entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
This study provides an expanded understanding of the connection between being an immigrant and entrepreneurial activity, by explicating the influences of country-level conditions.
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Emma Fleck, Alexandros Kakouris and Doan Winkel
This study aims to develop insights on how national culture, gender and field of study can influence the impact of entrepreneurship education toward the development of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop insights on how national culture, gender and field of study can influence the impact of entrepreneurship education toward the development of entrepreneurial intention.
Design/methodology/approach
The entrepreneurship education project gathered data from over 18,000 undergraduate student responses, spanning over 70 countries and 400 universities. The sample used in this research examined eight countries with significantly different national cultures, while a quantitative analysis of a sample of n = 5,033 responses was performed. Beyond correlation analysis, a hierarchical multiple regression model is implemented for intention along with moderation analysis.
Findings
The statistical analysis reveals robust correlations among several entrepreneurial concepts and national cultural indices. As expected, national culture interweaves with all entrepreneurial concepts and more significantly for students of socially oriented disciplines. Gendera and field of the study appear moderators of causal relationships between entrepreneurial constructs. Exerting a strong influence by culture, entrepreneurial identity appears the most significant explanator of intention. Overall, the emergent pattern suggests entrepreneurship is intentional, but in a socially justified and accepted manner closely related to local cultural norms and institutions.
Research limitations/implications
Implications pertain to research for entrepreneurial intention and to educators and educational bodies concerning their goal setting for entrepreneurial programs and appropriate scheduling of effective pedagogies.
Originality/value
The study exploits a large data set from eight countries (Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain and USA) which permits systematic quantitative search for the influence of culture on the impact of entrepreneurship education. Cross-national studies of entrepreneurship education and the effect of national culture have been scant in literature – a research gap the study responds to. The inclusion of both developing and developed countries contributes in a novel way to a unique understanding of the influence of culture on entrepreneurial concepts through education.
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The purpose of this paper is to find consumption-related similarities and differences between the three major dimensional models of national culture, to help researchers select…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to find consumption-related similarities and differences between the three major dimensional models of national culture, to help researchers select specific models or dimensions for their cross-cultural studies.
Design/methodology/approach
First, a review of the theoretical background of cultural values and three models of national culture is provided: those by Hofstede, Schwartz and GLOBE. Then these models are compared through partial correlation analysis, controlling for GNP/capita of a set of 25 relevant consumer behavior-related data with country scores of 21 dimensions of the three dimensional models.
Findings
Of all models several dimensions explain differences in consumer behavior. Some dimensions explain values related to specific consumer behavior domains better than others. Only a few dimensions of different models do not show meaningful interesting relationships with consumer behavior issues. Dimensions with the same label do not explain similar differences.
Practical implications
Cross-cultural researchers can choose from the several cultural models, but selecting a model only based on descriptions of the contents of dimensions is difficult. The relationships of dimensions with concrete consumer behavior data found in this study facilitate choice. This analysis may help researchers who consider conducting cross-cultural analysis of consumer behavior data to select a specific model, or specific dimensions of different models that apply best to their research question.
Originality/value
This is the first study that compares the three major dimensional models with examples of consumer behavior-related items.
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Steven Michael Burgess and Pfavai Nyajeka
This study examines the effects of market orientation on the performance of retail outlets in Zimbabwe, a low-income country (LIC). LIC retailers operate at the nexus of…
Abstract
This study examines the effects of market orientation on the performance of retail outlets in Zimbabwe, a low-income country (LIC). LIC retailers operate at the nexus of subsistence marketplaces and the market economy. Socioeconomic, cultural and regulative institutions are more dynamic and differ substantially from the industrialized West. This provides an interesting context in which to test the generalizability of market orientation theory. A covariance structure model of the hypothesized relations indicates that market orientation improves performance. Reward systems have a positive effect on market orientation and a positive indirect effect on performance through market orientation. However, consistent with the characteristics of Zimbabwe, which are not unexpected in the LIC institutional context, interdepartmental conflict, centralization, and formalization do not have significant effects on market orientation. The results suggest that the market orientation–performance link generalizes but that some antecedents of market orientation identified in previous research may not apply in LICs.