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Smart card-based E-payment systems are receiving increasing attention as the number of implementations is witnessed on the rise globally. Understanding of user adoption behavior of E-payment systems that employ smart card technology becomes a research area that is of particular value and interest to both IS researchers and professionals. However, research interest focuses mostly on why a smart card-based E-payment system results in a failure or how the system could have grown into a success. This signals the fact that researchers have not had much opportunity to critically review a smart card-based E-payment system that has gained wide support and overcome the hurdle of critical mass adoption. The Octopus in Hong Kong has provided a rare opportunity for investigating smart card-based E-payment system because of its unprecedented success. This research seeks to thoroughly analyze the Octopus from technology adoption behavior perspectives.

Cultural impacts on adoption behavior are one of the key areas that this research posits to investigate. Since the present research is conducted in Hong Kong where a majority of population is Chinese ethnicity and yet is westernized in a number of aspects, assuming that users in Hong Kong are characterized by eastern or western culture is less useful. Explicit cultural characteristics at individual level are tapped into here instead of applying generalization of cultural beliefs to users to more accurately reflect cultural bias. In this vein, the technology acceptance model (TAM) is adapted, extended, and tested for its applicability cross-culturally in Hong Kong on the Octopus. Four cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede are included in this study, namely uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and Confucian Dynamism (long-term orientation), to explore their influence on usage behavior through the mediation of perceived usefulness.

TAM is also integrated with the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to borrow two constructs in relation to innovative characteristics, namely relative advantage and compatibility, in order to enhance the explanatory power of the proposed research model. Besides, the normative accountability of the research model is strengthened by embracing two social influences, namely subjective norm and image. As the last antecedent to perceived usefulness, prior experience serves to bring in the time variation factor to allow level of prior experience to exert both direct and moderating effects on perceived usefulness.

The resulting research model is analyzed by partial least squares (PLS)-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The research findings reveal that all cultural dimensions demonstrate direct effect on perceived usefulness though the influence of uncertainty avoidance is found marginally significant. Other constructs on innovative characteristics and social influences are validated to be significant as hypothesized. Prior experience does indeed significantly moderate the two influences that perceived usefulness receives from relative advantage and compatibility, respectively. The research model has demonstrated convincing explanatory power and so may be employed for further studies in other contexts. In particular, cultural effects play a key role in contributing to the uniqueness of the model, enabling it to be an effective tool to help critically understand increasingly internationalized IS system development and implementation efforts. This research also suggests several practical implications in view of the findings that could better inform managerial decisions for designing, implementing, or promoting smart card-based E-payment system.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of espoused national cultural values of individuals on user acceptance of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Such an influence is mediated by perceived user resistance, involvement and satisfaction with ERP. Education level, organisational size and ERP user level, on the other hand, are considered as moderating factors.

Survey instruments were constructed for relevant variables with items mostly sourced from the literature. In total, 230 ERP users from various organisations in Saudi Arabia participated in the survey. The data were analysed using SPSS and AMOS statistical packages to test the hypotheses.

The structural equation model did not show evidence for power distance and individualism influencing perceived user resistance and involvement with ERP, whereas uncertainty avoidance has a significant influence over perceived user involvement and user resistance with ERP. Perceived user involvement positively influences perceived user satisfaction with ERP, and education level moderates the influence. Perceived user satisfaction with ERP positively impacts on user acceptance of ERP; however, moderator variables did not show significant influence on this relationship. Finally, perceived user resistance negatively influences user acceptance of ERP, and the influence varies across education level of the ERP users.

The results may only generalise to Saudi Arabia and other countries with a similar culture. The sample was identified as users of ERP without taking into account users of individual modules of ERP software.

Findings of this paper contribute to the existing knowledge of ERP studies from cultural and social perspectives; such a contribution is to broaden the scope of IS research about the implementation and behavioural adoption and acceptance of ERP in middle eastern countries. It will also assist ERP implementers in deciding what cultural factors to consider in preparing an ERP implementation strategy in such countries.

Prior studies that analysed individual variations in the national cultural values were conducted in the context of general IT acceptance. The authors, instead, study them in an ERP implementation context; this is important because, unlike general IT acceptance, ERP implementations have an all-encompassing mandatory nature and has the potential to change organisational culture. Furthermore, prior studies on ERP usage in Saudi Arabia are mostly qualitative case studies with associated limitations on generalisability. This quantitative study, on the contrary, addresses the influence of individual’s espoused national cultural values on ERP acceptance.

This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the influencing factors on knowledge transfer through meta-analysis with an emphasis on the influence of cultural contexts.

The approach involved the evaluation and analysis of 69 published empirical studies and the categorization of these studies into two groups based on different cultural contexts as described by Hofstede. A meta-analytic approach was then employed to provide a comparative analysis of the categorized studies.

The results of the meta-analysis of the influencing factors of knowledge transfer are consistent with the results obtained in most previous studies, indicating a maturation of research in this area. Influencing factors such as knowledge ambiguity, tie strength, trust, and common cognition are shown to impact knowledge transfer in different cultural contexts, particularly with regard to the individualism-low power distance and collectivism-high power distance dimensions defined by Hofstede.

This analysis was limited to the correlation between the influencing factors and the general performance in knowledge transfer and did not specifically address more detailed dimensions such as efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, this analysis was restricted to the cultural contexts of only two cultural dimensions. However, the review of this broad range of studies provided sufficient data to allow an in-depth analysis of related influencing factors and helped to illustrate and exemplify the influencing mechanisms of culture on knowledge transfer.

The results presented in this paper can help managers working in cross-cultural environments to understand the key influencing factors that affect knowledge transfer in the workplace. By understanding these factors, managers can more effectively implement methods and procedures that improve cross-cultural knowledge transfer in the work environment.

This paper provides a detailed insight into the influencing factors found between two distinctive cultural contexts and offers a fresh analysis of influencing factors with regard to knowledge transfer in a cross-cultural environment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the exercise of power by leaders is impacted by cultural factors. The authors present a conceptual framework to examine the interaction of various cultural dimensions with harsh and soft power bases, thereby delineating the cross-cultural appropriateness of various power bases that may be tapped by organizational leaders.

Compatibility of each cultural dimension with harsh of soft power bases is conceptually examined, in the context of Raven’s power interaction model of interpersonal influence.

Soft power bases are more likely to be activated by managers in cultures that are collectivist, loose, long-term oriented, but low on power distance and uncertainty avoidance. Harsh power bases are expected to be chosen for influencing subordinates in cultures that are tight, short-term oriented, and high in power distance.

This is only an initial attempt to look at the exercise of social power in the context of societal culture. The framework can be extrapolated to a more fine-grained examination of the phenomenon.

The conceptualization has potential implications for developing training programs aimed at improving managers’ cross-cultural competencies.

Using a cross-cultural lens to examine how a leader exercises power contributes to a holistic view of power and culture. A cross-cultural extension of the power/interaction model, as suggested by the authors, adds value to the field of management development thinking and practice.

The study addresses the mechanism of how cultural dimensions influence the different dimensions of emotional intelligence. Building on the cascading model described by Joseph and Newman (2010), we extend our previous findings (Gunkel, Schlaegel, & Engle, 2014) by exploring the influence of cultural dimensions on a cascading model of emotional intelligence.

We use survey data from 2,067 business students in nine countries (China, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey, and the United States), representing 8 of the 11 cultural clusters identified by Ronen and Shenkar (2013).

We find that uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation have a positive influence on self-emotional appraisal, which in turn influence regulation of emotion, which then has a positive influence on the use of emotion. At the same time, others’ emotional appraisal mediates the relationship between all cultural dimensions except power distance and use of emotion. We also find that uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation directly influence the use of emotion, suggesting a partial mediation effect.

Our findings have to be interpreted in the light of the limitations of our approach owing to the cross-sectional study design and the limited generalizability of the sample.

We contribute to the existing literature by examining the mechanism through which culture influences the different facets of emotional intelligence and whether and how the different facets affect each other. The proposed influence of culture on a cascading model of emotional intelligence provides a more detailed and nuanced understanding of the mechanism and the pathways in which culture affects emotional intelligence.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of managerial cultural values and the contextual environment (country of origin and country of operation) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) investments in three Asian countries.

A total of 150 questionnaires were collected from 150 companies located in Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. The potential influence of ethnicity on cultural values was controlled by collecting data from ethnic Chinese managers.

The results show that senior managers, especially their cultural values, play a crucial role in directing Asian companies’ CSR investments. In addition, the context (a firm’s country of origin and country of operation) also differentiates the cultural values and CSR investments in these three countries.

The study adds to the understanding of the influence of managerial cultural values and context on various aspects of CSR. Especially, the study offers valuable managerial implications for CSR implementation from the Chinese management perspective. Considering the fast global expansion of Chinese companies, the results concerning how Chinese managers’ cultural values influence their CSR investments priority offer valuable managerial implications. The comparisons of cultural values and CSR investments priority among ethnic Chinese managers in different contextual environments also serve as good starting points for future studies.

To develop a more thorough understanding of culture in a rapidly changing global environment.

The recent literature dealing with ways in which cultural dynamics are influencing the nature and meaning of culture are examined. Different perspectives of culture related to three key components of culture, intangibles, material culture and communication, are explored. Based on this, directions for research on the content of culture are discussed as well as how it should be approached.

Culture is becoming increasingly deterritorialized and penetrated by elements from other cultures. This is resulting in cultural contamination, cultural pluralism and hybridization. It has become more difficult to study culture as it is becoming diffuse. At the same time, it is becoming more important to study it because of its pervasive influence on consumer behavior.

Given that culture is no longer a phenomenon defined by and isolated to a particular locale, research on culture must carefully specify the role of culture, define the appropriate unit of analysis, isolate confounding influences and expand the range of contexts.

The parallel trends of globalization and multiculturalism make it increasingly important to develop a deeper understanding of culture and its various manifestations. For progress to be made, research designs must account for this complexity and span multiple contexts to establish the generality of findings. This will result in improved knowledge of culture and its role in molding consumption behavior.

Cross-cultural influences are important considerations in the international marketing of luxury brands. These influences have predominantly been understood through cross-national approaches and the lens of glocalisation. The purpose of this paper is to study augments these paradigms by advancing the view of luxury brand markets as confluences of multiple cultural beliefs.

A hermeneutic analysis of 24 in-depth interviews was conducted with luxury brand consumers in New Zealand.

The findings describe two cultural beliefs that convey divergent meanings and shape luxury brand consumption styles in a multicultural marketplace. More specifically, the authors illustrate that consumers can be influenced by and shift between both local and foreign cultural beliefs in a single national market.

The study offers a situated account of the New Zealand luxury market. Other cultural beliefs may be in operation in different national markets.

This paper makes three contributions to the international marketing of and cross-cultural considerations for luxury brands. First, the authors illustrate that cultural diversity must be considered not only at the cross-national level, but also at the intra-national level. In particular, the authors show that the global-local dichotomy in cross-cultural luxury branding needs to be augmented with the local-foreign dimension. Second, this is the first study in this area to empirically demonstrate the impact of multicultural marketplaces on luxury brands, where consumers emerge as contextual cultural shifters. Third, the authors advocate a shift from the prevailing glocal approach to a new multicultural approach in luxury branding.

Limited attention has been paid to the cultural influences on the formation of consumer attitudes toward luxury brands (LUX). The purpose of this paper is to investigate this relationship by developing a model that additionally employs the constructs of susceptibility to normative interpersonal influence (SNII) and brand consciousness (BCO).

Sample data were gathered through surveys administered to 383 college students in the UK and Taiwan. The model of cultural influences on attitudes toward luxury brands was empirically tested using multi-group structural equation modeling to evaluate its applicability across the two countries.

Results are presented in two parts: first, the exogenous construct part of the model establishing the reliability and validity of the cultural dimension constructs (horizontal individualism, vertical individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism) that are antecedent to consumer SNII and 2) the endogenous part of the model in which consumer SNII affects LUX through the mediating role of BCO.

The findings in the current study are limited to a sample of college students in the UK and Taiwan, which, through representing western and Asian countries, each housing different cultures, do not span the greater number of cultures found across these countries, much less across the world. Furthermore it is assumed that there are a number of subcultures in both the UK and Taiwan that are not accounted for in this study.

An individual level of cultural orientation (e.g. horizontalism and verticalism) rather than traditionally adopted regionally defined or nationally based (Hofstede, 1980) cultural criteria should be investigated to identify more accurate market demand patterns in order to best target consumers in these markets (Sharma, 2010). In addition, appealing, vertical ad messages would be more effective in stimulating consumer motivations for consumption of luxury brands. Conversely, horizontal ad messages would be effective in demarketing approaches.

The current study is the first of its kind to explore the effect of cultural-orientation on the formation of LUX cross-nationally. As such it provides future cross-cultural researchers with valid and reliable culturally based constructs that can be used to predict consumer SNII in developing LUX. In addition, establishing the mediating role of BCO in the relationship between SNII and LUX helps marketers better understand the equity of their luxury brands, particularly in Asian countries.