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1 – 10 of over 112000Elaine Wallace and Leslie de Chernatony
This paper aims to examine the influence of the culture of the service firm on its interpretation of the role of the brand and on the development and implementation of its brand…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the influence of the culture of the service firm on its interpretation of the role of the brand and on the development and implementation of its brand values.
Design/methodology/approach
A grounded theory approach was used. Interviews were conducted with 20 managers within two leading banking firms in Ireland and two leading grocery retailers in Ireland.
Findings
The development of the brand, and its role within the firm, is closely related to the firm's culture. The research shows obstacles and opportunities created by the cultural context of firms wishing to disseminate and embed a set of brand values. The paper presents an “involvement model” of brand values implementation and outlines changes required to implement brand values.
Research limitations/implications
The study was bound by access to firms, and managers' availability. The authors sought an insight into the relationship between each firm's culture and its brands. They advocate quantitative research to further investigate the findings within these service sectors and to test proposed antecedents (transformational leadership, employee involvement) and outcomes (employee‐based brand equity and consumer‐based brand equity) of values adoption.
Practical implications
The paper identifies aspects of retail and banking cultures which support or detract from brand development. In particular, it presents the learnings from successful brand values implementation in a clan culture, aspects of which are applicable across other cultures.
Originality/value
The paper provides valuable insights into the role of the brand within the service firm and the positive and negative influence of context on brand values and their development and implementation.
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Suwon Yim, Minyoung Kim and Yoonhee Park
The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between clan culture, perceived supervisor support, leadership competencies and subjective career success…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between clan culture, perceived supervisor support, leadership competencies and subjective career success among South Korean female managers.
Design/methodology/approach
A structural equation modeling was used to analyze the sixth wave of data from the Korean Women Manager Panel (KWMP) survey by the Korean Women’s Development Institute in South Korea. The panel respondents were 1,384 female managers in tenured positions at South Korean companies.
Findings
The results showed that clan culture and perceived supervisor support directly influenced female managers’ subjective career success and indirectly affected their subjective career success through leadership competencies at the same time.
Research limitations/implications
The respondents’ self-report can be a limitation as it can result in inflated outcomes in research findings. Even though no common method bias was found using Harmans’ single-factor test, the bias might not be removed completely. The study’s limitation includes the panel data and measures from KWMP, which constrained attempts to create constructs for measuring variables more precisely.
Originality/value
There is little research on the relationships between leadership competencies and other variables of female managers. The current study expanded the research on female managers’ leadership competencies by verifying that the leadership competencies play an important role in the relationships between clan culture, perceived supervisor support and subjective career success. The findings highlight that it is essential for female managers in South Korea to have supportive environments to receive fair treatment, demonstrate leadership competence in organizations and perform challenging tasks.
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Understanding how managers in position of leadership experience culture is essential to avoid instability and poor performance in international strategic alliances. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding how managers in position of leadership experience culture is essential to avoid instability and poor performance in international strategic alliances. This study tests the proposition that national culture, top management team culture, and manager's personality influence leadership and shapes intercultural fit through the predominant management style in US‐Mexican strategic alliances.
Design/methodology/approach
Strategic leadership and personality theories constitute the framework for this study. Managers from the US‐Mexican strategic alliances which partners hold an equity position were surveyed and provided data to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Findings show that American and Mexican managers construct their own social reality with rules and norms bounded primarily by the existing organizational culture in the alliance. Both managers' management styles are similar and converge into a participative “consultative” style emerging as a “third culture” characterized by task innovation and emotional concern as American managers' input and task support and social relationships as Mexican managers' contribution. This study suggests that if adequately balanced, individualism‐collectivism is a source of intercultural fit while building shared leadership.
Practical implications
Managers of international alliances may reconfigure individual and cultural orientations and styles of alliance partners in the design of management teams to build high levels of social effectiveness. The innovator style of American managers supports the dynamics of change for the alliance to advance while the adaptor style of Mexican managers builds stability, order, and maintains group cohesion and cooperation.
Originality/value
Intercultural fit in international strategic alliances is achieved through designing organizational cultures that incorporate partners' cognitive diversity into the relationship.
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This monograph reports and compares “desirable” leadership traits, and leadership traits actual exhibited by managers and supervisors as defined by responses on the original…
Abstract
This monograph reports and compares “desirable” leadership traits, and leadership traits actual exhibited by managers and supervisors as defined by responses on the original English and a Chinese language translation of the Ohio State University leadership behaviour description questionnaire XII (LBDQ XII). From anecdotal evidence and personal experience, the researcher found considerable difficulty in transferring research results from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore to useful practice in the interior of China and performed this study in an attempt to gain understanding for management training courses. Data was collected for 220 managers and supervisors in two hotels in the interior of China. Both expatriate and indigenous Chinese managers were included. All supervisors were Chinese. A significant (p < 0.05) difference between Chinese and non‐Chinese expatriates was observed for factor: Tolerance of Freedom, interestingly, with the Chinese managers indicating more tolerance of freedom than the expatriate managers. Nonetheless, Chinese supervisors believed the ideal manager should be even more tolerant of freedom than their managers (p < 0.01).
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Om P. Kharbanda and Ernest A. Stallworthy
The concept of company culture is now playingan ever‐increasing role in the continuing endeavourto work towards ever better companymanagement, particularly in the industrial…
Abstract
The concept of company culture is now playing an ever‐increasing role in the continuing endeavour to work towards ever better company management, particularly in the industrial field. This monograph reviews the history and development of both national and company cultures, and then goes on to demonstrate the significance of a culture to proper company management. Well‐managed companies will have both a “quality culture” and a “safety culture” as well as a cultural history. However, it has to be recognised that the company culture is subject to change, and effecting this can be very difficult. Of the many national cultures, that of Japan is considered to be the most effective, as is demonstrated by the present dominance of Japan on the industrial scene. Many industrialised nations now seek to emulate the Japanese style of management, but it is not possible to copy or acquire Japan′s cultural heritage. The text is illustrated by a large number of practical examples from real life, illustrating the way in which the company culture works and can be used by management to improve company performance.
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Dimitris Bourantas and Nancy Papalexandris
Presents findings of empirical research in Greek public,quasi‐public, and private organizations. Results show that commitment ofmanagers decreases as we progress along a continuum…
Abstract
Presents findings of empirical research in Greek public, quasi‐public, and private organizations. Results show that commitment of managers decreases as we progress along a continuum from private towards publicly‐owned organizations; managers report the existence of a gap between the perceived and the desired organizational culture of their firm, and this “culture gap” tends to increase as we move from the private towards the public sector; organizational commitment appears to be influenced negatively by the culture gap, therefore this gap offers a plausible explanation for the lower commitment in public sector firms.
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James Michael and Wagner College
Attempts to transfer Western management theories without considering the host's cultural value system is a prescription for failure. While conceptual frameworks for understanding…
Abstract
Attempts to transfer Western management theories without considering the host's cultural value system is a prescription for failure. While conceptual frameworks for understanding cultural differences exist, such as the ones developed by Hofstede and Hall, we know little about which managerial practices are relevant in what cultural settings. Adopting the view that the effectiveness of different management behaviors depends on the culture in which they are practiced, this paper develops various propositions that match specific managerial behaviors with cultural work values. The matching of managerial behaviors with cultural values has a wide range of applications in overseas selection decisions and training programs.
Arda Can Yesilirmak, Ozge Tayfur Ekmekci and Pınar Bayhan Karapinar
The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between ambivalent sexism (hostile and benevolent sexism) and managerial choice, considering organizational culture…
Abstract
Purpose
The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between ambivalent sexism (hostile and benevolent sexism) and managerial choice, considering organizational culture as a moderating variable. Additionally, the study addresses employees’ preference for working with same-sex managers as opposed to opposite-sex managers.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 245 white-collar employees working in a large-sized holding company in Ankara, Türkiye, using the survey method. PROCESS Macro was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Neither hostile nor benevolent sexism directly affected managerial choice. However, perceived gender equality within an organization was found to significantly affect the preference for working with female managers. Gender equality in organizational culture did not have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between hostile and benevolent sexism and the inclination to work with women managers. Furthermore, the participants reported a tendency to work with same-sex managers independent of their sexist attitudes and perceived organizational culture.
Originality/value
This study sheds light on the literature by examining the joint effects of sexism and perceived gender inequality on the desire of working women managers. In doing so, this study differs from previous studies focusing solely on individual variables such as personality and sexism or situational variables as hindering factors for women’s attainment of managerial positions.
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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…
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.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between culture and managers attitude towards business ethics in Nigeria. Several studies have recognized that culture…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between culture and managers attitude towards business ethics in Nigeria. Several studies have recognized that culture affects ethical behavior. However, very few studies have been conducted on how culture affects managers' attitudes towards business ethics which may predict their ethical behavior especially in developing African countries. The focal point is that this study is to address this knowledge gap in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The author collected data from 351 managers in selected firms in Nigeria. Two instruments were used to measure Hofstede's five cultural dimensions and attitudes toward business ethics. Correlation and regression analysis were used to test and predict the relationship between the independent and the dependent variables in the study.
Findings
Results show that culture has a significant influence on ethical attitudes of managers. The findings also specifically revealed that relationships exist among Hofstede's cultural dimension of power distance, collectivism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, short-term orientation and the dimensions of attitudes towards business ethics.
Research limitations/implications
The generalization of the findings may be limited by some of the sample characteristics. First, the study was limited to six cities in Nigeria; as a result, broader geographic sampling would better represent the national profile. Second, the drop off and pick up method used in data collection and the usual social-desirability bias associated with survey research could be limitations for the study. However, the author took extreme measures to protect the identities of the respondents. Finally, replication of this study using larger samples and a broader geographic base is suggested for cross-validation purposes.
Practical implications
Understanding that ethical beliefs and moral decision-making are dependent on culture and play an important role in managing and developing a successful ethics program. The results can help multinational corporations in developing effective culturally based ethical codes of conduct; as well as to design and manage targeted ethical policies and programs that will actively motivate, stimulate, support, encourage, and promote an outstanding ethical organization in Nigeria.
Originality/value
There have been very few previous studies on how culture affects managers' attitude toward business ethics within the sub-Saharan African context. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first empirical study on this topic in Nigeria, a sub-Saharan African country. The results provide insights on how culture can influence ethical attitude of managers in Nigeria. As a ground-breaking study on this topic in Nigeria, the findings may provide managers and scholars with an understanding of impact of culture on ethics. The insights gained from this study will contribute to the future research development on this topic in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, the study is of significant value to practitioners and scholars alike.
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