Culture’s causes: the next challenge

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 545-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gert Jan Hofstede
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Control Measure ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
System Level ◽  
Cultural Patterns ◽  
Job Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
New Synthesis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue that in cross-cultural and strategic management, we must pay attention to the processes creating and maintaining culture. How can everyday interactions give rise to national, “deep” cultures, recognizable across centuries, or organizational cultures, recognizable across decades? Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper using the evidence provided by research about cultural patterns, and using sociological status-power theory to explain the causation of these patterns. Emergence, also called self-organization, is introduced as mechanism connecting individual-level causation with resulting system-level patterns. Cases are used to illustrate points. Findings – Simulation gaming and computational social simulation are introduced. These methods allow “growing” a system, thus allowing to experiment with potential interventions and their unanticipated effects. Research limitations/implications – This essay could have major implications for research, adding new methods to survey-based and case-based studies, and achieving a new synthesis. Strategic management today almost invariably involves cross-cultural elements. As a result, cross-cultural understanding is now strategically important. Practical implications – The suggestions in this essay could lead to new collaborations in the study of culture and organizational processes. Examples include team formation, negotiation, mergers and acquisitions, trans-national collaboration, incentive systems and job interviews. Social implications – The suggestions in this essay could contribute to our ability of proactively steering processes in organizations. In particular, they can provide a check to the notion that a control measure necessarily results in its intended effect. Originality/value – The synthesis of biological, sociological and cross-cultural psychological viewpoints with design-oriented method, using games or social simulations as research instruments, is original in the field.

The HPWS and AMO: a dynamic study of system- and individual-level effects

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Edgar ◽  
Jing A. Zhang ◽  
Nancy M. Blaker
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Contextual Performance ◽  
System Level ◽  
Human Resource Research ◽  
Organizational System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Task

PurposeDrawing on the dynamic model of ability, motivation, opportunity (AMO) for human resource research, this study aims to examine how organizational system-level (i.e. the high-performance work system (HPWS)) and individual-level AMO affect employees' performance. Specifically, this paper proposes that employee task performance is resultant from the integration of system- and individual-level AMO factors with employee contextual performance.Design/methodology/approachA survey design is employed with data collected from 250 employees working in New Zealand's service sector.FindingsThis study finds both organizational system (HPWS) and individual AMO dimensions have positive associations with employees' performance. At the system level, the supportive role played by contextual performance is highlighted with pro-social behaviors fully mediating the relationship between the HPWS and task performance. At the individual level, contextual performance is found to partially mediate the relationship between ability and task performance and fully mediate the relationship between motivation and task performance. Opportunity, on the other hand, is significantly associated with task but not contextual performance.Originality/valueIn acknowledging there are a plurality of factors that impact performance, this study enriches our understanding of AMO's influence in the context of people management.

The proximity between Latin countries regarding customer's expectations about the hotel service

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mara Franco ◽  
Raquel Meneses
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Cultural Patterns ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Cultural Approach ◽  
Hotel Service

PurposeThe main purpose of this research is to understand if customers from countries with alleged similar culture expect services dimensions equally and to understand the level of proximity among those countries.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative methodology was used to test the level of proximity in customers' expectations about a service among different countries with alleged similar cultural patterns and if these customers share similar expectations about a set of service dimensions. This transnational research regarded the hotel service and data were collected from ten Latin countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Romania, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile. About 1262 customers answered a questionnaire about their expectations about service dimensions of the hotel service.FindingsFindings show that Latin customers' expectations about services are not equal and that there is a low level of proximity or similarity of customers' expectations about service among Latin countries.Research limitations/implicationsResearch was applied in one group of Latin countries that revealed a low level of proximity of customer's expectations about the hotel service. Further attempts should be made to expand research to additional Latin countries in order to allow understanding if the proximity level rises, decreases or maintains.Originality/valueThe major contribution was to use a cross-cultural approach to understand the level of proximity between the Latin countries in terms of customer's expectations about service dimensions, as these countries are frequently clustered into one group and customer's expectations are presumed to also be similar.

Shifting the balance of power

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Whaley ◽  
Di Domenico ◽  
Jane Alltimes
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disability ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
System Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
System Service ◽  
Care And Support ◽  
Service Redesign ◽  
And Control

Purpose This purpose of this paper is to examine the role of engagement and empowerment in “Transforming Care”, for people with a learning disability. The aim is to shift the balance of power so that people are able to live ordinary lives in the community, in the home they choose, close to people they love. It shares ideas to support people to take control over their own lives and to influence the system, so that it works with people, rather than “doing to” people. Design/methodology/approach The paper examines barriers and enablers to people having their rights as citizens. So that people have as much choice and control as they are comfortable with to live an ordinary life (bearing in mind any legal restrictions). The paper includes people’s involvement in system/service redesign. It critiques traditional views of looking at language, participation and power. The authors have used the language throughout which people have told us they prefer as a descriptor. Findings The authors present a framework for looking at the power of, and around, people with a learning disability who have mental health issues or have displayed behaviour that can challenge services. Originality/value This paper offers advice on how to address power imbalances at individual level and at organisational/system level. It looks at the language we use, the information we share and how we work with experts by experience to ensure we can transform care and support and enable people to live ordinary lives as citizens.

The entrepreneurial advantages of experiencing foreignness: leveraging shocks for capability clusters

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Pidduck
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Common Mechanism ◽  
Cultural Experience ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Core ◽  
Cultural Experiences ◽  
Intercultural Interactions ◽  
The Individual

Purpose Drawing on the “shocks to the system” concept in image theory, a mid-range theoretical model is developed to illuminate understanding on why cross-cultural experience is so conducive to stimulating entrepreneurship yet has remained largely unexplained at the individual level.Design/methodology/approach The novel idea is put forth that experience of foreignness, in itself, can be harnessed as a powerful cognitive resource for entrepreneurship – particularly the nascent stages of new venture development. Providing cross-cultural exposures arouse “self-image shocks”, they manifest over time as skill clusters that reflect the sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities at the heart of entrepreneurship. This paper's pivot helps delineate a common mechanism to explain how a diverse range of seemingly disparate cross-cultural experiences can be processed in a way that enhances entrepreneurial pursuits.Findings The insights of this paper reinforce the need for educators and policymakers to encourage and provide opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to engage in cross-cultural and overseas exposures as they are influential for stimulating each of the core sets of entrepreneurial capabilities. The model and synthesis table also help to practically unpack how to design and plan such cultural experiences to optimize the enduring entrepreneurial advantages.Originality/value The author turns a long-standing assumption surrounding cultural differences in entrepreneurship on its head. The shocks and tensions arising from intercultural interactions are not always inevitable liabilities to be “managed away” or attenuated. Rather, cross-cultural experience can be explicitly leveraged as an asset for nascent venturing as the juxtapositions they evoke provide both proximal and distal enhancements to ways in which entrepreneurs think and develop skills at the core of venturing.

Belief patterns of entrepreneurship: exploring cross-cultural logics

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Valliere
Keyword(s):  
National Culture ◽  
Subjective Norms ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Cultural Patterns ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Entrepreneurship ◽  
Diverse Cultures ◽  
Novel Model

Purpose Under the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), subjective norms are important antecedents of entrepreneurial intent. But little is known about the forces that shape these. Hofstede’s national culture has implicated, but the conceptual distance between it and subjective norms is wide. The purpose of this paper is to explore an intermediate level to propose a mechanism by which national cultures give rise to individual beliefs about entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach Uses Q methodology with data from seven countries to discover patterns of beliefs in diverse cultures. Hierarchical clustering characterises an intermediate-level mechanism. Findings In each country, a small number of patterns emerge, two of which are found in every country studied – despite the large cultural differences. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective, a model of individual sensemaking is developed to bridge between monolithic national culture and idiosyncratic subjective norms of individuals, and to explain the commonality of belief patterns observed. Several propositions are suggested for testing the model. Originality/value Reports cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship at a more granular level than previous research, and thereby discovers the existence of cross-cultural patterns. Proposes a novel model that connects macro forces of national culture with individual precursors of TPB through cultural entrepreneurship.

A cross-cultural analysis of the modes and effectiveness of collaborative production of knowledge on Quora

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yumeng Peng ◽  
Xiang Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Cultural Difference ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Production Of Knowledge

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to investigate how cross-cultural elements such as cultural difference and stereotype are integrated into collaborative modes and actions and to explore their corresponding effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachThe sample of the quantitative content analysis is drawn from the posts with the topic of China on Quora. A collaborative case, where two users have a question-and-answer interaction, is taken as the unit of analysis. The effectiveness of collaboration is operationalized as the extent to which a collaboratively produced answer is visited and favorably reviewed, using the feedback index (the number of upvotes*1,000/views). One of the sampled collaborative cases is further analyzed qualitatively to see how cultural differences, stereotypes and other factors are incorporated into users' interaction.FindingsThis content analysis reveals nine modes of collaborative production of knowledge on Quora: initial questioning, pointed answering, raising doubts, responding to others, agreeing with others, correcting mistakes, enriching content, further questioning and extending issues. Diversity of the cross-cultural acts of collaborative production, particularly two of often-used collaborative actions, correcting stereotypes and supplementing cultural differences, helps to enhance overall collaborative effectiveness.Practical implicationsThis paper offers new perspectives and ideas for strategies to change socially problematic stereotypes, e.g. to correct stereotypes where necessary and use more convincing resources such as reliable images as collaborative actions to bridge cultural differences. It also calls on social Q&A website developers to create more international users-friendly design by providing various channels for users with diverse cultural backgrounds to interact with each other.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to investigate online collaborative knowledge production within a broader cross-cultural context. Specifically, cultural factors and cross-cultural collaborative actions have been innovatively integrated into this research, enriching the dimensions that can be used for collaboration classification. It is helpful for users from different countries to actively adopting different strategies to overcome cultural differences, preconceptions and other negative factors that are not conducive to communication and knowledge acquisition.

scholarly journals Knowledge sharing motives and value co-creation behavior of the consumers in physiotherapy services: a cross-cultural study

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Waheed Akbar Bhatti ◽  
Mario Glowik ◽  
Ahmad Arslan
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Elements

Purpose This study aims to investigate the role of consumers’ (patients) motives in knowledge sharing and value co-creation with the service provider in the context of physiotherapy services. Design/methodology/approach The authors used partial least squares structural equation modeling for the analysis of the physiotherapy services users’ data from Germany and Pakistan. Findings The results show that in both consumer groups, individualizing, empowering and development motives are common influences on the willingness to share knowledge leading to value co-creation. However, the relating, ethical and concerted motives show varying influences in the data set. Research limitations/implications A key research implication relates to specifying the link between consumer knowledge sharing and value creation and the role of cultural factors in this context. It is one of the first studies to undertake a comparative analysis in this specific context by highlighting the changing role of consumers from collective and individualistic societies, in influencing service provision through participation in the service exchange. Practical implications For the managerial audience, this paper highlights the importance of being sensitive to cultural elements as they tend to influence personal knowledge sharing by the consumer, especially in the well-being sector, which ultimately influences the value co-creation. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current paper is one of the first studies focusing on the knowledge sharing motives of consumers in the specific context of physiotherapy services leading to value co-creation. Moreover, specific focus on individual consumer’s motives and their role in comparative, cross-cultural settings, adds further value to the contribution of this study.

scholarly journals Evaluating trauma informed care training for services supporting individuals experiencing homelessness and multiple disadvantage

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupert Burge ◽  
Anna Tickle ◽  
Nima Moghaddam
Keyword(s):  
System Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Trauma Informed Care ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
Trauma Informed ◽  
Care Training ◽  
One Year ◽  
Level Analysis

Purpose Implementing trauma informed care (TIC) for individuals facing homelessness and multiple disadvantage is proposed to help both service users and staff work effectively and therapeutically together. However, the effectiveness of implementing TIC via training is debatable. This study aims to explore the effects of a four-day TIC and psychologically informed environments training package in such services. Design/methodology/approach The analysis explores the effect of this training on the degree of TIC as measured by the TICOMETER, a psychometrically robust organisational measure of TIC. The study examines group and individual level changes from before training and again at six-month and one-year follow-up time-points. Findings At the group level analysis, three of the five TICOMETER domains (knowledge and skills, relationships, and policies and procedures) were higher when compared to pre-training scores. The remaining two domains (service delivery and respect) did not improve. Individual-level analysis showed some participants’ scores decreased following training. Overall, the training appeared to modestly improve the degree of TIC as measured by the TICOMETER and these effects were sustained at one-year follow-up. Research limitations/implications Findings are limited by the design and low response rates at follow-up. Practical implications Training is necessary but not sufficient for the implementation of TIC and needs to be complemented with wider organisational and system-level changes. Originality/value This paper is the first UK study to use the TICOMETER.

A paradoxical dynamic in a service labyrinth: insights from HIV care

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (11) ◽  
pp. 2252-2265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Gracia B. Cruz ◽  
Elizabeth Snuggs ◽  
Yelena Tsarenko
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Care ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Service Systems ◽  
System Level ◽  
Hiv Care ◽  
People Living With Hiv ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Consumption Practices

PurposeWhile theories of complex service systems have advanced important insights about integrated care, less attention has been paid to social dynamics in systems with finite resources. This paper aims to uncover a paradoxical social dynamic undermining the objective of integrated care within an HIV care service system.Design/methodology/approachGrounded in a hermeneutic analysis of depth interviews with 26 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and drawing on Bourdieu’s (1984) theory of capital consumption to unpack dynamics of power, struggle and contestation, the authors introduce the concept of the service labyrinth.FindingsTo competently navigate the service labyrinth of HIV care, consumers adopt capital consumption practices. Paradoxically, these practices enhance empowerment at the individual level but contribute to the fragmentation of the HIV care labyrinth at the system level, ultimately undermining integrated care.Research limitations/implicationsThis study enhances understanding of integrated care in three ways. First, the metaphor of the service labyrinth can be used to better understand complex care-related service systems. Second, as consumers of care enact capital consumption practices, the authors demonstrate how they do not merely experience but actively shape the care system. Third, fragmentation is expectedly part of the human dynamics in complex service systems. Thus, the authors discuss its implications. Further research should investigate whether a similar paradox undermines integrated care in better resourced systems, acute care systems and systems embedded in other cultural contexts.Originality/valueContrasted to provider-centric views of service systems, this study explicates a customer-centric view from the perspective of heterosexual PLWHA.

Cross Cultural and Strategic Management: a retrospective overview using bibliometric analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Satish Kumar ◽  
Nitesh Pandey ◽  
Debmalya Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Intellectual Structure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Expatriate Employees

PurposeCross Cultural and Strategic Management (CCSM) began publication in 1994 and completed its 27th year in 2020. The purpose of this study is to provide a bibliometric analysis of CCSM during the period between 1994 and 2020.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a variety of bibliometric tools including performance analysis, authorship analysis, bibliographic coupling, keyword co-occurrence and regression analysis to present the retrospect of CCSM.FindingsCCSM's publication and citations continue to enjoy consistent growth throughout the years. While most contributions originate in the United States, the diversity of both research and the researchers themselves continues to grow. Over the period, the emphasis has been on quantitative research design. Archival data have been the most preferred data source, and content analysis the most used data analysis method, although its use has somewhat declined over the years. Major recurring themes in the journal include cultural barriers, concept of culture, national culture, culture and organizational practices, and expatriate employees. Important drivers of citations are also identified.Research limitations/implicationsThe study’s contributions are twofold. First, the authors’ comprehensive bibliometric analysis of published research in CCSM helps uncover its underlying intellectual structure and the evolution of its research themes over time. Awareness of these patterns and major themes should help future CCSM scholars to better situate their studies within the extant body of knowledge. Second, the authors’ analysis should also aid in shaping future editorial strategies for CCSM as it continues to compete with other similar journals in the fields of international business, international management and strategy.Originality/valueCCSM earned its reputation for quality, and as a result is currently one of the leading journals in its field. Therefore, by closely examining its underlying knowledge structure, the authors provide a more complete understanding of the intellectual progress made to date in CCSM, while also shedding light on its future.

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