National culture and corporate governance codes

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 152-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A. Humphries ◽  
Catherine Whelan
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Hofstede’S Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Corporate Governance Codes ◽  
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between national culture and best practices as recommended in country-level corporate governance codes. Design/methodology/approach Measures for four corporate governance variables – board independence, gender composition, board leadership and meeting frequency – were collected from corporate governance codes for 55 countries. Scores from Hofstede’s cultural dimensions – power distance, individualism vs collectivism, masculinity vs femininity and uncertainty avoidance – were gathered for these same countries. Average scores on the cultural dimensions were compared for groups of countries based on each of the corporate governance variables. Findings Data analyses reveal significant relationships between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and the four characteristics of corporate governance examined in this study. Results highlight the importance of understanding cultural influences on board characteristics for companies considering international expansions or partnerships. Originality/value While prior studies have focused on the influence of national culture at the company level, this study examines the relationship at the regulatory level through review of country-level corporate governance codes.

scholarly journals Religion, national culture and cross-country differences in the use of trade credit

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 350-370
Author(s):  
Markus Mättö ◽  
Mervi Niskanen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Trade Credit ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether religion or national culture can explain previously observed cross-country variation in trade credit. Design/methodology/approach Using the firm-level SME data from 35 European countries, religion and cultural factors of Hofstede and Schwartz, the authors provide new evidence on the determinants of the cross-country variation in trade credit. Findings The results indicate that religion and national culture are associated with trade credit. The authors find that the levels of trade credit are higher in Catholic countries than in Protestant ones and that peoples’ religiousness has an impact on trade credit only in Catholic countries. The authors also find that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, such as power distance and uncertainty avoidance, are positively associated with trade credit. Practical implications Overall, authors’ findings indicate that religion and national culture are important determinants of trade credit management, and that the association between commonly used cultural values and trade credit depends on the religious, legal, and financial environment. Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to research the relationship between national culture and trade credit.

Does national culture influence management's accounting behaviour and strategy? – an empirical analysis of European IFRS adopters

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Reisch
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Legal Enforcement ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Strategy Variables

PurposeThis study examines, in a European context, whether a management-induced International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) accounting strategy is affected by national culture. It analyses the association between management's accounting strategy and Hofstede's cultural dimensions of individualism and uncertainty avoidance, as well as institutional and firm-specific factors.Design/methodology/approachUsing hand-collected accounting decisions from 301 annual reports of firms from 14 European countries in 2017, a model is developed to identify two ordinally scaled accounting strategy variables, each representing the aggregated effect of the decisions on earnings and equity ratio. Afterwards, the effect of the cultural dimensions on these accounting-strategy variables is analysed by an ordered logistic regression.FindingsThe results do not support an association between management's accounting strategy and national culture, complementing the previous critical literature on values-based theories of culture. However, there is evidence that national legal enforcement, disclosure requirements and firm size explain differences in management's accounting strategy across countries.Research limitations/implicationsUsing the cultural value dimensions of the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) project, the findings are robust and stable. However, the study is limited to a European data set and the sample year.Practical implicationsThis study contributes to the discussion on the transparency and comparability of IFRS accounting. The results imply that these issues are not affected by cultural differences but rather by differences in institutional and firm-specific factors. In order to bring about improvements, regulators should establish a uniform institutional setting, while the standard setter should reduce the number of implicit and explicit accounting choices embodied in the IFRS.Originality/valueThe paper advances the understanding of cultural influences on management's IFRS accounting behaviour by providing an alternative to the existing accruals approach.

Cultural impact of human resource practices on job satisfaction

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanine Karin Andreassi ◽  
Leanna Lawter ◽  
Martin Brockerhoff ◽  
Peter J. Rutigliano
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Job Characteristics ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Human Resource Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hofstede’S Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of high-performance human resource practices on job satisfaction across four cultural regions – Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America. High-performance human resource practices were used to predict job satisfaction for each region and then compared to determine significant differences. Hofstede's cultural dimensions were employed as a basis for structuring hypothesized differences across cultural regions. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a proprietary industry survey on employee work attitudes. The sample consisted of over 70,000 employees from four large multinational organizations with at least four offices in each of the four regions. Data were analyzed using regression analysis and comparison testing across models. Findings – There are significant relationships between job characteristics and job satisfaction across all regions of the world, with a sense of achievement universally the most important driver. Although job characteristics impact job satisfaction across all regions, there are significant differences in the relative importance of job characteristics on job satisfaction, consistent with Hofstede's cultural dimensions. Practical implications – The findings have implications for tailoring human resource management practices across locations within multinationals. Originality/value – This research is believed to be the first cross-cultural study of human resource practices affecting job satisfaction using multiple organizations and industries.

Founder Leaders and Organization Culture: A Comparative Study on Indian and American Founder Leaders Based on Schein’s Model of Organizational Culture

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Mamatha S.V. ◽  
Geetanjali P.
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Organization Culture ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Case Method ◽  
Ecological Fallacy ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
The Relationship

Organizational culture is created gradually by founder leaders on the basis of their values, assumptions and beliefs. Organizational culture is tangible in terms of the architecture of the company, office layout and exhibits and intangible in terms of behaviour of employees, decisions, policies and procedures. This article aims to perform a comparative analysis of some of the founder leaders of Indian and American businesses and their influence on the culture of the organization. The study adopts the case method research design where the focus is on the specific interesting cases, articles and interviews of the founder(s) in their formational years and cases when the company had a stable organizational culture. The unit of analysis is the founder leader. The company’s culture is evaluated using Schein’s Model of Organizational Culture while that of the founder leader is evaluated using Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions. This study does not equate national culture to individual’s culture to avoid ecological fallacy of interpreting country-level relationships being applied to individuals. The study shows that there exist layers of subcultures in each individual. The article discusses an interesting paradigm, that is, the culture in which they are born/trained and the culture they adopt intentionally. When founders adopt other cultures, some traces of adopted cultures are reflected in the organization. The article concludes that founder leaders’ culture needs a better framework in order to see its effects on the organization. Hofstede’s model does not show the relationship between different layers of the culture. Hence, the model seems inadequate to be applied to analyse founder leaders.

scholarly journals How do online reviewers’ cultural traits and perceived experience influence hotel online ratings?

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (12) ◽  
pp. 4543-4573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcello Mariani ◽  
Marina Predvoditeleva
Keyword(s):  
Direct Measurement ◽  
Power Distance ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hofstede’S Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Online Ratings ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Research Stream ◽  
Measurement Approach

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role and influence of online reviewers’ cultural traits and perceived experience on online review ratings of Russian hotels by taking a direct measurement approach. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopt an explanatory sequential research design consisting of two stages. In the first stage, based on a sample of almost 75,000 Booking.com online reviews covering hotels located in Moscow (Russia), this study examines quantitatively to what extent the cultural traits of online reviewers and hotel guests’ perceived experience in online reviewing affect online ratings also using censored regressions. In the second stage, it interprets the results in light of semi-structured interviews conducted with a convenience sample of managers. Findings Each of the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (namely, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and power distance) exerts a significantly negative influence on the hotel online ratings. More specifically, the higher the levels of individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and power distance, the lower the hotel’s online ratings. Reviewers’ perceived experience in online reviewing is negatively related to online ratings. Research limitations/implications The study’s findings bear relevant practical implications for hotel managers and online platform managers in countries that are not typically covered by online consumer behavior studies in hospitality such as Russia. From a theoretical viewpoint, this study contributes to cultural studies in hospitality management and marketing with a further development of the nascent research stream taking a direct measurement approach to the study of cultural influences on consumers’ behaviors. Furthermore, this study offers a better and in-depth understanding of the role of cultural traits on electronic word of mouth, as well as international market segmentation theory in online settings. Originality/value The conjoint exploration of the effects of cultural differences and perceived experience in online reviewing adds to the nascent research stream taking a direct measurement approach to the study of the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions on online consumers’ behaviors. The authors make multiple theoretical and methodological contributions, highlighting that online hospitality customers cannot be considered as one homogeneous mass. Instead, the application of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions allows identifying distinctively different online behaviors across international online customers: different online customer groups can be clustered into segments, as they display different online behaviors and give different online evaluations.

Do corporate bond recovery rates monitored by corporate governance mechanisms?

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 830-848
Author(s):  
Mehdi Mili ◽  
Sami Abid
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
Corporate Bonds ◽  
Corporate Bond ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Recovery Rates ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between corporate governance (CG) and firms’ bond recovery rates (RRs). The authors hypothesize that governance features impact RRs by controlling agency costs that result from conflicts between bondholders and shareholders. The authors also test the relationship between CG and RRs during the last crisis. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a generalized method of moments regression model to test the relationship between CG and firms’ bond RRs. The authors employ a direct measure of recoveries rates from Moody’s ultimate recovery database covering the period from 2003 to 2012. Both firm-level CG and country-level variables are used to examine the determinants of corporate bonds RRs. Findings – The results support a significant impact of CG mechanisms on bond RRs mainly during crisis period. The authors find that firms operating with CEO-Duality decrease their bond RRs during financial crisis. This implies wealth transfers from bondholders to shareholders and provides one explanation why some firms operate with weak governance. Originality/value – This paper provides the first direct evidence that corporate bond RRs are directly related to CG mechanisms. The authors combine firm-level CG and country-level variables to examine the determinants of corporate bonds RRs. Earlier studies focussed on financial firm-level data and macro-economic variables. The authors also test the impact of board composition and ownership structure on bond recoveries.

The importance and formalization of service quality dimensions: a comparison of Chile and the USA

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Guesalaga ◽  
Dennis Pitta
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quality Perceptions ◽  
Hofstede’S Cultural Dimensions ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Quality Dimensions ◽  
Service Quality Dimensions ◽  
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions

Purpose – Services account for a very large portion of the economic activity in most countries. While there is abundant academic research on service quality, which has focused mainly on determining service quality dimensions, understanding service quality antecedents, and relating service quality to key outcomes, such as customer satisfaction and performance, there is, however, limited research on an increasingly relevant issue, which is how service quality perceptions differ among cultures. The aim of this research is to address this question. Design/methodology/approach – The research used two identical surveys administered to managers in two different cultures. One survey was in English for the US sample and one was in Spanish for the Chilean sample. The surveys measured the importance of the five SERVQUAL service dimensions as well as relevant information about the respondent's experience, position and type of company at which he/she worked. Each country was examined for significant characteristics using Hofstede's cultural dimensions. Hypotheses were developed reflecting the differences expected by the characteristics of the cultures in which the respondents worked. Data was analyzed to extract meaning from the data using ANOVA. Findings – Of the five service quality dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy), reliability is the most important in both countries. Responsiveness is the second most important. Three of the hypotheses testing the difference in perceived importance among service quality dimensions between Chile and the USA, were supported. H1: no difference exists between the two countries in the importance of tangibles, is supported (p=0.000). H2: reliability is more important in Chile than in the USA, is also supported (p=0.039). H3: responsiveness is more important in the USA than in Chile, is supported as well (p=0.012). Research limitations/implications – Use of MBA students as survey respondents limits the generalizability of the results. Despite the fact that each subject was employed in a managerial position within a firm, each subject was also enrolled in an MBA program. Arguably, the subjects are all employed in business but differ from others who are not in degree programs. Practical implications – The research highlights the need to attend to perceptions of service quality globally. The Hofstede cultural dimensions provide a clear and easy to apply framework that allows companies to identify what is important in a host culture. That information will enable service quality adjustments that offer the potential of improving customer satisfaction and firm success. Originality/value – The current research is the first to use two tested conceptualizations to assess differences in service quality importance across cultures. It explores the relationship of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, with perceptions of service quality. It hypothesizes which service quality dimensions will be important based on the characteristics of the culture in which they are delivered. No other study has compared service quality perceptions between the USA and Chile. Each country has a vibrant, free market economy. The study provides a foundation for approaching other markets in Latin America and in countries with similar cultural dimensions.

Beyond monetary motivation: the moderation of Hofstede's cultural dimensions

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Tetteh ◽  
Rebecca Dei Mensah ◽  
Christian Narh Opata ◽  
Gloria Nana Yaa Asirifua Agyapong
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Power Distance ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Simple Random Sampling ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Mobile Telecommunication ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Motivation Factors ◽  
Hofstede’S Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions

PurposeThis study explicitly examines how Hofstede's cultural dimensions moderate the relationship between nonmonetary motivation factors and performance.Design/methodology/approachThrough the simple random sampling technique, the hypotheses were tested with a sample of 604 employees from a mobile telecommunication company operating in both China and Ghana, two countries that represent two same and opposite cultural poles on Hofstede's cultural dimensions.FindingsThe results point that employee motives such as relationship, supervision, challenging work and achievement are moderated by cultural values. Whilst employees with high power distance cultural values are highly motivated by high supervision, those with low individualistic cultural values are highly motivated by high relationship. The results also depict that whilst the interaction effects between supervision and power distance and relationship and individualism on performance were marginal for both China and Ghana samples, the interaction effect of achievement and masculinity as well as challenging work and uncertainty avoidance on performance had great differences due to the different cultural values for the two countries.Practical implicationsThis study implies that, as organizations are devising strategies to lower personnel costs in a recessionary period, there is the need to redesign motivation factors that go beyond monetary means and based on the cultural background of an employee in order to improve performance.Originality/valueThis is one of the few studies that focused on nonmonetary motives from a cultural management perspective with samples from emerging economies.

Female representation on the board of directors and accrual quality within the context of cultural dimensions and accounting values

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asma Yousuf ◽  
Husam Aldamen
Keyword(s):  
National Culture ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accruals Quality ◽  
Board Gender Diversity ◽  
Gender Quota ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This study aims to bridge the gap in the scarce and inconclusive literature concerning the impact of gender diversity on earnings quality by positioning this relationship within an institutional context. It aims to investigate the moderating effect of different cultural dimensions and accounting values on the relationship between board gender diversity and earnings quality. Design/methodology/approach The study uses an international sample from 46 countries (3,092 public firms) for the year 2017. A two-level hierarchical linear regression model is used to test the moderating effect of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and Gray’s accounting values on diversity and accruals quality relationship. Findings The findings suggest a positive relationship between board gender diversity and earnings quality. Results hold valid after controlling for endogeneity effect. More importantly, regarding national culture, results indicate that power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, professionalism, uniformity, secrecy and conservatism moderate the relationship between female directors and accruals quality. Furthermore, different levels of female representation are essential on boards of different societies to use the benefits of gender-diversified boards in enhancing earnings quality. Research limitations/implications The study provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of various worldwide movements toward increasing board gender diversity. Additionally, the results speak directly to gender quota regulatory bodies suggesting that “no size fits all” for gender quota requirement. Originality/value The study contributes to the stream of literature concerning gender diversity and earnings quality by investigating this relationship through the lens of national culture and emphasizing the importance of considering institutional factors in examining social interactions.

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