A Cross-National Study of the Relationships between Cultural Determinants, Sustainable Governance and Sustainable Development

Author(s):  
Diana Tsoy ◽  
Gao Yongqiang

The study investigates the drivers of Sustainable Development presented by Hofstede cultural dimensions and Sustainable Governance in OECD and EU countries. The relationships between predictors and Sustainable Development were tested by multiple regression analysis, which confirmed that Sustainability-oriented Governance leads to Sustainable Development, emphasizing the importance of Sustainable Governance. The impact of cultural variables on Sustainable Development was sensitive to the existence of Sustainable governance, confirming the hypothesized role of the Sustainable governance in the relationship among the national cultural differences and Sustainable Development as a moderator. Sustainable governance contributes to the growth of positive influence of Masculinity, decreasing, at the same time, the importance of Power distance in the relationship with Sustainable Development, presented by Sustainability-adjusted Global Competitiveness Index.

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-164
Author(s):  
Rabeb Riahi ◽  
Foued Hamouda ◽  
Jamel Eddine Henchiri

The unobservable nature of the national culture is one of the main limits of research studying the impact of values systems’ in management sciences. This is why we aim in this study to identify a measure to three cultural dimensions namely, individualism (IND), masculinity (MASC) and long-term orientation (LTO). Our methodology is based on structural equation modeling (SEM) under LISREL approach, where latent variables are economic and demographic characteristics. Findings for the cross-national study over a period of 7 years including Tunisia, France, and Canada show that ecological indicators are able to determine studied cultural dimensions. However, due to the dynamic character of culture, some studied indicators are no longer the same as identified in prior studies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146801732110097
Author(s):  
Michelle van der Tier ◽  
Koen Hermans ◽  
Marianne Potting

Summary Professional standards state that social workers in public welfare organisations should act as state and citizen-agents. However, the literature provides little insight into how social workers navigate this dual responsibility in their daily work. To address this gap, we used Maynard-Moody and Musheno’s theory on state and citizens-agent narratives to analyse street-level practices of social workers in three local welfare organisations in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. This article explores how three specific organisational mechanisms (decision-making authority; the role of the front-line manager and the degree of specialisation) affect the ways social workers navigate both agent narratives in public welfare organisations. The data were gathered by a mixed method design of in-depth interviews and focus groups. Findings Our study shows that social workers struggle with the tensions that intrude between the state and citizen-agent narrative. We found that the extent to which both narratives are adopted by social workers is affected by a complicated interaction between the beliefs of social workers about social justice and responsiveness and the selected organisational mechanisms. Moreover, we found that critical reflection and a supportive attitude of front-line managers can help social workers to manage their double responsibility in practice. Application Our cross-national study contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between organisational mechanisms and the moral deliberations of social workers regarding their dual responsibility. It provides in-depth insights into the tensions and conflicts social workers in different contexts face daily on account of their dual responsibility.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre da C. Goularte ◽  
Silvia Novaes Zilber

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the impact of country culture, represented by Hofstede cultural dimensions, in the adoption of Brazilian mobile banking services. Design/methodology/approach Based on the replication of a theoretical model previously tested in Mozambique (Africa) that combines the extended version of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) with the five Hofstede cultural dimensions, this study tested that model in another emerging country, Brazil, using partial least squares (PLS) as a modeling method. Findings Replication showed that the cultural dimensions do not present strong significance in the moderation of the use of mobile banking. In fact, out of the five dimensions tested, three were not significant and two showed weak significance (p < 0.10): collectivism and short-term orientation. Those results, contrasting with that one presented by Baptista and Oliveira (2015), made sense under Ajzen’s theory (1991) – the TPB, leading to the conclusion that the moderation of cultural dimensions on behavior use is not applicable. Originality/value The authors concluded that the tested model may not be adherent, finding a theoretical gap to be explored in future studies: the moderation of the behavioral intention by cultural variables proposed by Hofstede. That finding supported the proposition of a new theoretical model, which considers the moderation of cultural dimensions in another place: behavioral intention to use mobile banking instead of the behavior use, as proposed by Baptista and Oliveira (2015). So, based on the research results and based on some authors cited in this study (Choi et al., 2014; Chou, 2013; Srite and Karahanna, 2006), it is proposed to insert Hofstede cultural variables as moderators of independent variables on the behavioral intention.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Alfiero ◽  
Massimo Cane ◽  
Ruggiero Doronzo ◽  
Alfredo Esposito

This research, based on stakeholder theory and the national cultural dimensions, aims to test the influence of foreigners on board and its size on Integrated Reporting (IR) practices. The analysis is based on a sample of 1,058 European companies from 18 different countries, who adopted or not the IR for the year 2015, and it relies on a Logit. The dependent variable is a dummy (presenting or not the IR) and the independent variables are represented by the board characteristics (foreigners and size). The impact of the critical mass on the presence of foreigners and the cultural dimension on the basis of directors’ nationality was tested relying on the masculinity/femininity dimension of Hofstede. Besides, the directors’ country of origin was considered, namely if they belong to the major European countries presenting a wider IR diffusion. The relationship between foreigners on board and IR is found to be negative. This means that companies with at least one foreigner are less inclined to adopt IR. The results show that the boards with more of three foreign administrators have a major propensity to adopt the IR. The membership of the directors in countries with a feminist culture also has a positive effect.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Nikola Milović ◽  
Mijat Jocović ◽  
Nikola Martinović

Abstract Competitiveness, as a complex concept, can be observed in different ways, from the perspective of an individual, group, company and/or state. The subject of this paper deals with competitiveness of national economies observed through factor analysis, with a particular focus on the level of macroeconomic stability. Through the application of the Analytical-Hierarchical Process (AHP) method, special attention has been paid to the comparative ranking of Western Balkan countries. The ranking has been made in relation to macroeconomic stability and the positions of countries in the ranking of the World Economic Forum, based on the Global Competitiveness Index, for three defined periods of time. The paper identifies key factors that affect the competitiveness of Western Balkan countries. Research findings show that macroeconomic stability has a strong impact on the level of global competitiveness of national economies.


2020 ◽  
pp. 201-220
Author(s):  
Sadife Çinkir

Women form half of the world's population, but the same cannot be said for their active participation in economic development. Sustainable, strong economies can be achieved through equally active involvement in the process by developing or keeping up to date the skills of individuals in society. This paper focuses on women's contribution to sustainable development as entrepreneurs through Lifelong Learning. The paper consists of two sections. The first section discusses the relationship between accessibility to digital age-appropriate education and sustainable development in Lifelong Learning. The second section is a good practice of the impact of the "Women First in Entrepreneurship" project on developing women's entrepreneurship. It covers the reasons for the project and its implementation process, outputs, and impact. To increase women's participation in the labor market as part of sustainable development in today's economy, the project, which began in 10 pilot provinces, is currently being implemented across Turkey. The project has been implemented under the coordination of the Turkish Directorate General for Lifelong Learning since 2015. The General Directorate of Lifelong Learning is the highest policymaking authority in Turkey to strengthen the adult education system.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-411
Author(s):  
Qaiser Rafique Yasser ◽  
Abdullah Al-Mamun

We adopt a multi-theoretic approach to investigate a previously unexplored phenomenon in extant literature, namely the differential impact of ownership identity and director dominate shareholding on the performance of emerging market firms. The main research question addressed is, whether the impact of this relationship is conditional on the identity of the block investor. First, the relationship between overall block ownership and firm performance is tested by employing multiple regressions on 500 firm-year observations for the period from 2007 to 2011. Then, the block ownership is classified as the state, individuals, insiders, financial institutions, corporate and foreign investors and the influence of these identities on firm performance is examined. It was found that only the ownership categories such as the government, institutions and foreign ownership have positive influence on the firm performance. The results also indicate that high level of insider ownership also negatively associated with the firm performance. The main contribution of this paper is the examination of the relationship between block ownership and firm performance from the perspective of the identity of investors


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thuy Thi Nguyen ◽  
Tien Hanh Duong ◽  
My Tran Thanh Dinh ◽  
Tram Ho Ha Pham ◽  
Thu Mai Anh Truong

PurposeThis study aims to empirically investigate how difference in social trust explains the heterogeneity of intellectual property right (IPR) protection (proxied by software piracy rate) across countries. Specifically, the authors also examine whether this effect is complementary or substitute to legal and economic factors.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use both ordinary least square and two-stage least square regressions to investigate this effect.FindingsThe authors find that there is also a complementary effect between trust and rule of law in reducing the violation of IPRs.Originality/valueAlthough the literature by now has documented the solid relationship between trust and the quality of formal institutions, only few studies have explored more specific measures of institutional consequences. Thus, this study is the first study investigating the role of trust, a valuable social capital dimension, on IPR protection.


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