Decoupling management and technological innovations: Resolving the individualism-collectivism controversy

This study aims to resolve the contradictory previous research findings on the relationship between individualism–collectivism and innovation. We draw on innovation theory and relate to the difference between non-technological (management) and technological innovation types as well as to the distinction between exploration and exploitation (invention and commercialization of technological innovations). Using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2006 micro data for innovation at the organizational level in 13 countries – along with Hofstede (1980, 2001), GLOBE (2005), and Schwartz (2006) scores for individualism–collectivism – we apply Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). The results indicate that individualism is positively related to the invention phase, whereas collectivism is beneficial for the commercialization of innovative ideas. Furthermore, in collectivistic cultures, management innovation plays a more important stimulating role in enhancing technological innovation than it does in individualistic ones. This provides the managers with an idea of when innovation processes in their companies would be more favorable versus detrimental

The Moderating Effects of Power Distance and Individualism/Collectivism on Empowering Leadership, Psychological Empowerment, and Self-Leadership in International Development Organizations

The importance of finding appropriate leadership styles to use in cross-cultural situations is paramount. Development organizations and multinational organizations both struggle to find forms of leadership that are effective in mobilizing the workforce in highly diverse cultural contexts. In this article, the effects of empowering leadership on psychological empowerment and self-leadership are measured in two cultural contexts—Rwanda and the United States, representing both high and low power distance and individualism/ collectivism—to explore how empowering leadership behaviors affects the empowerment of subordinates. First, hierarchical regression analysis shows that empowering leadership has a significant positive effect on both psychological empowerment and self-leadership in both cultural contexts. Second, hierarchical regression analysis with tests for moderation shows that power distance moderates these relationships, especially in high power distance cultures, while individualism/collectivism moderates these relationships only occasionally. This article provides evidence that empowering leadership is an effective form of leadership that produces employee empowerment in diverse cultural contexts. It also provides new insights into appropriate forms of leadership for international development organizations when working in different countries

The Moderating Effects of Power Distance and Individualism/Collectivism on Empowering Leadership, Psychological Empowerment, and Self-Leadership in International Development Organizations

The importance of finding appropriate leadership styles to use in cross-cultural situations is paramount. Development organizations and multinational organizations both struggle to find forms of leadership that are effective in mobilizing the workforce in highly diverse cultural contexts. In this article, the effects of empowering leadership on psychological empowerment and self-leadership are measured in two cultural contexts—Rwanda and the United States, representing both high and low power distance and individualism/ collectivism—to explore how empowering leadership behaviors affects the empowerment of subordinates. First, hierarchical regression analysis shows that empowering leadership has a significant positive effect on both psychological empowerment and self-leadership in both cultural contexts. Second, hierarchical regression analysis with tests for moderation shows that power distance moderates these relationships, especially in high power distance cultures, while individualism/collectivism moderates these relationships only occasionally. This article provides evidence that empowering leadership is an effective form of leadership that produces employee empowerment in diverse cultural contexts. It also provides new insights into appropriate forms of leadership for international development organizations when working in different countries

Culture in international business research: a bibliometric study in four top IB journals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conduct a study on the articles published in the four top international business (IB) journals to examine how four cultural models and concepts – Hofstede’s (1980), Hall’s (1976), Trompenaars’s (1993) and Project GLOBE’s (House et al., 2004) – have been used in the extant published IB research. National cultures and cultural differences provide a crucial component of the context of IB research. Design/methodology – This is a bibliometric study on the articles published in four IB journals over the period from 1976 to 2010, examining a sample of 517 articles using citations and co-citation matrices. Findings – Examining this sample revealed interesting patterns of the connections across the studies. Hofstede’s (1980) and House et al.’s (2004) research on the cultural dimensions are the most cited and hold ties to a large variety of IB research. These findings point to a number of research avenues to deepen the understanding on how firms may handle different national cultures in the geographies they operate. Research limitations – Two main limitations are faced, one associated to the bibliometric method, citations and co-citations analyses and other to the delimitation of our sample to only four IB journals, albeit top-ranked. Originality/value – The paper focuses on the main cultural models used in IB research permitting to better understand how culture has been used in IB research, over an extended period.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Turk and the Yankee: A Cross-Cultural Comparison between Turkish and American Managers

With Turkey’s developing role as a lead nation among emerging markets, the field of cross-cultural management becomes a key contributor to the interactions between Turkish and American professionals in the workplace. This study uses models of national cultural differences based primarily on the findings of Hofstede (1984), but it also incorporates those of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1998) and the GLOBE project (2002), resulting in a comparative cross-cultural management analysis. In combining both academic theory and actual international experience, this paper illustrates that, through effective cross-cultural management, profound understanding and harmony can exist between international managers

The Emergence of Leader-Society Value Congruence: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Previous research on cross-cultural leadership has focused on the outcomes associated with leadership factors consistent with national cultural values without exploring how leaders’ individual cultural orientations become congruent with the societal culture in different national settings. The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper understanding of how leader-society value congruence is produced and how the degree of such congruency varies across cultures. This paper conceptually clarifies the mechanisms that mediate the influence of cultural context on leader-society value congruence; suggests that the effects of societal context are only distal antecedents of producing congruence between leaders’ individual and societal level cultural values; and concludes that their effects are manifest via their impact on self-construal and communication patterns

Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance: A Cross-Cultural Analysis

Based on the geographic limitations of previous meta-analysis made about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Financial Performance (FP) and on the evidence found in previous work on the country's influence in this relationship, the aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between these two variables studying the possible moderating effect that the country variable may have on it. By the use of the cultural dimensions of GLOBE (2004), we classify the countries, and test the hypothesis through the statistical technique of meta-analysis. The results show that the country where the companies are home-based moderates the relationship between CSR and FP. In particular from the results, we can conclude that while in Australia, Canada, USA and the United Kingdom the relationship is stronger and larger, in some countries, such as Japan, there is no relationship

Group influence on blogs design behaviour

Issues of national culture influence on web design behaviour have been rampant and stimulating on static web pages across the globe. The emergence of a new breed of publication-type web page brought about by the advancement of web technology however, saw a different species of online communication groups. Bloggers as these groups are called; used blogs as their communication and publication tool to distinguish themselves from other websites and online social media users. Since bloggers are groups that are recognised and credited to cultivate their own culture, the idea that national culture has an influence on blogs design behaviour and preferences may have been weakened. Bloggers groups themselves would be the influential factor that determines design preferences of bloggers in a network of blogs. To address the issue, this paper has conducted an assessment on blogs from six countries using content analysis method, national culture traits and SIDE model to ascertain design features characteristics and behaviour. Results from both the global and local blogs in each country showed that blogs design preferences in one country differ between both the global and local bloggers. Furthermore, global bloggers design preferences in countries under observation are found to be similar to one another