Societal-level versus individual-level predictions of ethical behavior: a 48-society study of collectivism and individualism

Is the societal-level of analysis sufficient today to understand the values of those in the global workforce? Or are individual-level analyses more appropriate for assessing the influence of values on ethical behaviors across country workforces? Using multi-level analyses for a 48-society sample, we test the utility of both the societal-level and individual-level dimensions of collectivism and individualism values for predicting ethical behaviors of business professionals. Our values-based behavioral analysis indicates that values at the individual-level make a more significant contribution to explaining variance in ethical behaviors than do values at the societal-level. Implicitly, our findings question the soundness of using societal-level values measures. Implications for international business research are discussed

Fostering organisational citizenship behaviour in Asia: The mediating roles of trust and job satisfaction

This study examines the relationships between servant leadership (SL) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as mediated by trust and job satisfaction in the context of China and Indonesia. Structural equation modeling analyses show that trust mediates the relationship between SL and OCB in the Chinese and Indonesian samples, whereas job satisfaction mediates only in Indonesia. Findings are discussed in relation to the national contexts found in China and Indonesia, as well as, implications for managerial practice

Conceptualizing and Measuring Culture in International Business and Management: From Challenges to Potential Solutions

Understanding the influence of culture on business operations has been one of the most enduring components of international business and management theorizing and empirical investigation. While several critiques and debates questioned the significant progress made in this domain, the special issue we introduce here is meant to demonstrate that further advancement on how we conceptualize and measure culture is not only needed, but also possible. We provide an overview of past and current approaches in the measurement of culture in IB/IM and the challenges associated with these approaches, and emphasize the important, yet insufficiently acknowledged, link between the theoretical conceptualization of culture and its measurement. We then introduce the four papers included in the special issue and highlight how they break away from the “addiction” to approaches that have been very useful in getting where we are today, but that might not always be useful in advancing knowledge beyond what we already know. Last but not least, we offer our own perspective on promising directions in conceptually and methodologically rethinking the study of culture in international business and management

Transformational leadership and follower citizenship behavior: The roles of paternalism and institutional collectivism

The current study examines the relationship between transformational leadership and citizenship behavior as mediated by paternalism. In addition, individual-level institutional collectivism orientation is hypothesized to moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and paternalism. Two hundred and forty-six employees (123 managers/supervisors and 123 subordinates) participated in a survey conducted in eight of the top 45 high-performing firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The study suggests that transformational leadership is positively related to follower citizenship behavior through a pervasive cultural feature in the region, that is, paternalism. Individual-level institutional collectivism moderates the relationship between transformational leadership and paternalism, such that the relationship is stronger when institutional collectivism is higher rather than lower. Analysis of mediated moderation also indicates that institutional collectivism moderates the mediating effects of paternalism on transformational leadership–citizenship behavior linkage. Implications of the study findings for research and practice as well as future research directions are discussed at the conclusion of the paper