Kevin Au

Exploring empowerment cross-cultural differences along the power distance dimension

Abstract This exploratory study investigates empowerment in a cultural context. One hundred and thirty-five MBAs participated in a management simulation. Results suggest differences based on participants’ cultural background. Specifically, as a result of the empowerment process participants from both high and low power distance cultures were more satisfied with their job in the empowered condition and less satisfied in the disempowered condition. Individuals from high power distance cultures did not perform as well when empowered as when disempowered. Participants from low power distance cultures performed similarly, regardless of the empowerment process. Implications of these findings for empowerment programs and future research are discussed.

Boundary spanning behaviors of expatriates

Expatriates provide benefits to multinational corporations (MNCs) when they enact boundary spanning roles. They do so by relaying local information and identifying opportunities that meet internal needs of MNCs. To test hypotheses based on social capital and role theories, we surveyed 232 expatriates. The findings indicated that local experience and the diversity of social networks were conducive to the boundary spanning activities of expatriates, whereas environmental uncertainty and overseas experience had little effect. By engaging in boundary spanning activities, expatriates felt less role ambiguity and gained role benefits, and were more eager to use the resources that were found within different communities of the host country. In addition, those expatriates who engaged in more boundary spanning activities had higher job satisfaction and more power within their own companies than those who did not.

Evaluating Multilevel Models in Cross-Cultural Research An Illustration With Social Axioms

To assess how culture influences the behavior of people, multilevel models are an immediate choice for modeling the relationship at the levels of the individual and culture. The authors propose structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the universality of psychological processes at the individual and culture levels. Specifically, the structural equivalence of the measurement (where the instrument is measuring the same construct across countries) is first tested with meta-analytic SEM. If the measurement is structurally equivalent, cross-level equivalence (where the instrument is measuring similar constructs at different levels) will then be tested with multilevel SEM. A large data set on social axioms with 7,590 university students from 40 cultural groups was used to illustrate the procedures. The results showed that the structural equivalence of the social axioms was well supported at the individual level across 40 cultural groups, whereas the cross-level equivalence was partially supported. The superiority of the SEM approach and the theoretical meaning of its solution are discussed.

Applications of Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling to Cross-Cultural Research

Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) has been proposed as an extension to structural equation modeling for analyzing data with nested structure. We have begun to see a few applications in cross-cultural research in which MSEM fits well as the statistical model. However, given that cross-cultural studies can only afford collecting data from a relatively small number of countries, the appropriateness of MSEM has been questioned. Using the data from the International Social Survey Program (1997; N = 15,244 from 27 countries), we first showed how Muth�ns MSEM procedure could be applied to a real data set on cross-cultural research. Given a small country-level sample size (27 countries) we then demonstrated that results on the individual level were quite stable even when using small individual-level sample sizes, whereas the group-level parameter estimates and their standard errors were affected unsystematically by varying individual-level sample sizes. Use of the findings for cross-cultural research and other areas with limited numbers of groups are discussed.

When Does the Service Process Matter? A Test of Two Competing Theories

This article examines the interactive effect of process quality and outcome quality on service evaluation. Experiment 1 shows that the interaction between the two types of quality follows a pattern predicted by two-factor theory. In contrast, experiment 2 demonstrates that when consumers feel uncertain about the service outcome prior to consumption, they will use process quality as a heuristic substitute in their assessment of the trustworthiness of the service provider. The resulting interaction between the types of quality then follows a pattern predicted by fairness heuristic theory.

Mood in foreign exchange trading: Cognitive processes and performance

Abstract This paper examines the effects of mood on the behavior of traders or decision makers in financial markets. Based on a review of the psychological theories and empirical findings which relate mood to decision making and information processing, we derive hypotheses with respect to the impact of good, neutral, and bad moods on the behavior of traders. Two experiments ( N =66 and 72) were conducted on an Internet platform which simulated foreign exchange trading based on historical market data. The first experiment manipulated mood using feedback and music whereas the second one asked subjects to read mood-laden statements. It was found that traders in a good mood had an inferior trading performance (losing money) compared to those in a neutral or bad mood (making profit). This is because traders in a good mood made less accurate decisions than those in neutral or bad moods. Those in a bad mood were the most accurate in their decisions but behaved conservatively in their trading. Subjects in a good mood tended to make less accurate decisions though they spent on average at least the same time as the other subjects on information processing and decision-making. They also were over-confident taking unwarranted risks. The studies concluded with insights concerning the effects of mood on choice of trading strategies.

Start-Up Capital and Chinese Entrepreneurs: The Role of Family

This paper examines the formation of the initial capital structure of Chinese start–up firms. Contrary to the predominant view of Chinese family business, this study found that family funding is not the major source of start–up capital under certain conditions. Employing two surveys conducted separately in Hong Kong and the mainland of the Peoples Republic of China, it was revealed that Chinese entrepreneurs seek initial funding from their family rather than from outsiders only if they expected lower transaction costs and lower levels of family interference in the business. The implications of the findings for entrepreneurship of ethnic Chinese communities in East Asia are discussed.

Intra-cultural Variation and Job Autonomy in 42 Countries

Intra-cultural variation (ICV)—dispersion of individuals within a culture—is not often the focus of international management compared to the cultural mean. However, researchers in international management and multi-level modeling have acknowledged the theoretical uniqueness of ICV, and have pled for its use in theory building and empirical testing. Responding to such a call, this paper explains at the societal level the theoretical importance of ICV of job autonomy. It also demonstrates, using secondary data from 42 countries, that the ICV of job autonomy influences organizational and social outcomes beyond the cultural mean of job autonomy. Specifically, the cultural mean and ICV of job autonomy exert different effects on job satisfaction and life satisfaction. The effect of the cultural mean is positive and that of the ICV is negative. Moreover, the effect of the ICV is independent of and similar in magnitude to that of the cultural mean. Research implications for international management and multi-level research are discussed.

Intra-cultural variation as another construct of international management: a study based on secondary data of 42 countries

This study explores the properties of intra-cultural variation in an attempt to legitimize it as a cultural construct. Reanalyzing data from the World Value Survey showed that intra-cultural variations explain cultural differences as much as, if not more than, cultural means. Factor analysis on a sample of intra-cultural variations reveals that their factor structures are different from those of cultural means.

Interlocking Directorates as Corporate Governance in Third World Multinationals: Theory and Evidence from Thailand

Given the paucity of corporate governance research on Third World multinational enterprises (MNEs), we provide an exploratory description of the patterns of interlocking directorates as corporate governance in Thailand-based MNEs in this study. Specifically, we raise a key question: Do the interlocks network attributes and individual board directors of MNEs differ systematically from those of non-MNEs? Drawing upon resource dependence theory, we hypothesize that, compared with non-MNEs, MNEs in Thailand (1) have more densely connected interlocks, (2) occupy more central locations in the interlocks network, (3) have more ethnic Chinese directors, and (4) appoint more military directors. Data from the top 200 listed firms in Thailand support three of the four hypotheses, and suggest a number of implications and future research directions.