Norhayati Zakaria

Designing and implementing culturally‐sensitive IT applications: The interaction of culture values and privacy issues in the Middle East

The Internet, World Wide Web, and related information technologies, originally developed in Western countries, have rapidly spread to a great variety of countries and cultures. Many of these technologies facilitate and mediate interpersonal communication, an activity whose modes and means bind closely to cultural values. This article provides a theoretical integration of a framework for culture values together with a model for understanding privacy and related issues that arise when personal information is shared or exchanged using information technology. The resulting hybrid framework can help understand and predict individuals’ culturally linked reactions to various communication‐related IT applications (e.g. e‐mail, e‐commerce sites, Web‐logs, bulletin boards, newsgroups) in diverse cultural contexts. An application of the framework to cultural settings in Middle Eastern nations concludes the article.

Applying Islamic market-oriented cultural model to sensitize strategies towards global customers, competitors, and environment

Purpose – The purpose of this conceptual paper is to attempt to introduce an Islamic market‐oriented cultural model to illustrate the role of market orientation within an Islamic culture.Design/methodology/approach – The paper proposes an Islamic‐based view of a market‐oriented cultural model that aims to help understand how cultural principles, practices, and values are discussed within an Islamic culture, and subsequently understand the effects of this view on the market performance of the exporting firms. Reviews of literature in market orientation and cultural values served as a foundation for the development of the conceptual arguments. The model is adapted from several market orientation and cultural frameworks including Homburg and Pflesser, Hofstede, and Schein.Findings – National culture, which underlines employees cultural values, attitudes, and beliefs, has a profound impact on organizations and thus its impact on market performance should not be underestimated.Research limitations/implication...

Exploring the State of Discipline on the Formation of Swift Trust within Global Virtual Teams

The study of global virtual teams (GVTs) is important in the Information System (IS) field because GVTs employ a work structure that is heavily dependent on information communication technology. Besides the use of technology, GVTs are also composed of people from different cultural backgrounds. As such, GVTs are challenged not only to collaborate and coordinate projects in a virtual environment, but also to promote a trusting working relationship among culturally diverse members. In this meta-synthesis research, we sampled 3239 documents spanning fifteen (15) years, from 1995-2010 in seven (N=7) top IS journals. Trained coders read through all the articles systematically and coded the contents manually, only 55 useable articles were found that matched three or four of the codes (i.e., GVTs, virtual teams, trust, and swift trust). In the 15-year period, we found a startling result: less than 2% of articles published in the selected top IS journals have discussed this crucial topic. Hence, many more studies are warranted in order for the topic to be fully understood by IS scholars. We present the findings based on two thematic analyses: 1) GVTs vs. virtual teams and 2) GVT and trust and swift trust.

Cross-cultural collaboration Wiki: evolving knowledge about international teamwork

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to share and develop knowledge of cross-cultural collaboration. Observations of cross-cultural collaborations in Hong Kong/Korean, Hong Kong/Austrian and Hong Kong/Taiwanese teams were captured using design patterns. These findings were posted to a Wiki, allowing further evaluation of the design patterns in different collaboration contexts. This process is discussed in the light of author-centric and community-centric development of design patterns for cross-cultural collaboration.

Context-dependent vs. content-dependent: an exploration of the cultural behavioural patterns of online intercultural communication using e-mail

The purpose of this study was to explore the cultural behavioural patterns of online intercultural communication in a globally distributed collaborative environment. We conducted a qualitative content analysis on the data drawn from a public e-mail archive of the trans-national civil society participants in the UN World Summit on the Information Society. The findings showed that there were no significant differences observed between the frequency of contributions between high and low-context participants in the collaborative processes. But, importantly, the findings suggest that culture matters in the form of intercultural communication styles and the cultural values to which participants subscribe. Based on Edward Halls high and low-context theory, distinctive patterns of high-context and low-context cultural behaviours were evident in the strategies, approaches and communicative mannerisms of people participating in the distributed collaboration under analysis. In summary, online cultural behavioural patterns can be illustrated as context-dependent or content-dependent.

Why should I tell you? Applying a culturally attuned privacy theory to understand global customers' online disclosure behaviours in e-commerce transactions

This paper explores the effect of cultural values and information privacy concerns on the online disclosure behaviours of global customers engaged in e-commerce activities. Hence, the general research question is as follows: In what ways do cultural values and privacy induce or deter online disclosure behaviours? To understand online disclosure behaviours from the cultural and privacy perspectives, the paper draws on two theoretical frameworks. Halls (1976) high-context/low-context cultural theory illuminates how cultural values induce or discourage disclosure behaviours and Petronios (2002) Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory is useful in explaining the psychological boundaries between disclosure and privacy. Integrating these two theories offers a culturally-attuned privacy theory to understand online disclosure behaviours. Finally, the paper provides perspectives on the implications for e-commerce in its efforts to attract global customers.

What Does It Take? New Praxes of Cross-Cultural Competency for Global Virtual Teams as Innovative Work Structure

Global virtual teams (GVTs) are a novel work structure currently in use in many of today’s multinational corporations (MNCs). In order to stay competitive and agile, more firms are seeking and recruiting employees who are not only competent in working with people of different cultural backgrounds, but also in working together virtually at a distance. In such an environment, cultural challenges complicate teamwork because of different praxes—that is, different practices, attitudes, values, actions, and processes. Although innovation can be looked at from the perspective of result or outcome-orientation in the context of GVTs, nonetheless, innovation can also be focused on things that occur during the process of the team working together. Hence, in this chapter, my perspective on “innovation” centers on a key question of “What should teams do in order to create new mind-sets, develop an open heart and inculcate appropriate behaviors to work with the cultural diversity of GVTs as an innovative work structure”? This chapter also presents a new framework called “C.A.B.” (cognitive, affective, and behavior) for understanding cross-cultural competency in GVTs, to heighten understanding of the three aspects of cultural competency: cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, and cultural adroitness. Building on the C.A.B. framework, this chapter discusses the new types of cultural competency needed, and describes some innovative strategies and culturally attuned propositions and guidelines for successful teamwork in a virtual multicultural workplace. The chapter concludes with some implications in respect of training and learning for GVT managers and employers, and suggestions for future research directions.

Can We Count on You at a Distance? The Impact of Culture on Formation of Swift Trust Within Global Virtual Teams

The goal of this chapter is to explore the research question, “How do cultural values impact the formation of swift trust within global virtual teams?” We first introduce the phenomena of global virtual teams and swift trust, and establish a clear understanding of several underlying concepts and definitions such as global virtual teams, swift trust, and in-group and out-group. Next, we look at the concept of in-group vs. out-group based on relevant cultural dimensions from cross-cultural theorists such as Hall (1976), Hofstede (1980), and Trompenaars (1994). Using these theoretical lenses, we examine the impact of cultural values on swift trust formation when people engage in virtual collaboration. We then present several propositions to support the argument that culture does impact the ability to form swift trust within global virtual teams. Finally, we offer some implications and directions for future research.

What did you say? A cross-cultural analysis of the distributive communicative behaviors of global virtual teams

In this empirical study, the general research question is “How do cultural values impact the global virtual teams (GVTs) practices when they communicate and collaborate using computer mediated communication (CMC)?” In particular, we explore the phenomenon of Malaysian GVTs working with culturally diverse members at a distance. In order to obtain in-depth understanding of such phenomenon, we employed a qualitative research methodology. We conducted semi-structured interviews with twenty-two (22) managers (from middle to high level) working in government link corporations (GLCs) and multinational corporations (MNCs). We found that there were distinctive intercultural communicative behaviors, all rooted in their diverse cultural values, beliefs, and attitudes. We establish interesting insights and understanding of computer mediated communication behaviors pertaining to patterns of usage and decision making processes.

Gloria Jean's Coffee in Malaysia

Title – Gloria Jeans Coffee in Malaysia.Subject area – Franchise, strategic management, food and beverages, Malaysia.Student level/applicability – First year undergraduate students of management courses.Case overview – This case study explores the strategies employed by franchisor Gloria Jeans Coffees (GJC) in reestablishing its market presence in the Malaysian coffee market. GJC recently underwent an exchange of ownership. Under the new leadership, the company decided to appoint a new strategic master franchisee in Malaysia to see a section of its expansion plan in the ASEAN region reestablished. The selection of a suitable and well‐connected master franchisee is very important for reestablishing presence and brand name development. The deteriorating position of GJCs brand name in Malaysia prior to the appointment of a new master franchisee created a unique situation requiring an in‐depth evaluation and examination of unseen but highly related critical factors. In‐depth and “behind‐the‐scene” examinat...