Vas Taras

Examining the Impact of Culture‘s Consequences: A Three-Decade, Multi-Level, Meta-Analytic Review of Hofstede‘s Cultural Value Dimensions

Using data from 598 studies representing over 200,000 individuals, we meta-analyzed the relationship between G. Hofstedes (1980a) original 4 cultural value dimensions and a variety of organizationally relevant outcomes. First, values predict outcomes with similar strength (with an overall absolute weighted effect size of rho = 0.18) at the individual level of analysis. Second, the predictive power of the cultural values was significantly lower than that of personality traits and demographics for certain outcomes (e.g., job performance, absenteeism, turnover) but was significantly higher for others (e.g., organizational commitment, identification, citizenship behavior, team-related attitudes, feedback seeking). Third, cultural values were most strongly related to emotions, followed by attitudes, then behaviors, and finally job performance. Fourth, cultural values were more strongly related to outcomes for managers (rather than students) and for older, male, and more educated respondents. Fifth, findings were stronger for primary, rather than secondary, data. Finally, we provide support for M. Gelfand, L. H. Nishii, and J. L. Ravers (2006) conceptualization of societal tightness-looseness, finding significantly stronger effects in culturally tighter, rather than looser, countries.

Opposite Ends of the Same Stick? Multi-Method Test of the Dimensionality of Individualism and Collectivism

The construct of individualism–collectivism (IND-COL) has become the definitive standard in cross-cultural psychology, management, and related fields. It is also among the most controversial, in particular, with regard to the ambiguity of its dimensionality: Some view IND and COL as the opposites of a single continuum, whereas others argue that the two are independent constructs. We explored the issue through seven different tests using original individual-level data from 50 studies and meta-analytic data from 149 empirical publications yielding a total of 295 sample-level observations that were collected using six established instruments for assessing IND and COL as separate constructs. Results indicated that the dimensionality of IND-COL may depend on (a) the specific instrument used to collect the data, (b) the sample characteristics and the cultural region from which the data were collected, and (c) the level of analysis. We also review inconsistencies, deficiencies, and challenges of conceptualizing IND-COL and provide guidelines for developing and selecting instruments for measuring the construct, and for reporting and meta-analyzing results from this line of research.

Beyond Hofstede: Challenging the Ten Commandments of Cross-Cultural Research

Culture is a pervasive construct. A Google search for “culture” provides over half a billion hits, while the Yahoo! search engine generates a figure over two billion, which is more than for other such popular terms as politics, war, the environment, or sex. As for academic sources, the construct of culture has enjoyed immense interest from the scholarly community; major social science electronic databases provide links to 100,000–700,000 scholarly articles when “culture” is used as the search keyword.

Work-related acculturation: change in individual work-related cultural values following immigration

The effects of culture in the workplace have been well documented. Because cultures vary across countries, business practices that are effective in some regions may not be effective in others. While cross-country cultural differences have been explored in depth, little is known about cultural variations and dynamics in the context of immigration. On the basis of a multilevel study of 2163 immigrants and locals residing in Canada, we investigate (1) patterns of immigrant acculturation; (2) the relationship between acculturation of visible elements of culture, such as language proficiency or cuisine and music tastes, and acculturation of tacit cultural values and (3) individual- and group-level predictors and moderators of acculturation. The results are discussed with a focus on implications for practitioner managers and immigration policy makers.

Conceptual and Theoretical Foundations: Experiential Learning in International Business and International Management Fields

Experience as a foundation of learning has been recognized for millennia. Although environmental and individual differences — such as personality, geographical location, culture, occupation, age, time availability, educational background, personal history, gender, genetic information, social status, and expectations — may influence different learning abilities, almost universally, experience is a necessary and often sufficient condition for learning.

Cultural Intelligence and Work-related Outcomes: A Meta-analytic Review

Over the last 15 years the research on cultural intelligence (CQ) has grown to a point that a quantitative synthesis of the existing empirical evidence on the relationship between CQ and work-relat...

X-Culture: Challenges and Best Practices of Large-Scale Experiential Collaborative Projects

College lecturers who teach international business (IB) have probably noticed that the contents list in most of the IB textbooks is virtually identical: they cover almost an identical list of issues. Most IB textbooks contain chapters on globalization, economic, political and cultural environment, international trade, market entry modes, international finance and monetary systems, international strategy, international marketing, and international HR.

International Collaboration Experience (ICE): Using Multi-Country Student Collaboration Projects to Enhance Learning and Faculty Research

In this chapter, we discuss our experiences with the X-Culture project. X-Culture is a large-scale international student collaboration project designed to enhance learning in international business (IB) and related courses through participative learning and first-hand cross-cultural interaction and collaboration. Our experience suggests there are numerous positive outcomes associated with international collaboration experience (ICE) projects, and they extend far beyond merely learning to use online communication tools. Furthermore, our data show many benefits for the students and professors from participating in the X-Culture project. The project has proven to be an excellent research platform on team dynamics and cross-cultural interactions. In addition, we will discuss the challenges of and recommend best practices for using ICEs.