IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/iburev/v5y1996i5p469-486.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

One country many cultures: Organizational cultures of firms of different country origins

Author

Listed:
  • Lau, Chung-Ming
  • Ngo, Hang-Yue

Abstract

This study examines organizational cultures of firms of different country origins in a single country setting. Using the competing values framework and a sample of firms in Hong Kong, the cultural emphases of local Hong Kong Chinese, Mainland Chinese, American, and British firms were compared. It was found that American firms were more developmental and rational, British firms were more hierarchical, whereas Mainland Chinese firms were group-oriented, and local Hong Kong Chinese firms were developmental in nature. Strong relationships between organization cultures and employees' satisfaction and organizational commitment were also confirmed.

Suggested Citation

  • Lau, Chung-Ming & Ngo, Hang-Yue, 1996. "One country many cultures: Organizational cultures of firms of different country origins," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(5), pages 469-486, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iburev:v:5:y:1996:i:5:p:469-486
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0969593196000224
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven P. Feldman, 1986. "Management In Context: An Essay On The Relevance Of Culture To The Understanding Of Organizational Change," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(6), pages 587-607, November.
    2. Phillip M Rosenzweig & Nitin Nohria, 1994. "Influences on Human Resource Management Practices in Multinational Corporations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 25(2), pages 229-251, June.
    3. O'Connor, Neale G., 1995. "The influence of organizational culture on the usefulness of budget participation by Singaporean-Chinese managers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 383-403, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lau, Chung-Ming & Ngo, Hang-Yue, 2004. "The HR system, organizational culture, and product innovation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 685-703, December.
    2. Olusoji James George & Oluwakemi Owoyemi & Uchechi Onakala, 2012. "Theorising the Concept of Organisational Artefacts: How It Enhances the Development of Corporate/Organisational Identity," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(4), pages 37-43, July.
    3. Bader Obeidat & Safa Al-Sarayrah & Ali Tarhini & Rand Hani Al-Dmour & Zahran Al-Salti & Rateb Sweis, 2016. "Cultural Influence on Strategic Human Resource Management Practices: A Jordanian Case Study," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(10), pages 94-114, October.
    4. Polychronakis, Yiannis E. & Syntetos, Aris A., 2007. "`Soft' supplier management related issues: An empirical investigation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 431-449, April.
    5. Serafini, Giovanni O. & Szamosi, Leslie T., 2015. "Five star hotels of a Multinational Enterprise in countries of the transitional periphery: A case study in human resources management," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 972-983.
    6. Jonathan Whitaker & Sunil Mithas & Che-Wei Liu, 2019. "Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Toward a Contextual Understanding of Compensation of Information Technology Professionals Within and Across Geographies," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 892-911, September.
    7. Zhi Chen & Shenglan Huang & Chong Liu & Min Min & Liying Zhou, 2018. "Fit between Organizational Culture and Innovation Strategy: Implications for Innovation Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, September.
    8. Sasaki, Innan & Yoshikawa, Katsuhiko, 2014. "Going beyond national cultures – Dynamic interaction between intra-national, regional, and organizational realities," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 455-464.
    9. Jeoung Yul Lee & Vasyl Taras & Alfredo Jiménez & Byungchul Choi & Chinmay Pattnaik, 2020. "Ambidextrous Knowledge Sharing within R&D Teams and Multinational Enterprise Performance: The Moderating Effects of Cultural Distance in Uncertainty Avoidance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 387-425, June.
    10. Pankaj C. Patel & Betty Conklin, 2012. "Perceived Labor Productivity in Small Firms—The Effects of High–Performance Work Systems and Group Culture through Employee Retention," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(2), pages 205-235, March.
    11. Maaja Vadi, 2006. "Introduction," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, in: National and international aspects of organizational culture, volume 24, chapter 0, pages 9-26, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Khilji, Shaista E. & Wang, Xiaoyun, 2007. "New evidence in an old debate: Investigating the relationship between HR satisfaction and turnover," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 377-395, June.
    2. Hisako Matsuo, 2012. "Transfer of Japanese Human Resource Management to US Subsidiaries: Resource Dependence Theory and Institutionalism," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 2(6), pages 34-46, November.
    3. Tony Edwards & Paul Marginson & Anthony Ferner, 2013. "Multinational Companies in Cross-National Context: Integration, Differentiation, and the Interactions between MNCS and Nation States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(3), pages 547-587, May.
    4. Gamble, Jos, 2006. "Introducing Western-style HRM practices to China: Shopfloor perceptions in a British multinational," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 328-343, December.
    5. Yulin Fang & Guo‐Liang Frank Jiang & Shige Makino & Paul W. Beamish, 2010. "Multinational Firm Knowledge, Use of Expatriates, and Foreign Subsidiary Performance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 27-54, January.
    6. Eduardo Ortas & Isabel Gallego‐Álvarez & Igor Álvarez, 2019. "National institutions, stakeholder engagement, and firms' environmental, social, and governance performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(3), pages 598-611, May.
    7. Lazarova, Mila & Peretz, Hilla & Fried, Yitzhak, 2017. "Locals know best? Subsidiary HR autonomy and subsidiary performance," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 83-96.
    8. Schuler, Randall S., 2000. "The internationalization of human resource management," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 239-260.
    9. Patel, Parth & Bhanugopan, Ramudu & Sinha, Paresha & Prikshat, Verma & Boyle, Brendan, 2024. "Home country and firm-specific advantage influences on HRM replication versus adaptation in EMNEs operating in advanced economies: A qualitative comparative analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    10. Peltokorpi, Vesa, 2015. "Foreign subsidiary top manager nationality and language policy: The moderating effects of subsidiary age and size," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 739-748.
    11. Ignacio Cretini & Marcelo Delfini & Alejandra Quadrana, 2021. "Determinantes de la autonomía local en la gestión del trabajo en empresas multinacionales. El caso de las subsidiarias argentinas," Ensayos de Economía 19346, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellín.
    12. Johannes Meuer & Marlies Kluike & Uschi Backes-Gellner & Kerstin Pull, 2018. "Using expatriates for adapting subsidiaries' employment modes to different market economies: a comparative analysis of US subsidiaries in Germany, the UK and Switzerland," Working Papers 372, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    13. Byung Il Park & Sungjin J. Hong & Shufeng Simon Xiao, 2022. "Institutional pressure and MNC compliance to prevent bribery: empirical examinations in South Korea and China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(4), pages 623-656, September.
    14. Zheying Wu & Robert Salomon, 2016. "Does imitation reduce the liability of foreignness? Linking distance, isomorphism, and performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(12), pages 2441-2462, December.
    15. Rickley, Marketa & Karim, Samina, 2018. "Managing institutional distance: Examining how firm-specific advantages impact foreign subsidiary CEO staffing," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(5), pages 740-751.
    16. Yeheskel, Orly & Newburry, William & Zeira, Yoram, 2004. "Significant differences in the pre- and post-incorporation stages of equity international joint ventures (IJVs) and international acquisitions (IAs), and their impacts on effectiveness," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 613-636, October.
    17. Luo, Yadong & Tan, J. Justin, 1998. "A comparison of multinational and domestic firms in an emerging market: A strategic choice perspective," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 21-40, July.
    18. Jie Shen, 2007. "Approaches to International Industrial Relations in Chinese Multinational Corporations," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 18(4), pages 410-426.
    19. McWha-Hermann, Ishbel & Jandric, Jakov & Cook-Lundgren, Emily & Carr, Stuart C., 2022. "Toward fairer global reward: Lessons from international non-governmental organizations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1).
    20. Quintanilla, Javier & Sanchez-Runde, Carlos, 2000. "Nuevas formas de organización a través de la dirección de recursos humanos: El caso de FREMAP," IESE Research Papers D/423, IESE Business School.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:iburev:v:5:y:1996:i:5:p:469-486. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/133/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.