Modelling the effect of national culture on countries’ innovation performances: A conditional full frontier approach

This paper provides empirical evidence of the link between countries’ cultural factors and innovation performance. By defining innovation process in a knowledge production framework it uses conditional and unconditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models together with data from the European Innovation Scoreboard for the year 2007 and Hofstede’s cultural indexes. In this way it models and measures the effect of cultural values on 25 European countries’ innovation efficiency levels. The empirical results reveal that national culture can impact countries’ innovation performance. Specifically, we find significant negative effects on countries’ innovation efficiency levels for countries with higher power distance and uncertainty avoidance values.     

National culture and the configuration of public pensions

This paper explores the determinants of public pension plan configurations. It is argued that the level of intragenerational redistribution in public pension plans is related to a country's cultural background. The level of intragenerational redistribution is measured by Krieger and Traub's Bismarckian factor. The countries’ cultural background is operationalized using cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede. The empirical results are in line with our hypotheses. Uncertainty avoidance appears to have a significant, positive association with the Bismarckian factor (low intragenerational redistribution in public pensions), whereas the relation with individualism is negative (high intragenerational redistribution). Moreover, a positive association is found between the Bismarckian factor and inflation shocks in the first half of the 20th century. While the sample size is limited, the results are robust to the inclusion of different economic, institutional, and demographic control variables as well as to using alternative model specifications. These findings have important public policy implications. We argue that pension reform proposals suggesting a transformation of public to private pension provision should consider the cultural background of countries.     

What constitutes a constitutional amendment culture?

Why are some constitutions amended frequently and others hardly at all? An obvious candidate determinant is constitutional rigidity, i.e., the size and number of procedural barriers to amendment. Given some demand for amendment, greater rigidity implies a smaller supply. However, measures of rigidity often do not correlate significantly (or even with the predicted sign) with amendment rates. Ginsburg and Melton (2015) argue that amendment culture – “shared attitudes about the desirability of amendment” – is a more important determinant of amendment rates. We study up to 128 constitutional episodes from 54 countries and estimate relationships between amendment rates and Hofstede cultural indices. Cultures that are more individualistic and less prone to uncertainty avoidance are associated with higher amendment rates. When cultural dimensions are controlled for, the lagged amendment rate (Ginsburg and Melton’s proxy for culture) is not a robust correlate.     

Culture matters: what cultural values influence budget transparency?

This article empirically examines whether cultural values significantly influence budget transparency. We employ data for budget transparency from the Open Budget Index, and data for national culture from Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, the Global Leadership and Behavioral Effectiveness Research Project and the World Values Survey to explore this question. We find evidence that individualism positively influences budget transparency. We also find that stronger preferences for institutional collectivism, masculinity and authoritarian rule lower budget transparency. These results suggest that national culture shapes preferences for budget transparency and influences the possibility of success for attempts to improve budget transparency across countries.     

National culture and financial literacy: international evidence

ABSTRACT

We examine to what extent (aspects of) national culture can explain cross-country variations in financial literacy. Our results, for a sample of 92 countries, show that Hofstede’s dimensions of power distance and individualism explain, respectively, over 40 and 60 per cent – which is substantially more than national cognitive scores and standard economic variables. In particular, we find that financial literacy is lower in countries where power distance is high, and that the opposite is true for individualism. Uncertainty avoidance would seem be negatively related with financial literacy, but the evidence is not so strong. For masculinity, indulgence, and long-term orientation we find no significant impact. Overall, our results highlight the need for additional (interdisciplinary) theories that can improve our understanding of the determinants of financial literacy and better guide policies in this area.     

Effects of corporate governance on the decision to voluntarily disclose corporate social responsibility reports: evidence from China

This article investigates effects of corporate governance on the decision to voluntarily disclose corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. By using a unique longitude data set of Chinese publicly traded manufacturing firms from 2010 to 2016, this study finds that ownership structure and board characteristics are significantly associated with firms’ decisions to voluntarily disclose CSR reports. In particular, our study finds that state ownership, institutional ownership, managerial ownership and board size are positively and significantly associated with the decision to voluntarily disclose CSR reports. However, board independence is not related to the decision. We also find CEO duality is negatively and significantly related to the decision. Our findings highlight the role of corporate governance in firms’ transparency by influencing the voluntary disclosure of additional information on firms’ CSR activities.     

Cultural Dimension of Corruption: A Cross-Country Survey

This study investigates whether culture plays a major role in determining the corruption levels of countries. The cultural dimensions of Hofstede’s model and the worldwide level of corruption provided by the Corruption Perceptions Index were used. A cross-country survey of 98 countries was conducted using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Three of the six main components of Hofstede’s model were found to have a significant influence on corruption, namely power distance, individualism-collectivism, and long- versus short-term orientation. National culture may explain the level of corruption in each of the countries. About half of the level of corruption in countries is explained by the national culture. Governments must acknowledge the role of culture in order to adopt the most appropriate policy decisions to fight corruption.     

Hofstede national culture and international trade

The objective is to analyse if international trade is affected by different national cultures. International trade of 21 World Bank listed countries is estimated as function of the Hofstede cultural dimensions, gross domestic product and population. First, we estimate the combined Hofstede culture dimensions and find significant positive effects on countries’ international trade. Secondly, we decompose the Hofstede culture dimensions and estimate the effects of each separate dimension on international trade, finding only the MAS dimension to significantly affect international trade. We estimate additional equation versions to account for occasional trade restrictions with no international trade, as well as estimating how international trade varies between years. These additional estimations further support our original findings, and therefore act as robustness check.     

Corporate tax avoidance and cost of equity capital: international evidence

ABSTRACT

This study examines the association between firm’s tax avoidance activities and cost of equity capital across 17 countries. Consistent with the prior study based on the U.S. evidence, within strong investor protection countries, the extent of firm’s tax avoidance is negatively associated with its cost of equity capital. This result indicates that strong investor protection induces investors to perceive firm’s tax avoidance activities as the results of efficient tax planning to reduce tax liabilities. To the contrary, we find that the extent of firm’s tax avoidance is positively associated with its cost of equity capital within weak investor protection countries. This result suggests that investors impose equity risk premium on firm’s tax avoidance activities in weak investor protection countries, where agency conflicts prevail more on firm’s tax avoidance activities. As the first international study on the association between firm’s tax avoidance activities and its cost of equity capital, this study contributes to the literature by suggesting that such an association may vary across countries depending on the strength of investor protection within each country of domicile.     

Effect of cultural distance on reverse technology spillover from outward FDI: a bane or a boon?

This article aims to investigate the role of cultural distance in the relationship between outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) and reverse technology spillover. Chinese firm-level data have been used to examine whether the cultural distance between domestic and host countries is a bane or a boon to innovation when firms engage in OFDI for technology acquisition. Generally, businesses with similar cultural backgrounds have an easier time-making technological progress. However, this research revealed a deeper level of reverse technological spillover among firms that invest in Europe and the USA, which are considered to quite culturally distant from China. Reverse technological spillover through OFDI is positively affected by individualism and uncertainty avoidance, which are the two dimensions of cultural distance.     

Strategic corporate social responsibility and economic performance

This article proposes a novel Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) index based on a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model. Acknowledging the argument that companies might favour those CSR dimensions that provide strategic competitive advantages, we argue that the index can capture companies’ strategic approach to CSR. Furthermore, our findings reveal a neutral relationship between this strategic CSR index and economic performance as measured by Return on Assets (ROA) and Tobin's Q, when controlling for firm unobserved heterogeneity and past economic performance. By contrast, an equally-weighted index of the same CSR indicators is found to be negatively related with ROA, which reinforces our claim that this specific DEA-based index is a measure of strategic CSR.     

How pervasive is the effect of culture on stock market linkages? Evidence across regions and economic cycles

We conduct a comprehensive study on the effect of culture on stock market linkages. With data on 25 national stock markets, a quantile regression model is used to estimate the determinants of market linkages using culture variable/s such as language, religion and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions while controlling for distance, economic and legal variables. Further, we test whether these effects hold across regions and if changes are detected during periods of market crisis. We also test if market liquidity, an indicator of market efficiency, diminishes the impact of culture on market linkages. The main conclusion is that culture preferences shape investor choices, which affects integration between stock markets. The equity markets with similar cultural traits tend to increase market linkages; however, we observe differences across regions. Furthermore, liquidity and economic uncertainty fail to have an impact on the significance of culture variable/s as determinants of market linkages.     

Does Culture Drive Innovation and Export Quality?

Quality upgrading is important for two reasons: it helps us understand the determinants of trade flows between countries and it promotes economic development. We study the cultural determinants of export quality using Hofstede's four original cultural dimensions to provide hypotheses on R&D spending, patents per capita and export quality. We then employ three-stage least squares analysis and confirm our hypotheses. For example, we find uncertainty avoidance encourages small-scale continuous improvement initiatives and substantially increases export quality. Power distance and individualism increase export quality, while masculinity has a small impact on quality. Finally, we provide implications for understanding the direction of trade and developing policy.     

Culture in Preferences for Income Equality and Safety Nets

Economic and social policies vary across countries, reflecting their cultures and shaping them. People in some countries are more loss averse than in others. People in some countries express stronger preferences for income equality than do people in others, and some countries offer stronger safety nets than others do. The cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance expresses the degree to which people in a country feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and the way a country deals with the fact that the future can never be known. The author finds that uncertainty avoidance is associated with loss aversion. People are more loss averse in the domains of both portfolios and jobs in countries where uncertainty avoidance is high. Moreover, people in countries where uncertainty avoidance is high express stronger preferences for income equality, and social spending in such countries is high. The cultural dimension of power distance expresses the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. The author finds that people in countries where power distance is high express weaker preference for income equality, and social spending in such countries is low.     

Firm value in commonly uncertain times: the divergent effects of corporate governance and CSR

Economic uncertainty disrupts firms’ ability to create value. Most related literature examines how various organizational characteristics affect value under extreme conditions – the global financial crisis. However, recent work in quantifying economic uncertainty now makes it possible to take a more nuanced approach in investigating the conditions under which this value reduction can be mitigated during more ‘commonly uncertain’ periods. In this paper we analyze the effects of corporate governance mechanisms and social responsibility investments on Tobin’s q across 13 years and 40 countries. Evidence suggests that shareholder-centric corporate governance policies restrict board and executive flexibility during uncertain times, and therefore stifle their ability to react effectively to adverse macroeconomic changes. We also find that CSR initiatives serve as insurance in that they preserve value under uncertainty by acting as a reservoir of social capital.     

Fiscal limits in developing countries: A DSGE Approach

This paper studies fiscal limits in developing countries using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) approach. Distributions of fiscal limits, which measure a government’s capacity to service its debt, are simulated based on macroeconomic uncertainty and fiscal policy. The analysis shows that expected future revenue plays an important role in explaining the low fiscal limits of developing countries, relative to those of developed countries. Large devaluation of real exchange rates can significantly reduce a government’s capacity to service its debt and lower the fiscal limits. Temporary disturbances, therefore, can shift the distribution of fiscal limits and suddenly change perceptions about fiscal sustainability.     

政府创业支持与国家创新绩效：文化价值观的调节效应

创业作为实现创新的过程，对创新绩效提升具有重要作用。文化价值观作为社会“软实力”的重要指标，能够对创新过程施加重要影响。以文化价值观作为调节变量，构建政府创业支持与国家创新绩效关系模型，并通过全球54个国家数据进行实证检验。结果发现，政府政策支持、资金可获得性对国家创新绩效具有显著正向影响，权力差距、个人主义、不确定性规避负向调节政策支持与国家创新绩效间的关系，个人主义正向调节资金可获得性与国家创新绩效间的关系，而男性气质不存在调节效应。研究结果对政府制定有效政策具有一定参考价值。     

Culture and the demand for non-life insurance: Empirical evidences from middle-income and high-income economies*

This paper investigates the impact of culture on non-life insurance expenditure using a panel dataset covering 27 middle-income countries and 40 high-income countries in the period 1980–2014. Based on the two-step system GMM estimator, it is found that several cultural dimensions such as masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and power distance significantly explain the spending on non-life insurance in middle-income countries, while masculinity is the only cultural factor that significantly explains spending on non-life insurance in high-income countries. Traditional drivers of the demand for non-life insurance, such as per capita income, economic freedom and urbanization, also behave differently comparing between the two income-based groups of countries. These findings provide useful recommendations for business firms and policymakers around the world, especially transitional economies, to promote and sustain the development of the non-life insurance sector, which is an important engine for growth and prosperity.     

Uncertainty avoidance and the rate of business ownership across 21 OECD countries, 1976–2004

Persistent differences in the level of business ownership across countries have attracted the attention of scientific as well as political debate. Cultural as well as economic influences are assumed to play a role. This paper deals with the influence of cultural attitudes towards uncertainty on the rate of business ownership across 21 OECD countries. First, the concepts of uncertainty and risk are elaborated, as well as their relevance for entrepreneurship. An occupational choice model is introduced to underpin our reasoning at the macro-level. Second, regression analysis using pooled macro data for 1976, 1990 and 2004 and controlling for several economic variables, yields evidence that uncertainty avoidance is positively correlated with the prevalence of business ownership. According to our model, a restrictive climate of large organizations in high uncertainty avoidance countries pushes individuals striving for autonomy towards self-employment. Regressions for these 3 years separately show that in 2004, this positive correlation is no longer found, indicating that a compensating pull of entrepreneurship in countries with low uncertainty avoidance may have gained momentum in recent years. Third, an interaction term between uncertainty avoidance and GDP per capita in the pooled panel regressions shows that the historical negative relationship between GDP per capita and the level of business ownership is substantially weaker for countries with lower uncertainty avoidance. This suggests that rising opportunity costs of self-employment play a less important role in this cultural environment, or are being compensated by increasing entrepreneurial opportunities.

公司治理、企业经济绩效与企业社会责任——基于中国制造业上市公司数据的经验研究

笔者以深、沪两市制造业2005年的相关数据为研究样本进行实证分析,结果表明,企业社会责任与独立董事比例正相关,与资产规模负相关,与是否两权分离、净资产收益率无明显相关性;国有控股公司履行社会责任情况较差;每股收益与政府所得贡献率正相关,而与供应商所得贡献率负相关.