How Can We Better Understand Current and Future Workforce Values in the Global Business Environment?

Our study tested the predictive power of socioeconomic development theory and age differences theory to explain work values across cultures and across age groups. We compared the values orientations of future managers, business students under the age of 25, with those of current managers and professionals, who we split into three decade groups (30 to 39, 40 to 49, and 50 to 59). Our respondents (n = 1,518) come from six diverse societies: Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Russia, the United States, and Vietnam. Our findings indicate that both theories contribute to our understanding of work values and behaviors. One implication is that while socioeconomic development theory makes an important contribution, it is clearly not sufficient by itself to explain work values/behavior differences in the global context. The study findings and the discussion of them will hopefully provide multinational managers with a clearer assessment of current and future workforce values/behavior. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Business values dimensions: A cross-culturally developed measure of workforce values

Using a stratified random sample drawn from 11,709 business professionals’ survey responses across 26 societies, we investigated and failed to find support for the construct validity of the Schwartz Values Survey’s (SVS) a priori 10-factor circumplex model of human values, originally developed from student and teacher responses. Subsequent exploratory factor analysis estimated an initial five-factor solution, the Business Value Dimensions (BVD) model. In turn, CFA supported the cross-cultural validity of this alternative configuration of values for business professionals. Internal consistency reliabilities for these five values factors are reported for the 26 societies plus an additional 25 societies that did not meet sample size criteria to be included in the analyses. As a result, findings are provided for a total of 51 societies (14,724 business professionals). We present the five-factor BVD model for use in future international research with business professional populations.     

Perceptions of the ethicality of favors at work in Asia: An 11-society assessment

We explore macro-level factors that shape perceptions of the ethicality of favors in Asian workplaces using the subordinate influence ethics (SIE) measure. We also expand and use the crossvergence model to examine the cross-level relationship between socio-cultural (i.e., traditional/secular; survival/self-expression; in-group favoritism) and business ideology influences (i.e., human development level, control of corruption) on perceptions of favor-seeking at work. This study examines the perceptions of a total of 4,325 managers and professionals in a diverse set of 11 Asian societies: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Our investigation focuses on both the “softer” (image management) and “harder” (self-serving) sides of subordinate influence attempts to seek favors, as well as the degree of ethical differentiation across these societies. Key results based on hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) suggest that both the World Value Survey’s socio-cultural values as well as in-group favoritism contribute to our understanding of influence behaviors in Asia. Likewise, level of human development and control of corruption also appear to be promising predictors of influence ethics. In sum, our results suggest that widening the scope of the crossvergence conceptualization of socio-cultural and business ideology influences engender a better understanding of differences in attitudes toward subordinate use of favoritism across Asian societies.     

Managerial values in the greater Middle East: Similarities and differences across seven countries

Our study of the cultural values of managers in the Greater Middle East uses a unique sample of 989 respondents across seven countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan, Turkey, and the UAE). The primary focus of our paper is the assessment of the differences and similarities in collectivism, individualism, and universalism values within the region. While acknowledging that the empirical research foundation for the Middle East is minimal, we develop directional hypotheses based upon the historic socio-cultural influences and contemporary economic and political factors that may influence business ideology. In sum, our findings show significant between-country differences for all three of these values dimensions. We conclude with a discussion of these differences and why they may have occurred. We also provide suggestions for new avenues of research that our findings indicate are relevant.     

Four tigers and the dragon: values differences,similarities, and consensus

This study examines the influence of economic and political factors that contribute to the convergence and/or divergence in value priorities of five East Asian societies—China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. We find that political and social-economic factors influence the values orientations of managers within this region. However, economic development level is an insufficient explanation for values convergence without consideration of the societal context and cultural traditions in which that development occurred.

East vis‐à‐vis West: The evolution of work values within China regions

Numerous studies have investigated between‐country cultural differences. However, the subnational cultural differences, particularly in emerging markets, have remained an underexplored research topic despite its importance. Likewise, multiperiod studies in the cross‐cultural management area have also remained an underexplored topic. This study concurrently addresses both of these voids in the literature. Specifically, we examine changes in work values of businesspeople in the economically developed East region and the less developed West region of China over the first decade of the 21st century (2000–2010). Our findings show that, across the eight work values dimensions analyzed in this study, three exhibited static crossvergence, while the other five value dimensions exhibited conforming crossvergence. An implication of these findings is that the dissimilar work values, which had been found across the regions of China of the past century, are moving toward a more countrywide set of homogeneous values among the workforce professionals of China.     

A multi-country,multi-sector replication challenge to the validity of the cultural tightness-looseness measure

Asia Pacific Journal of Management - In this study, we assess the internal and external validity of Gelfand et al.’s (2011) recently developed measure of cultural tightness-looseness (CTL)....     

Channel coordination with the newsvendor model using asymmetric information

In this paper, after surveying short-term two-echelon supply channel coordination methods, we present an extended version of the newsvendor model in which the supplier has to fulfil all demand of the customer, even if this calls for an additional setup of production. Given uncertain demand forecast, the solution is an optimal production quantity that minimises the expected total cost including setup, inventory holding and obsolete inventory costs. Then, the model is studied in a decentralised setting where the customer has private information about the demand forecast, while the supplier knows the various cost factors. We suggest such a coordination protocol and payment scheme that provides both partners the right incentive for minimising the total cost: the customer is interested in sharing her unbiased demand forecast and uncertainty, while the supplier's rational decision concurs with the overall optimum. Hence, local decisions based on asymmetric information coordinate the channel in the global sense. The results are also demonstrated by taking some real-life test cases from an industrial study that motivated our work.     

Today's state‐owned enterprises of China: are they dying dinosaurs or dynamic dynamos?

This paper raises the question and provides empirical evidence regarding the status of the evolution of the state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) in China today. In this study, we compare the SOEs to domestic private‐owned enterprises (POEs) and foreign‐controlled businesses (FCBs) in the context of their organizational cultures. While a new ownership form, many of the POEs evolved from former collectives that reflect the traditional values of Chinese business. Conversely, the FCBs are much more indicative of the large global MNCs. Therefore, we look at the SOEs in the context of these two reference points. We conclude that the SOEs of today have substantially transformed to approximate a configuration desired by the Chinese government when it began the SOE transformation a couple of decades ago to make them globally competitive. The SOEs of today appear to be appropriately described as China's economic dynamic dynamo for the future. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.