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Located at doi:10.1057/Palgrave.jibs.8400202
Appendix A - Type I Studies
Summaries of Articles Reviewed – Culture as a Main Effect (Individual Level of Analysis)
Author(s) / Countries/Sample / Method / Variables and Measures / Theories/
Models / Key Findings
Ali (1993) / 117 managers in Saudi Arabia / Survey / Individualism (Ali, 1987)[a]; decision making styles / none[b] / Individualism was positively related to consultative, participative, and autocratic decision making styles and attitudes toward risk.
Anakwe et al. (1999) / 424 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students / Survey / Collectivism (Wagner, 1995); receptivity to distance learning technology / none / Collectivism was negatively related to distance learning technology.
Arunachalam et al. (1998) / A total of over 600 undergraduates in Hong Kong and the U.S. / Experiment / Individualism; Collectivism (Triandis, 1995)[c]; negotiation outcome quality / none / Hong Kong subjects were significantly more collectivistic and less individualistic than U.S.; H.K. negotiators obtained higher joint outcomes than U.S. negotiators; negotiators with a high, rather than low, best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) obtained larger individual outcomes in both countries; mediation had a stronger effect on outcomes in the U.S.
Bennett (1999) / 64 U.S. and 47 People’s Republic of China (PRC) employees / Survey / All five dimensions of Hofstede’s cultural values (Dorfman & Howell, 1988); work-related attitudes and beliefs / Social information processing; dissonance theory / U.S. was significantly lower on collectivism and higher on masculinity than the PRC; in both countries, collectivism was positively related to favorable attitudes towards group activities and cooperation; in the U.S., masculinity was negatively related to positive attitudes toward human development.
Bochner & Hesketh (1994)[d] / 263 Australian bank employees representing 28 nationalities / Survey / Individualism-Collectivism; Power Distance (both assessed using country scores from Hofstede, 1980 and study specific items used to validate the use of country scores); contact with co-workers; knowledge of staff; extent of working alone; openness and contact with superiors; task-orientation; beliefs in Theory X / Social categorization theory / Collectivists had more informal contact with coworkers, knew staff better, and were more likely to work on a team than alone than were individualists; high power distance respondents were less open with superiors, had more contact with them, described their supervision as being closer and direct, were more task-oriented, and had greater beliefs in Theory X management than those low in power distance.
Brett & Okumura (1998) / Managers from Japan and the U.S. making up 30 intercultural dyads and 65 intracultural dyads / Experiment / Individualism (Schwartz, 1994); Hierarchy (i.e. power distance) (Schwartz, 1994); negotiation tactics / Social cognition / U.S. managers were significantly more individualistic but less hierarchical than Japanese managers; individualists endorsed self-interest in negotiations more than collectivists; those with hierarchical values endorsed distributive tactics more; in inter- (rather than intra-) cultural negotiations, significant misunderstandings occurred about negotiator priorities; and individualism-collectivism failed to fully mediate country effects.
Cable & Judge (1994) / 171 U.S. undergraduates / Experiment / Collectivism (Erez & Earley, 1987; Wagner & Moch, 1986)[e]; preferences for individual-based pay / Expectancy theory; agency theory / Collectivism was negatively related to preferences for individual-based pay.
Carpenter & Radhakrishnan (2000) / 34 European-American undergraduates and 42 Mexican-American undergraduates / Survey / Individualism-Collectivism (independent-interdependent self-construal; Singelis et al., 1995); friendship descriptions / Social categorization theory / European-Americans scored significantly higher on individualism than did Mexican-Americans, but their scores did not significantly differ on collectivism; collectivists represent more social connections (i.e., social identities, social traits, and other persons) in their concepts of people (i.e., self, other individuals, and in-groups) than do individualists.
Casimir & Keats (1996) / A total of 120 Anglo- and Chinese-Australian middle managers / Survey / Individualism-Collectivism (Bontempo, 1993)[f]; preferences for leadership style / PM theory of leadership / Anglo- and Chinese-Australians did not significantly differ on individualism-collectivism; respondents in both cultures preferred leaders who expressed high concern for both performance and group relations.
Chan & Drasgow (2001) / 1,594 military recruits and 274 junior college students in Singapore; 239 U.S. undergraduates / Survey / Horizontal Collectivism; Vertical Collectivism; Horizontal Individualism; Vertical Individualism (all assessed using Singelis et al., 1995); general cognitive ability; the Big Five traits; leadership self-efficacy; motivation to lead / Social cognition; theory of reasoned action; self-efficacy theory / Collectivism (both types) was positively related, and horizontal individualism was negatively related, to the noncalculative and social-normative aspects of motivation to lead; vertical individualism was positively related to the affective identity and social-normative aspects of motivation to lead and was negatively related to the noncalculative aspect.
Chen et al. (1997) / 300 managers in the PRC / In-basket exercise / Horizontal Collectivism (Triandis et al., 1986); Vertical Collectivism (Wagner and Moch, 1986; Hui, 1988)[g]; reward allocation reform / Reward allocation preferences / Vertical collectivism was positively related to reward allocation reform; horizontal collectivism was negatively related to reward allocation reform and differential allocation preferences (but only under the condition of low vertical collectivism).
Chen et al. (1998a) / A total of 241 undergraduates in Hong Kong and the U.S. / Experiment / Collectivism (Perloe, 1967, Hui, 1988)[h]; equity versus equality norms; task interdependence; goals; achievement motivation / Distributive justice; allocation preferences; need for achievement / In both countries, reward allocation was more differential when task interdependence was low, rather than high, and when the goal was productivity or fairness rather than solidarity; collectivism was negatively related to reward differential in Hong Kong but not in the U.S.; in both countries, achievement motivation was negatively related to differential allocation when task interdependence was high, however, when low, achievement motivation was positively related to differential allocation in the U.S. (but stays negative for Hong Kong).
Chiu & Kosinki (1999) / A total of 626 registered nurses in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the U.S. / Survey / Individualism-Collectivism; Confucian dynamism (Chinese Culture Connection, 1987); affective disposition (i.e., positive and negative affect); job satisfaction; work strain / none / Singaporean and Hong Kong nurses were significantly more collectivistic and less individualistic than Australian and U.S. nurses; individualists scored higher on positive affect (no difference on negative affect) and job satisfaction and lower on work strain than collectivists; individualist subjects high in positive affect scored higher on job satisfaction and lower on work strain than collectivist subjects; individualist subjects high in negative affect scored lower on job satisfaction and higher on work strain than collectivists.
Clugston et al. (2000) / 156 employees in a U.S. public agency / Survey / Individualism-Collectivism; Power Distance; Uncertainty Avoidance; Masculinity-Femininity (all assessed with Dorfman & Howell, 1988); affective, normative, and continuance commitment to organization, supervisor and work group
(i.e., three foci) / Lewin’s (1943)[i] field theory; Theory X; social identity theory / Collectivism was related to affective commitment to supervisors and work groups, continuance commitment to work groups, and normative commitment to all foci; power distance was related to affective commitment to organizations and both continuance and normative commitment to all foci; uncertainty avoidance was related to affective commitment to organizations and continuance commitment to all foci.
Cocroft & Ting-Toomey (1994) / 200 undergraduates in both Japan and the U.S. / Experiment / Individualism; Collectivism (Befu, 1990, Triandis, 1986)[j]; Modified version of Hamaguchi’s (cited and translated into English by Befu, 1990) scale and three items from Triandis et al.’s (1986) scale; presentation strategies in conflict / Theory of facework; facework-negotiation / Japanese scored significantly higher on both individualism and collectivism; U.S. subjects used more anti-social, self-attribution, hint, and self-presentation strategies than Japanese subjects who used more indirect face strategies.
Earley (1986) / 36 managerial trainees in both England and the U.S. / Experiment / Collectivism; Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity-Femininity (all assessed with Hofstede, 1980); positive and negative feedback; individual performance; importance of feedback; trust in supervisor / Theory of reasoned action; Ilgen et al.’s (1979)[k] model of feedback / English subjects scored significantly higher on collectivism and power distance than did U.S. subjects; U.S. subjects’ performance increased as a result of both positive and negative feedback, whereas English subjects’ performance improved only as a result of positive feedback; importance of feedback and trust in supervisor partially mediated the main effects of positive and negative feedback and culture on performance.
Earley et al. (1999) / 228 managerial trainees in the Czech Republic, the PRC, and the U.S. / Managerial simulation / Individualism-Collectivism (Earley, 1994); individual and group level feedback; self-efficacy; individual-based performance beliefs; and satisfaction with performance / Information processing view of self / U.S. subjects were significantly more individualistic than Czech or PRC subjects (who did not differ); collectivism was positively related to performance beliefs and satisfaction; collectivists had the highest efficacy in the high group-high individual performance information condition; individual feedback was important for both groups but group feedback was important only for collectivists.
Eby & Dobbins (1997) / 148 U.S. undergraduates / Survey / Collectivism (Wagner and Moch, 1986); self-efficacy for teamwork; need for social approval; positive past experience working in teams / Expectancy theory; perceived control; need for affiliation / Collectivism was positively related to self-efficacy for teamwork, need for social approval, and positive past experiences working in teams.
Eby et al. (2000) / 117 employees and managers in a U.S. sales organization / Survey / Collectivism (Wagner & Moch, 1986); individual perceptions of organizational readiness to change / Chaos theory; complexity theory / Collectivism was positively related to individual perceptions of an organization’s readiness to change to team-based selling.
Feldman & Bolino (2000) / 125 U.S. MBAs participating in overseas internships / Archival and Survey / Overall cultural distance based on country scores from Hofstede (Kogut & Singh, 1988); skill utilization; opportunities to learn new skills; internship satisfaction; organizational commitment; in-role performance / Relative deprivation theory; Job Characteristics Model / Cultural distance was not significantly related to skill utilization, opportunities to learn or further develop skills, internship satisfaction, organizational commitment, or in-role performance.
Gabrielidis et al. (1997) / A total of 200 undergraduates in Mexico and the U.S. / Survey / Individualism; Collectivism (Kitayama, Markus, Tummala, Kurokawa, & Kato, 1991)[l]; Masculinity-Femininity (Spence & Helmreich, 1978)[m]; styles of conflict resolution / Dual- concern model of conflict / Mexicans were significantly more collectivistic, individualistic, and masculine than U.S. subjects; Mexican scores on accommodation and collaboration were higher than U.S.; within Mexico, collectivism was positively correlated with collaboration and masculinity with accommodation and avoidance; in the U.S., collectivism was positively, and individualism negatively, correlated with avoidance.
Geletkanycz (1997)d / 1,500 top managers in 20 countries / Archival and Survey / All five Hofstede values (assessed using country scores, Hofstede, 1980); commitment to the status quo regarding organizational leadership and strategy / Upper echelons perspective / Managers were more likely to believe that the future CEO of their company should have the same leadership expertise as the current CEO and that the company’s future corporate strategy should be the same as the existing corporate strategy when they were high on individualism, low on uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and long-term orientation.
Gibson & Zellmer-Bruhn (2001) / 107 members of 52 teams in French, Puerto Rican, Filipino and U.S. subsidiary locations of five multinational firms / Interview and Archival / Individualism and Power Distance (captured in interviews based on search terms derived from Hofstede, 1980a, and others) / Linguistic theory, social cognitive theory, teamwork theory / Power distance was negatively related to the use of teamwork metaphors containing clear role content (e.g., family or military metaphors); individualism was negatively related to respondents’ use of teamwork metaphors broad in scope (e.g., community metaphor); teamwork metaphors carry with them expectations for the manner in which teams will be managed and the way in which team processes will unfold.
Gomez et al. (2000) / A total of 330 MBA students in Mexico and U.S. / Experiment / Collectivism (Wagner, 1995); evaluation generosity; ingroup-outgroup distinction; task and maintenance inputs / Social identity theory; allocation rules / Mexicans were significantly more collectivistic than U.S. Americans; collectivists gave more generous evaluations to ingroup, rather than outgroup, members; individualists valued task inputs in determining evaluations more than collectivists; and individualism-collectivism failed to fully mediate country effects.
Grimm et al. (1999) / A total of 1,286 undergraduates and high school students in the Philippines and the U.S. / Survey / Individualism (Hui, 1988); valence; agreeableness; conscientiousness; civility; refinement; gregariousness / none / Filipinos and U.S. respondents did not significantly differ on individualism; in the U.S., individualism was negatively related to agreeableness, conscientiousness, civility, and refinement; in the Philippines, individualism was negatively correlated with gregariousness.
Harpaz et al. (2002)d / A total of 1,491 new work entrants from eight countries participating in the Work Socialization of Youth study (WOSY) / Longitudinal survey and Archival / Individualism-Collectivism; Uncertainty Avoidance; Masculinity-Femininity (all assessed using country scores from Hofstede, 1980); work centrality; work goal importance / Meaning of Work model[n]; social exchange theory / Over time, new work entrants from low uncertainty avoidance countries had increased work centrality; new work entrants from highly masculine countries began their careers with higher work centrality than those from more feminine countries (although this hypothesis was only partially supported).
Helgstrand & Stuhlmacher (1999) / 167 high school students in Denmark and the U.S. / Survey / Individualism-Collectivism; Power Distance; Uncertainty Avoidance; Masculinity-Femininity (all assessed using Hofstede, 1980); leadership preferences / Implicit leadership theories / Danish and U.S. subjects differed significantly only on power distance (Danes lower); respondents in both countries rated leaders who were both feminine and individualistic as most effective.
Hui et al. (1991) / A total of 160 undergraduates in Hong Kong and the U.S. / Experiment / Collectivism (Hui 1988; Hui & Villareal, 1989); allocator generosity; equity vs. equality norms; friends vs. strangers plentiful vs. fixed resource amounts / Equity theory; reward allocation rules / Hong Kong subjects were significantly more collectivistic than U.S. subjects; when resources were plentiful, HK subjects put greater emphasis on equal allocation than U.S. subjects; when resources were fixed, HK subjects were more generous than U.S. subjects and differentiated between close friends and co-workers; and individualism-collectivism failed to fully mediate country effects.
Hui & Villareal (1989) / 49 and 160 undergraduates in Hong Kong and the U.S., respectively / Survey / Individualism-Collectivism; (Hui, 1988); preference for autonomy, deference, affiliation, succorance, and nurturance; need for abasement; social recognition / none / In both countries, collectivism was positively related to preferences for affiliation, succorance, and nurturance and low need for autonomy. In Hong Kong, collectivism was negatively related to preference for autonomy, and deference. In the U.S., individualism was positively related to a high need for social recognition and a low need for abasement.
James (1993) / 50 U.S. undergraduates / Survey responses to reading essay / Individualism-Collectivism, (Scott, 1965)[o]; attitudes toward new technology; information retention / Theory of reasoned action; self-system theory / Collectivists showed more positive attitudes toward new technology and retained more information about it when a presentation contained a group-relevance theme; individualists showed more positive individual attitudes when presentation contained a self-relevance theme.
Kirkman & Shapiro (2000) / 618 line-level U.S. insurance company employees / Survey / Collectivism (Maznevski et al., 2003)[p]; receptivity to team-based rewards / none / Collectivism was positively related to receptivity to team-based rewards.
Kirkman & Shapiro (2001a) / 491 self-managing work team employees in Belgium, Finland, the Philippines and the U.S. / Survey / Collectivism; Power Distance (Maznevski et al., 2003); job satisfaction; organizational commitment; resistance to teams and self-management / none / Resistance to teams fully mediated the relationship that collectivism had with job satisfaction and organizational commitment; resistance to self-management partially mediated the relationship between power distance and organizational commitment; and individualism-collectivism failed to fully mediate country effects.
Kwan et al. (1997) / A total of 378 undergraduates in Hong Kong and the U.S. / Survey / Individualism and Collectivism (independent and interdependent self-construal; Singelis, 1994); self-esteem; relationship harmony; life satisfaction / none / U.S. undergraduates were significantly more individualistic (i.e., higher independent self-construal) and less collectivistic (i.e., lower interdependent self-construal) than Hong Kong undergraduates; self-esteem mediated the relationship that individualism had with life satisfaction and relationship harmony mediated the relationship between collectivism and life satisfaction (found in both Hong Kong and U.S. samples).
Lee et al. (2000a) / A total of 540 U.S. and 512 Hong Kong undergraduates / Experiment / Individualism-Collectivism (independent and interdependent self-construal; Singelis, 1994); promotion versus prevention focus / Regulatory focus theory / U.S. subjects were significantly higher on individualism (i.e., independent self-construal) and lower on collectivism (i.e., interdependent self-construal) than Hong Kong subjects; individualists were attuned toward a promotion focus, seeing potential gains as important and responding to events with relatively greater happiness or dejection, whereas collectivists were attuned toward a more prevention focus, seeing potential losses as more important and responding to events with relatively greater relaxation or anxiety.
Leung (1987) / 96 undergraduates and 72 non-students in both Hong Kong and the U.S. / Experiment / Collectivism (Hui, 1984)[q]; negotiation preferences; rationales behind preferences for certain negotiation strategies / none / Hong Kong subjects were significantly more collectivistic than U.S. subjects; HK subjects preferred bargaining and mediation more than U.S. subjects due their beliefs that these strategies helped reduce animosity between disputants.
Leung (1988) / 96 undergraduates and 72 non-students in both Hong Kong and the U.S. / Experiment / Collectivism (Hui, 1984); likelihood of suing; stranger versus friend / Procedural justice; expectancy theory / Hong Kong subjects were more likely to sue a stranger than were U.S. subjects; collectivism was associated with higher likelihood of suing when dispute was between strangers but not between friends.