This article reviews research on cross-cultural organizational behavior (OB). After a brief review of the history of cross-cultural OB, we review research on work motivation, or the factors that energize, direct, and sustain effort across cultures. We next consider the relationship between the individual and the organization, and review research on culture and organizational commitment, psychological contracts, justice, citizenship behavior, and person-environment fit. Thereafter, we consider how individuals manage their interdependence in organizations, and review research on culture and negotiation and disputing, teams, and leadership, followed by research on managing across borders and expatriation. The review shows that developmentally, cross-cultural research in OB is coming of age. Yet we also highlight critical challenges for future research, including moving beyond values to explain cultural differences, attending to levels of analysis issues, incorporating social and organizational contex...

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Cross-Cultural Organizational Behavior

A Study of Thinking

Psychological processes influence culture. Culture influences psychological processes. Individual thoughts and actions influence cultural norms and practices as they evolve over time, and these cultural norms and practices influence the thoughts and actions of individuals. Large bodies of literature support these conclusions within the context of research on evolutionary processes, epistemic needs, interpersonal communication, attention, perception, attributional thinking, self-regulation, human agency, self-worth, and contextual activation of cultural paradigms. Cross-cultural research has greatly enriched psychology, and key issues for continued growth and maturation of the field of cultural psychology are articulated.

Psychology and Culture

The Savage Mind.

Culture in Mind: Cognition, Culture, and the Problem of Meaning. Bradd Shore. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. 428 pp.

Culture in Mind: Cognition, Culture, and the Problem of Meaning

Psychologists have taken several approaches to modeling how culture influences the ways individuals negotiate interpersonal conflict. Most common has been the approach of searching for cultural traits-general, stable value-orientations that predict a variety of culturally typical conflict resolution behaviors. Increasingly researchers have adopted a constructivist approach of locating the nexus of cultural influence in the knowledge structures that guide negotiators’ judgments and decisions. In this paper, we advocate extending the constructivist approach by incorporating principles from social cognition research on knowledge activation. We develop dynamic constructivist hypotheses about how the influence of culture on negotiation is moderated by the stimulus or task that the conflict presents, the social context in which the negotiator is embedded, and the negotiator/perceiver’s epistemic state.

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How Does Culture Influence Conflict Resolution? A Dynamic Constructivist Analysis

The current research investigates the proposal that cross-cultural differences in conflict resolution choices are driven by cognitive scripts - expectancies about appropriate actions in a setting and outcomes they will evoke. Cognitive styles such as Need for Cognitive Closure affect the extent to which individuals rely on their own cultural scripts and hence display culturally typical conflict resolution behaviors. We tested this prediction in two conflict resolution domains where robust differences between American and Chinese had been identified. In Study 1, participants completed the NFC scale (Webster & Kruglanski, 1994) and the conflict management styles inventory (Rahim, 1983). Results showed that differences in conflict management styles emerge primarily in high NFC individuals. In Study 2, participants first filled out the NFC scale and then read a conflict scenario and responded to which type of third party conflict mediator they would prefer and the expectancies attached for each conflict mediator. It was found that differences in preference of types of the third party conflict mediator are qualified by the interaction between culture and individual differences in NFC. Among high NFC individuals, Chinese preferred relationally connected third party whereas American preferred relationally unconnected one. However, this differential pattern was reduced among low NFC individuals. Further evidence was provided by the statistical mediation of expectancies of harmony maintenance or restoration on the moderated cultural difference in choosing the third party. We discuss emergence of cross-cultural difference in light of script-based expectancies interacting with individual-level mechanisms.

Why Do Individuals Follow Cultural Norms: Need for Closure, Script-based Expectancies, and Conflict Resolution Choices

Psychologists have taken several approaches to modeling how culture influences the ways individuals negotiate interpersonal conflict. Most common has been the approach of searching for cultural traits, general, stable value-orientations that predict a variety of culturally typical conflict resolution behaviors. Increasingly researchers have adopted a constructivist approach of locating the nexus of cultural influence in the knowledge structures that guide negotiators' judgments and decisions. In this paper, we advocate extending the constructivist approach by incorporating principles from social cognition research on knowledge activation. We develop dynamic constructivist hypotheses about how the influence of culture on negotiation is moderated by stimulus or task that the conflict presents, the social context in with the negotiator is embedded, and the negotiator/perceiver's epistemic state.

How Does Culture Influence Conflict Resolution? A Dynamic Constructive Analysis

The current research investigates the proposal that cross-cultural differences in conflict resolution choices are driven by culturally conferred cognitive scripts-expectancies about appropriate actions in a setting and outcomes they will evoke. Cognitive styles such as Need for Cognitive Closure affect the extent to which individuals rely on their own cultural scripts and hence display culturally typical conflict resolution behaviors. We tested this prediction in two conflict resolution domains where robust differences between American and Chinese had been identified. Study 1 found that differences in conflict management styles emerge primarily in hihg NFC individuals. Study 2 found that differences in preference of types of the third party mediator are qualified by the same interaction with individual differences in NFC. Further evidence was provided by the statistical mediation of expectancies of harmony maintenance or restoration on the moderated cultural difference in choosing the third party. We discuss in light of how cognitive scripts compare with other proposed individual-level mechanisms underlying cultural differences.

Ho-Ying Fu

Papers

How Does Culture Influence Conflict Resolution? A Dynamic Constructivist Analysis

Why Do Individuals Follow Cultural Norms: Need for Closure, Script-based Expectancies, and Conflict Resolution Choices

How Does Culture Influence Conflict Resolution? A Dynamic Constructive Analysis

How Does Culture Influence Conflict Resolution? A Dynamic Constructive Analysis

Which Romans Do "as Romans Do"? Individual Differences in Conformity to Cultural Conflict Resolution Scripts