Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T16:11:30.967Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Doing Better Research on Organizational Behaviour in Chinese Cultural Settings: Suggestions from the Notebooks of Two Fellow-Travellers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Michael Harris Bond
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China
Miriam Muethel
Affiliation:
WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany

Abstract

In this article, we describe the development of cross-cultural research in organizational behaviour over the last few decades. Distinguishing four epochs of cross-cultural research, i.e., the Aristotelian, Linnean, Newtonian, and Einsteinian, we explain research questions, empirical approaches, and research designs that have guided contributions to each epoch. Based on this description, we outline a route for future research that takes Chinese indigenous constructs as points of departure to describe how individual outcomes of interest are embedded in their cultural environment. Finally, we provide concrete implications for future research in this area.

Type
Perspectives
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barney, J. B., & Zhang, S. 2009. The future of Chinese management research: A theory of Chinese management versus a Chinese theory of management. Management and Organization Review, 5(1): 1528.Google Scholar
Bavclas, J. B. 1987. Permitting creativity in science. In Jackson, D. N. &Rushton, J. (Eds.), Scientific excellence: Origins and assessment: 307327. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Bond, M. H. 1982. Ethnic affirmation versus cross-cultural accommodation: The variable impact of questionnaire language on Chinese bilinguals from Hong Kong.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 13(2): 169185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, M. H. 1994. Continuing encounters with Hong Kong. In Lonner, W. J. & Malpass, R. (Eds.), Readings in psychology and culture: 4146. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Bond, M. H. 1997. Preface: The psychology of working at the interface of cultures. In Bond, M. H. (Ed.), Working at the interface of cultures: 18 lives in social science: XI-XIX. London:Routledge.Google Scholar
Bond, M. H. 2002. Me, you and the IACCP: Some social psychological reflections on organizational homebuilding. In Boski, P. van de Vijver, F. J. R. & Chodynicka, A. M. (Eds.), New directions in cross-cultural psychology: 1126. Warsaw: Polish Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Bond, M. H. 2009. Circumnavigating the psychological globe: From yin and yang to starry, starry night. In Bekman, S. & Aksu-Koc, A. (Eds.), Perspectives on human development, family, and culture: 3149. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bond, M. H. 2010. The Oxford handbook of Chinese psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bond, M. H., & Chi, V. M. Y. 1997. Values and moral behavior in Mainland China. Psychologia, 40(2): 251264.Google Scholar
Bond, M. H., & Ng, I. W. C. 2004. The depth of a group's personality resources: Impacts on group process and group performance. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 7: 285300.Google Scholar
Bond, M. H., & van de Vijver, F. 2011. Unpackaging the magnum mysterium of culture. In Matsumoto, D. & van de Vijver, F. (Eds.), Cross-cultural research methods in psychology: 75100. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Boulding, K. E. 1970. A primer on social dynamics: History as dialectics and development. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Burningham, O, & West, M. A. 1995. Individual, climate, and group interaction processes as predictors of work team innovation. Small Group Research, 26(1): 106117.Google Scholar
Chen, C.C., & Farh, J.-L. 2010. Developments in understanding Chinese leadership: Paternaism and its elaborations, moderations, and alternatives. In Bond, M. H. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of Chinese psychology: 599622. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chen, S. X., Bond, M. H., & Cheung, F. M. 2006. Personality correlates of social axioms: Are beliefs nested within personality? Personality and Individual Differences, 40: 509519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, X.-P., & Peng, S. 2008. Guanxi dynamics: Shifts in the closeness of ties between Chinese coworkers. Management and Organization Review, 4(1): 6380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Y., Friedman, R., Yu, E., Fang, W., & Lu, X. 2009. Supervisor-subordinate guanxi: Developing a three-dimensional model and scale. Management and Organization Review, 5(3): 375399.Google Scholar
Cheung, F. M., Leung, K., Zhang, J. X., Sun, H. F., Gan, Y. Q., Song, W. Z., & Dong, X. 2001. Development of the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32: 407433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chua, R. Y. J., Morris, M. W., & Ingram, P. 2009. Guanxi vs networking: Distinctive configurations of affect- and cognition-based trust in the networks of Chinese vs American managers. Journal of International Business Studies, 40(3): 490508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earley, P. C., & Mosakowski, E. 2000. Creating, hybrid team cultures: An empirical test of transnational team dunctioning. Academy of Management Journal, 43(1): 2649.Google Scholar
Faber, J., & Hesen, B. 2004. Innovation capabilities of European nations: Cross-national analyses of patents and sales of product innovations. Research Policy, 33(2): 193207.Google Scholar
Fine, G. A. 1979. Small groups and culture creation: The idioculture of Little League Baseball teams. American Sociological Review, 44(5): 733745.Google Scholar
Fu, H.-Y., Morris, M. W., Lee, S.-L., Chao, M., Chiu, C.-Y., & Hong, Y.-Y. 2007. Epistemic motives and cultural conformity: Need for closure, culture, and context as determinants of conflict judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(2): 191207.Google Scholar
Fu, P. P. et al. 2004. The impact of societal cultural values and individual social beliefs on the perceived effectiveness of managerial influence strategies: A meso approach. Journal of International Business Studies, 35: 284305.Google Scholar
Fulmer, C. A., Gelfand, M. J., Kruglanski, A. W., Kim-Prieto, C, Diener, E., Pierro, A., & Higgins, E. T. 2010. On ‘feeling right’ in cultural contexts: How person-culture match affects self-esteem and subjective well-being. Psychological Science, 21(11): 15631569.Google Scholar
Georgas, J., & Berry, J. W. 1995. An ecocultural taxonomy for cross-cultural psychology. Cross-Cultural Research, 29(2): 121157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerhart, B. 2009. How much does national culture constrain organizational culture? Management and Organization Review, 5(2): 241259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, C., & Miller, J. K. 2010. Guanxi dynamics and entrepreneurial firm creation and development in China. Management and Organization Review, 6(2): 267291.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. 2003. Culture's consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B., Ohayv, D. D., & Sanders, G. 1990. Measuring organizational cultures: A qualitative and quantitative study across twenty cases. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(2): 286316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hong, Y. Y., Morris, M. W., Chiu, C. Y., & Benet-Martinez, V. 2000. Multicultural minds: A dynamic constructivist approach to culture and cognition. American Psychologist, 55(7): 709720.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hui, K. Y. V., & Bond, M. H. 2009. Target's face loss, motivations, and forgiveness following relational transgression: Comparing Chinese and US cultures. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 26: 123140.Google Scholar
Kwan, V. S. Y., Bond, M. H., & Singelis, T. M. 1997. Pancultural explanations for life satisfaction: Adding relationship harmony to self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73: 1031051.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwantes, C. T., & Boglarsky, C. A. 2007. Perceptions of organizational culture, leadership effectiveness and personal effectiveness across six countries.Journal of International Management,13(2): 204230.Google Scholar
Lau, C.-M., Tse, D. K., & Zhou, N. 2002. Institutional forces and organizational culture in China: Effects on change schemas, firm commitment and job satisfaction. Journal of International Business Studies, 33(3): 533550.Google Scholar
Leong, J. L. T., Bond, M. H., & Fu, P. P. 2006. Perceived effectiveness of influence strategies in the United States and three Chinese societies. International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 6(1): 101120.Google Scholar
Leung, H., & Au, W.W.-T. 2010. Chinese cooperation and competition. In Bond, M. H. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of Chinese psychology: 499514. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Leung, K., & Bond, M. H. 1989. On the empirical identification of dimensions for cross-cultural comparisons. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 20(2): 133152.Google Scholar
Leung, K., & Bond, M. H. 2004. Social axioms: A model for social beliefs in multicultural perspective. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 36: 119197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leung, K., & Brew, F. P. 2009. A cultural analysis of harmony and conflict: Toward an integrative model of conflict styles. In Wyer, R. S., Chiu, C.-Y. & Hong, Y.-Y. (Eds.), Understanding culture: Theory, research, and application: 411428. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Lin, Y. 1939 My country and my people. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Liu, J. H., Li, M.-C, & Yue, X. 2010. Chinese social identity and inter-group relations: The influence of benevolent authority. In Bond, M. H. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of Chinese psychology: 579598. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lun, V. M.-C., & Bond, M. H. 2006. Achieving relationship harmony in groups and its consequence for group performance. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 9: 195202.Google Scholar
Lun, V. M.-C., & Bond, M. H. in preparation. A perceiver-independent measure of team process and its role in predicting team performance.Google Scholar
Marcoulides, G. A., & Heck, R. H. 1993. Organizational culture and performance: Proposing and testing a model. Organization Science, 4(2): 209225.Google Scholar
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. 2003. Culture, self, and the reality of the social. Psychological Inquiry, 14: 277283.Google Scholar
McGuire, W. J. 1997. Creative hypothesis generating in psychology: Some useful heuristics. Annual Review of Psychology, 48(1): 130.Google Scholar
Mischel, W. 1968. Personality and assessment. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Mischel, W., & Shoda, Y. 1998. Reconciling processing dynamics and personality dispositions. Annual Review of Psychology, 49(1): 229258.Google Scholar
Mok, A., & Morris, M. W. 2010. Asian-Americans' creative styles in Asian and American situations: Assimilative and contrastive responses as a function of bicultural identity integration. Management and Organization Review, 6(3): 371390.Google Scholar
Morris, M. W., Podolny, J. M., & Ariel, S. 2000. Missing relations: Incorporating relational constructs into models of culture. In Earley, P. C. & Singh, H. (Eds.), Innovations in international and cross-cultural management: 5290. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Morris, M. W., Podolny, J., & Sullivan, B. 2008. Culture and coworker relations: Patterns of interpersonal interaction in American, Chinese, German, and Spanish divisions of a global retail bank. Organization Science, 19(4): 517532.Google Scholar
Muethel, M., & Bond, M. H. in preparation. Societal trust, societal distrust and employees' trust of the out-group.Google Scholar
Muethel, M., Hoegl, M., & Parboteeah, K. P. 2011. National business ideology and employees' prosocial values. Journal of International Business Studies, 42: 183201.Google Scholar
O'Reilly, C. A. III, Chatman, J., & Caldwell, D. F. 1991. People and organizational culture: A profile comparison approach to assessing person-organization fit. The Academy of Management Journal, 34(31): 487516.Google Scholar
Oyscrman, D., & Sorenscn, N. 2009. Understanding cultural syndrome effects on what and how we think: A situated cognition model. In Wyer, R. S., Chiu, C. -Y. & Hong, Y.-Y. (Eds.), Understanding culture: Theory, research, and application: 2552. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Parboteeah, K. P., & Cullen, J. B. 2003. Social institutions and work centrality: Explorations beyond national culture. Organization Science, 14(2): 137148.Google Scholar
Parboteeah, K. P., Cullen, J.B., & Lim, L. 2004. Formal volunteering: A cross-national test. Journal of World Business, 39(4): 431441.Google Scholar
Parboteeah, K. P., Hoegl, M., & Cullen, J. 2008a. Managers' gender role attitudes: A country institutional profile approach. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(5): 795813.Google Scholar
Parboteeah, K. P., Hoegl, M., & Cullen, J. 2008b. Ethics and religion: An empirical test of a multidimensional model. Journal of Business Ethics, 80(2): 387398.Google Scholar
Park, S. H., & Luo, Y. 2001. Guanxi and organizational dynamics: Organizational networking in Chinese firms. Strategic Management Journal, 22(5): 455477.Google Scholar
Pirola-Merlo, D. A., Haertel, D. C, Mann, L., & Hirst, G. 2002. How leaders influence the impact of affective events on team climate and performance in R&R teams. The Leadership Quarterly, 13: 561581.Google Scholar
Pugh, D. S., & Hickson, D.J. 1976. Organizational structure in its context. Farnborough: Saxon House.Google Scholar
Ralston, D. A., Holt, D. H., Terpstra, R. H., & Yu, K.-C. 1997. The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: A study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China. Journal of International Business Studies, 28(1): 177208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ralston, D. A., Terpstra-Tong, J., Maignan, I., Napier, N. K., & Nguyen, V. T. 2006. Vietnam: A cross-cultural comparison of upward influence ethics. Journal of International Management, 12(1): 85105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ralston, D. A., Egri, O, De La Garza Carranza, M., Ramburuth, P., Terpstra-Tong, J., Pekerti, A. et al. 2009. Ethical preferences for influencing superiors: A 41-society study.Journal of International Business Studies, 40(6): 10221045.Google Scholar
Redding, G., & Wong, G. Y. Y. 1986. The psychology of Chinese organizational behaviour. In Bond, M. H. (Ed.), The psychology of the Chinese people: 267295. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Seeman, M. 1997. The elusive situation in social psychology. Social Psychology Quarterly, 60:413.Google Scholar
Shore, L. M., Coyle-Shapiro, J. A. M., Chen, X.-P., & Tctrick, L. E. 2009. Social exchange in work settings: Content, process, and mixed models. Management and Organization Review, 5(3): 289302.Google Scholar
Smith, P. B., Misumi, J., Tayeb, M., Peterson, M., & Bond, M. H. 1989. On the generality of leadership style measures. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 62: 97109.Google Scholar
Smith, P. B., Bond, M. H., & Kagitcibasi, C. 2006. Understanding social psychology across cultures. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Smith, P. B., Huang, H. J., Harb, C, & Torres, C. in press. How distinctive are indigenous ways of achieving influence? A comparative study of Guanxi, Wasta, Jeitinho and ‘Pulling Strings. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. T., & Liao, Y. 2010. Inter-cultural interactions: The Chinese context. In Bond, M. H. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of Chinese psychology: 679698. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tsui, A. S., Hui, W., & Xin, K. R. 2006. Organizational culture in China: An analysis of culture dimensions and culture types. Management & Organization Review, 2(3): 345376.Google Scholar
Tsui, A. S., Zhang, Z.-X., Wang, H., Xin, K. R., & Wu, J. B. 2006. Unpacking the relationship between CEO leadership behavior and organizational culture. Leadership Quarterly, 17(2): 113137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tung, R. L. 2008. The cross-cultural research imperative: The need to balance cross-national and intra-national diversity. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(1): 4146.Google Scholar
van de Vijver, F., & Leung, K. 1997. Methods and data analysis for cross-cultural research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Vignoles, V. et al. 2010. Identifying the belief component of individualism-collectivism: Contextualism across 19 national groups.Google Scholar
Vijay, P., Fariborz, D., Jaepil, C., Chao, C.C., & Scung Ho, P. 2002. National and organizational culture differences and international joint venture performance. Journal of International Business Studies, 33(2): 243.Google Scholar
Wang, Q., & Chang, L. 2010. Parenting and child socialization in contemporary China. In Bond, M. H. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of Chinese psychology: 5368. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Xiao, Z., & Tsui, A. 2007. When brokers may not work: The cultural contingency of social capital in Chinese high-tech firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 52: 131.Google Scholar
Yang, K. S. 1996. Psychological transformation of the Chinese people as a result of societal modernization. In Bond, M. H. (Ed.), The handbook of Chinese psychology: 479498. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zou, X., Morris, M., & Benet-Martinez, V. 2008. Identity motives and cultural priming: Cultural (dis)identification in assimilative and contrastivc responses. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44: 11511159.Google Scholar
Zou, X., Tarn, K.-P., Morris, M. W., Lee, S.-I, Lau, I. Y.-M., & Chiu, C.-Y. 2009. Culture as common sense: Perceived consensus vs. personal beliefs as mechanisms of cultural influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97: 579597.Google Scholar