A Comparative Analysis of Cultural Value Orientations of Indians and Migrant Indians in the USA

Abstract

Understanding the cultural value systems of nations is a key factor in anticipating the behaviour of business managers and employees in a specific business environment. Many research studies have acknowledged the impact of culture on communication across nations and its impact on business operations, however no study has attempted to measure and quantify the cultural orientations of people originating from one nation, but working in two different national settings. This study adopted Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's framework to examine cultural dimensions of a total of 580 Indian respondents comprising two groups: 429 Indian natives living and working in India and 151 Indian migrants living and working in the USA. It initially compares the cultural orientations of the total population of each of the two groups and then examines cultural differences in the same based on demographic characteristics consisting of occupation, gender, age, and level of education. The study found significant cultural value differences between the two groups on both levels of analysis. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in detail.

A comparative analysis of cultural value orientations of Polish and Turkish employees: implications for international human resource management

“…Hence, we believe that women, as a result of the environment they live in, will manifest certain specific cultural values that may differ from that of men (e.g., Napier and Taylor, 2002;Adler and Gunderson, 2008;Caligiuri and Cascio 1998). Recent studies by Woldu and Budhwar (2011) and Budhwar et al (2008) reveal that female respondents from Central East European (CCE), the Former Soviet Satellite (FSS) and India compared to their male counterparts show more cultural variations among themselves. Woldu and Budhwar (2011) argue that females compared to their male counterparts demonstrate relatively weaker cultural homogeneity and as a result, one finds more variations among females in most cultural dimensions than their male counterparts from the respective countries.…”

“…This trait is a positive attribute to European integration. As more advanced nations have the tendency of scoring lower scores on such dimension (Budhwar, et al, 2008(Budhwar, et al, , et al, 2006Woldu and Guo, 1999), Turkey may be expected to be more adaptable to the principles of free market cultural value systems. Likewise, nations with lower traits in hierarchical behavior prefer flatter organizational structures and friendly business environment (e.g.…”

“…Earlier studies indicate that more economically advanced and democratic societies such as the United States (Woldu et al, 2006), Scandinavia, and Northern Europe (e.g., Adler and Gunderson, 2008;Hofstede, 1983;Laurent, 1983) tend to demonstrate weaker traits in activities of thinking (AT), hierarchical (RH) and individualist (RI) relations, categorization of people as naturally good/evil (HNG) and human relation (Budhwar et al, 2008;Woldu et al, 2006). Furthermore, Hofstede and Bond (1984) and Adler and Gunderson (2008) view Western culture as being pro short-term business practice and demonstrate weak traits in long-term business relations; hence indicating lower cultural traits in both harmonious (RNH) and subjugative (RNS) relations to the environment.…”

“…As Tung (2008: 43) states, "the growing mobility of people, particularly skilled professionals and managers across countries, has contributed to the phenomenon of 'brain circulation', whereby people could leave their country of origin (COO) to settle in another country referred to as country of residence (COR), and then return to their COO or commute continually between their COO and COR." Assuming cultural homogeneity across all people of a given nation-state thus threatens to oversimplify the potentially multi-layered and complex nature of national cultural values within a highly globalizing world economy (Budhwar et al, 2008).…”

“…Recent research indicates that younger, more highly educated, and/or professional/managerial individuals tend to be more mobile and thus more likely to study/work abroad (e.g., Budhwar et al, 2008). Such mobility and work opportunities suggest that these demographic groups may be more exposed to non-home country values and practices and thus perhaps be more likely to exhibit a greater cultural closeness (e.g., Woldu and Budhwar, 2011;Adler and Gunderson, 2008).…”