Cross-cultural variations in climate for autonomy, stress and organizational productivity relationships: A comparison of Chinese and UK manufacturing organizations

Abstract

Cross-cultural researchers have questioned the extent to which EuropeanAmerican management practices can be transported to major markets in Asia, such as the People's Republic of China. Applying employee involvement theory, we examined the relationships between climate for autonomy, work demands climate, employee stress and organizational productivity in a crossnational study of 51 UK and 104 Chinese manufacturing organizations. We predicted and found that climate for autonomy was positively and negatively related to stress in the Chinese and UK contexts, respectively. The interaction of climate for autonomy and work demands climate was significant: climate for autonomy was positively related to organizational productivity only when work demands climate was low.

Work–Family Conflict and Organisationally Valued Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Decision Latitude in Five National Contexts

“…Telecommuting and flexible work arrangements and time schedules are extensively employed in Western organisational practice as interventions in order to manage the dysfunctional consequences of work–family conflict. Multinational and global organisations often apply the practices that are found to be effective in their home countries (Hirst et al., ). However, the results of our study suggest the importance of examining the culture‐specific factors that may influence the efficacy of Western organisational techniques in resolving work–family conflict.…”

“…The organisational practices that encourage higher levels of decision latitude in Western countries are based on the assumption that when individuals experience greater control over the flow and schedule of their work activities, they tend to be more motivated and satisfied and at the same time better able to cope with stressful job experiences (Boyd, Bakker, Pignata, Winefield, Gillespie, & Stough, 2011;Hirst, Budhwar, Cooper, West, Long, Chongyuan, & Shipton, 2008;Nauta, Liu, & Li, 2010;Smith, Peterson, & Wang, 1996). However, the validity of this assumption is open to question when we take this notion for further testing in non-Western contexts characterised by high power distance.…”

The moderating effect of collectivistic orientation in psychological empowerment and job satisfaction relationship

“…For employees from highly collectivistic societies (such as China, Japan, and Korea) who are more group-oriented and feel less competent when they are required to make decisions on their own (Earley, 1993;Markus and Kitayama, 1991), training which fosters self-competence in decision-making is recommended. For employees from low collectivistic cultures (e.g., the USA and Canada), recognition programs are likely to be more effective as empowerment is interpreted as efficient to provide frontline employees with the ability to exercise their own discretion/judgment when interacting with customers (Hirst et al, 2008). Here recognition for personal effort and achievement is considered intrinsically motivating and satisfying.…”

“…Crosscultural studies (e.g., Hirst et al, 2008;Hui et al, 2004a;Robert et al, 2000) have established that congruence between employees' cultural values and management practices is fundamental to their successful implementation. For example, the unique norms and values inherent in different cultures affect the way employees are motivated (Chiang and Birtch, 2007).…”

Examining the Use of Hofstede’s Uncertainty Avoidance Construct in International Research: A 25-Year Review

“…Leung et al (2005) explain that resistance to change will be higher in cultures of high uncertainty avoidance, and Hirst et al (2008) note that employees who are higher in uncertainty avoidance prefer greater standardization. For example, Turkey is classified as a high uncertainty avoidance and power distance culture, which is reflected by subordinates always accepting their superiors' directives without question (Pellegrini & Scandura, 2006).…”