Information Technology Choices in Dissimilar Cultures

Abstract

Empowerment is an important and desirable state for employees within business enterprises around the world. Yet, the pursuit of empowerment across national boundaries may vary due to innate diferences within cultures. This may be particularly true with respect to choice of technologies for achieving empowerment. Using an interpretive field study of Fellows within the Japanese MITI and U.S. Department of Commerce Manufacturing Technology Fellowship (MTF) Program, this study suggests that the achievement of empowerment through choice of information technology is matched to cultural context. Specifically, employees of Japanese companies prefer, need, and use media-rich information technologies in their efforts to achieve empowerment. In contrast, employees of American companies prefer, need, and use collaborative information technologies in the pursuit for empowerment. These findings suggest that information technology is used synergistically with cultural attributes in the enhancement of employee empowerment.

A comparative study of the effects of cultural differences on the adoption of mobile learning

“…Results show that employees in the USA, which has a higher uncertainty avoidance, are more likely to adopt and use email, whereas Japanese employees prefer more information‐rich and socially present forms of media. Similarly, Downing, Gallaugher and Segars () explored the effect of national culture on use of media for employee empowerment in the US and Japanese organisations. They found that organisations in Japan, which is a collectivist and high uncertainty avoidance country, are more willing to use information‐rich and socially present forms of media such as face to face and phone to facilitate empowerment, whereas organisations in the US, which is a individualistic and low uncertainty avoidance society, are more willing to use lean forms of media such as email, intranets and groupware.…”

Modeling team knowledge sharing and team flexibility: The role of within-team competition

“…While previous studies have indicated that organizational members may hoard knowledge, the mechanisms (e.g., within-team competition) that prevent them from doing so have not been elucidated (Hansen et al, 2005). Although prior research suggests the existence of an important relationship between collectivism and empowerment (e.g., Downing et al, 2003;Kirkman and Shapiro, 2001), few studies examine their relationship at the team level or identify the mechanism.…”

Effects of two national environmental factors on e-commerce functionality adoption: a cross-country case study of a global bank

“…Researches conducted about the influences of national culture (Calhoun et al 2002, Downing et al 2003, Rose et al 2003, Palomino Murcia and Whitley 2007 and organisational culture (Kanungo 1998, Leidner et al 1999, McDermott and Stock 1999, Harper and Utley 2001, Kambayashi and Scarbrough 2001, Gottschalk 2007 show that culture plays an important role in IT implementation, use and outcomes. The study by Chau et al (2002) investigated consumer attitudes toward Internet adoption between US and Hong Kong and found that culture values do shape patterns of IT use.…”