The purpose of this paper is to assess the change in Chinese managerial network systems to identify adaptation to Western strategic systems.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the change in Chinese managerial network systems to identify adaptation to Western strategic systems.
Design/methodology/approach
A sequential explanatory approach was adopted – a quantitative analysis of personal value systems of Chinese managers visiting the UK using established cultural value dimensions, with qualitative semi‐structured interviews to assist statistical inferences.
Findings
The traditional values of Chinese managers are decreasing in importance and lower power distance is apparent. A more flexible, dynamic approach with increased heterogeneity in countering competitive challenges – a transvergence, rather than crossvergence or convergence – is inferred.
Research limitations/implications
This paper has three major limitations. First, it applies cross‐cultural methods but uses strategic theory as the interpretative framework. Second, the sample size is small, based on convenience sampling, and is specific to managers arriving at a foreign interface. Third, this research is exploratory and explanatory, designed to challenge present understanding. Future research at country interfaces should identify global patterns of strategic adaptation, creating stronger inferential arguments with convergence of economic problems as a causal mechanism.
Practical implications
The practical implications are twofold: Chinese strategy is adapting to new economic problems not new ideological structures; managerial network systems and not Chinese firms are the locus of the adaptation.
Originality/value
This paper draws together concepts from strategy, problem solving, decision making, and cultural values, arguing that Chinese strategic change results from a dynamic interaction between strategic problem‐solving choices.
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Jonathan Liu and Alex Mackinnon
This article seeks to highlight the realities, myths and polarisation of western and Chinese management styles. The article establishes the need to develop an understanding of the…
Abstract
This article seeks to highlight the realities, myths and polarisation of western and Chinese management styles. The article establishes the need to develop an understanding of the underpinning culture and traditions which differentiate management styles. The article provides personal examples of the authors’ experience in straddling the cultural boundary of West and East. The article further advocates a model for establishing the training needs of western and Chinese managers in preparing them to deal with China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation. Internal disparity in China and Europe is briefly highlighted and the article suggests the need to focus on the potential for comparison in cross‐cultural negotiations and management. The article proposes a guiding principals model, which has been developed using three dimensions: “sense of belonging”, “culture and religion” and “management analysis and language”.
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Markus G. Kittler, David Rygl, Alex Mackinnon and Katja Wiedemann
The purpose of this paper is to analyze four major aspects of the work role and how they influence the expatriate work adjustment in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Russia.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze four major aspects of the work role and how they influence the expatriate work adjustment in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Russia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a quantitative design. Self‐reported data were collected from 113 German expatriates assigned to the CEE region and Russia.
Findings
The results of the study confirm the hypothesized negative association of work adjustment with role conflict and support a positive association with role clarity. Positive relationships of work adjustment with role flexibility and negative relationships with role novelty are not supported.
Originality/value
The empirical results partially confirm but also challenge the established connection of work role and work adjustment in a less well understood geographical context and provide relevant material for the business practitioner with implications for future research.
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Khai Trieu Tran, Kirsten Robertson and Maree Thyne
This study aims to explore the barriers that prevent students from moderating their drinking by comparing attitudes towards moderation in a wet (New Zealand) and dry (Vietnam…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the barriers that prevent students from moderating their drinking by comparing attitudes towards moderation in a wet (New Zealand) and dry (Vietnam) drinking culture and examines whether these barriers can be understood by applying an ecological framework.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative survey involving a written vignette was conducted with a sample of 226 and 277 undergraduates from New Zealand and Vietnam, respectively. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.
Findings
The analysis reveals that students perceive several barriers to moderate drinking at the intrapersonal level (e.g. positive attitude towards drinking), interpersonal level (e.g. peer pressure) and environmental level (e.g. socialising activities), suggesting that an ecological framework is useful for understanding drinking cultures. The response variations between the two countries provide novel insights into cultural differences in students’ perceptions, with external factors being more important and influential in the wet culture and internal influences being of more concern in the dry culture.
Practical implications
The findings highlight that students in the wet drinking culture do not take personal responsibility for their drinking and suggest that social marketing should move beyond individualistic approaches and towards the disruption of drinking cultures/practices, in pursuit of a healthier drinking culture.
Originality/value
This study provides novel insights into the barriers and facilitators of moderating drinking. Further, the findings demonstrate the value of a holistic ecological framework for understanding student drinking cultures. The comparison between two diverse cultures revealed how insights from one culture can help to understand deep-seated practices and meanings in another.
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Drawing on the overarching framework of social capital theory, the purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically examine networking behaviour and employability within the…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the overarching framework of social capital theory, the purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically examine networking behaviour and employability within the higher education context.
Design/methodology/approach
In a sample of 376 full-time business students the authors measured perceived employability, networking behaviour, access to information and resources and job-search learning goal orientation (JSLGO).
Findings
The authors found networking is related to increased internal and external perceived employability by boosting access to information and resources. The results also demonstrate that networking is positively related to access to information and resources for low and high JSLGO, the relationship being stronger for those with higher levels.
Research limitations/implications
The results provide an enriched view of individual networking behaviour by offering an indirect model of networking outcomes and to the graduate employability and social capital literatures.
Practical implications
The findings may provide focus for individuals concerned with enhancing their employability and those involved in supporting career guidance.
Originality/value
Obvious beneficiaries are students, for whom employment is a key concern, and universities who face increasing pressure to enhance graduate employability whilst resources to do so are diminishing. To this end the authors highlight activities that may develop networking behaviours and JSLGO.
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Charles O. Ogbaekirigwe, Ifeoma M.B. Ubah, Amarachi Salome Azubuike, Udodirim Angela Igwe and Ugochukwu Chinonso Okolie
This study examines how and whether expectancy for success and task values influence students’ persistence in work placement learning tasks (persistence). Also, it examines the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines how and whether expectancy for success and task values influence students’ persistence in work placement learning tasks (persistence). Also, it examines the mediating role of task values in the expectancy for success and students’ persistence nexus.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a two-study finding. In Study 1, we conducted qualitative research using a sample of 21 undergraduate students undertaking work placement learning in seven firms in Nigeria to gain an in-depth understanding of how the two expectancy-value theory’s (ETV) core motivational factors (i.e. expectancy for success and task values) enhance students’ performance or achievement-related behaviour such as persistence. In Study 2, we conducted quantitative research employing structural equation modelling to test our proposed hypotheses. We used a sample of 395 undergraduates undertaking work placement learning in 189 Nigerian firms (public and private) to empirically test the hypothesized model.
Findings
The findings show that students who had higher self-confidence that they would succeed in the placement learning tasks and values for the tasks exhibited higher persistence. We found that students with more expectancy for success showed higher task values for their learning tasks. Although not hypothesized, the positive result is necessary and aligns with ETV assumptions. Lastly, the analysis showed that students’ higher persistence was not wholly due to their higher expectancies for success in the placement learning tasks, but rather because they showed higher values for the learning tasks. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Originality/value
Our study progressed the ETV research in the work placement learning context and offers a model of students' persistence in the context of our study. Understanding the important motivational roles of expectancy for success and task values in enhancing students’ persistence is relevant in that it can facilitate quality learning outcomes. From the qualitative and quantitative (our two-study) findings, we made suggestions on how higher education administrators and industries can use our hypothesized model to further improve the work placement learning programme.
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This paper aims to test the relations among consumers' attitudes toward disclosures in credit card issuers' print ads, attitudes toward credit card issuers' CSR practices, and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to test the relations among consumers' attitudes toward disclosures in credit card issuers' print ads, attitudes toward credit card issuers' CSR practices, and attitudes toward credit card issuers in general, with a survey study.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey study with a convenient sampling consisting of college students is used to test the relations among consumers' attitudes toward disclosures in credit card issuers' print ads, attitudes toward credit card issuers' CSR practices, and attitudes toward credit card issuers in general.
Findings
The results suggest that students' positive attitudes toward disclosures positively enhance their attitudes toward credit card issuers and credit card issuers' CSR practices. More importantly, students' attitudes toward credit card issuers' CSR practices mediate their attitudes toward disclosures on enhancing their attitudes toward credit card issuers.
Research limitations/implications
Disclosures are increasingly common in advertisements for a range of products, including banking, cigarettes, over‐the‐counter drugs, and diet products. Thus, the study's results can also be applicable for corporations that advertise financial and health‐related product or services. Despite the inherent limitations of this study (e.g. context‐specific, convenience sample, and limited product types) that have to be confirmed in future research, future research should examine the relationship between various practices of disclosures and different aspects of CSR practices.
Practical implications
Based on this study's results, credit card issuers should improve their practices of disclosures and communicate their disclosures better to college students. Since a positive relationship between consumer responses and CSR practices is evident, projecting good CSR practices can also enhance credit card issuers' corporate images.
Originality/value
The paper primarily studies the impact of advertising disclosures and CSR practices on corporate image from college students' perspective. The research adds value to the existing literature on CSR, which is important to both academic researchers and practitioners.