Cultural influences on informal information sharing in Chinese and Anglo-American organizations

Abstract This study examines cultural factors which may facilitate or impede the sharing of informal information in the context of face-to-face meetings in Chinese compared to Anglo-American organizations. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through personally conducted interviews with middle level managers in a sample of Taiwanese and Australian manufacturing firms. The results suggest the importance of individual differences, individual assertiveness, and corporate culture in influencing informal information sharing in Australia; and the trade-off between collective interests, respect for hierarchical status and concern with face in Taiwan.

[1]  H. Triandis.  Individualism And Collectivism , 1995 .

[2]  D. Ho.  On the Concept of Face , 1976, American Journal of Sociology.

[3]  Mikael Søndergaard,et al.  Research Note: Hofstede's Consequences: A Study of Reviews, Citations and Replications , 1994 .

[4]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Culture′s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values , 1980 .

[5]  楊國樞,et al.  Chinese Values and the Search for Culture-Free Dimensions of Culture , 1987 .

[6]  Yutaka Kato.  National Culture and Management Control , 1994 .

[7]  S. Panchapakesan,et al.  The Influence of Culture on Organizational Design and Planning and Control in Australia and the United States Compared with Singapore and Hong Kong , 1994 .

[8]  D. Otley,et al.  Accounting for Management Control , 1990 .

[9]  Corporate social accounting in Australasia , 1985 .

[10]  William J. Bruns,et al.  Information and Managers: A Field Study , 1993 .

[11]  Graeme L. Harrison,et al.  Reliance on accounting performance measures in superior evaluative style — The influence of national culture and personality☆ , 1993 .

[12]  Graeme Harrison.  THE CROSS-CULTURAL GENERALIZABILITY OF THE RELATION BETWEEN PARTICIPATION, BUDGET EMPHASIS AND... , 1992 .

[13]  Kenneth A. Merchant,et al.  Measurement, evaluation and reward of profit center managers: A cross-cultural field study , 1995 .

[14]  Anne M. Lillis,et al.  The impact of manufacturing flexibility on management control system design , 1995 .

[15]  M. Bond.  Beyond the Chinese face : insights from psychology , 1991 .

[16]  E. Goffman.  On face-work; an analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. , 1955, Psychiatry.

[17]  G. Hofstede.  The Cultural Relativity of the Quality of Life Concept , 1984 .

[18]  Graeme L. Harrison,et al.  Cross-cultural research in management control systems design: a review of the current state , 1999 .

[19]  D. Mclone.  The Risk , 2001, Pediatric Neurosurgery.

[20]  Jacob G. Birnberg,et al.  Culture and control: A field study , 1988 .

[21]  Michael D. Shields,et al.  National culture and the preference for management controls: An exploratory study of the firm—Labor market interface☆ , 1994 .

[22]  David A. Nadler,et al.  Organizing for Innovation , 1986 .

[23]  Gerard Fairtlough,et al.  Organizing for innovation: Compartments, competences and networks , 1994 .

[24]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. , 1982 .

[25]  Neale G. O'Connor,et al.  The influence of organizational culture on the usefulness of budget participation by Singaporean-Chinese managers , 1995 .

[26]  Thomas J. Peters,et al.  The Tom Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations , 1994 .

[27]  Michael D. Shields,et al.  THE EFFECTS OF MANAGEMENT CONTROLS AND NATIONAL CULTURE ON MANUFACTURING PERFORMANCE: AN... , 1991 .

[28]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  The myopia of learning , 1993 .

[29]  I. Vertinsky,et al.  Does Culture Matter? A Cross-Cultural Study of Executives’ Choice, Decisiveness, and Risk Adjustment in International Marketing , 1988 .

[30]  Michael Harris Bond,et al.  The social psychology of Chinese people. , 1986 .

[31]  Kenneth A. Merchant,et al.  The Use of Organizational Controls and their Effects on Data Manipulation and Management Myopia: A J , 1996 .

[32]  Gordon Redding,et al.  The psychology of Chinese organizational behaviour. , 1986 .

[33]  M. Bond,et al.  The Impact of Cultural Collectivism on Reward Allocation , 1984 .

[34]  Y. Aharoni.  Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind , 1992 .

[35]  David R. Saunders,et al.  The in-basket test. , 1957 .

[36]  Malcolm Smith.  New tools for management accounting : putting activity based costing and non-financial indicators to work , 1994 .

[37]  L. Stover,et al.  The cultural ecology of Chinese civilization;: Peasants and elites in the last of the agrarian states , 1974 .

[38]  H. Triandis,et al.  Individualism and Collectivism: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Self-ingroup Relationships We Wish to Thank Our Research Collaborators for Stimulating Ideas, Data, and Moral Support in Carrying out a Complex Set of Studies. They , 2022 .

[39]  Norman B. Macintosh.  Management Accounting and Control Systems , 1994 .

[40]  R. Gray,et al.  Constructing a research database of social and environmental reporting by UK companies , 1995 .

[41]  Klaus Krippendorff,et al.  Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology , 1980 .

[42]  R. Weber.  Basic Content Analysis , 1986 .

[43]  S. Clegg,et al.  The enterprise and management in East Asia , 1986 .

[44]  Kenneth R. MacCrimmon,et al.  The Risk In-Basket , 1984 .

[45]  E. Goffman.  On face-work; an analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. , 1955, Psychiatry.

[46]  Michael Harris Bond,et al.  The Psychology of the Chinese people , 1986 .