We investigate the effect of national culture on women manager appointments. We argue that culture influences women manager appointments through their effects on managerial decision-making. Using firm-level data on 2,456 microfinance institutions (MFIs) across 61 countries, we document that fewer women managers are appointed in societies high on individualism and uncertainty avoidance. On the contrary, high power distance societies are positively associated with the appointment of women managers. We demonstrate that a greater number of women nonmanagers reduces (...) (increases) the appointment of women managers in high individualistic (uncertainty avoidance) cultures. Our findings challenge the “one-size-fit-all” approach adopted by policy makers around the world to increase women manager appointments. Our results are robust to endogeneity. (shrink)

Literature on ethical behavior has paid little attention to the mechanism between macro-environmental variables and environmental performance. This study aims at constructing a model to examine the relationships which link cultural values, population growth, economic development, and environmental performance by incorporating the mediating role of education. The multiple linear regression model was employed to test the hypotheses on a 3-year-pooled sample of 51 countries. Empirical results conclude that national culture, economic development, and population growth would significantly influence environmental (...) performance directly. In addition, through the mediating effect of education, population growth and national culture would significantly affect environmental performance indirectly. These findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for constructing the mechanism of cultural values and ethical behavior in general and environmental management in particular. (shrink)

This paper seeks to contribute to the sociology of nations, a literature that is only starting to carve out its place in the social sciences. The paper offers a reconceptualization of “nations” as “national cultures”, employing an evolutionary perspective and a systemic framework in which “nations” are understood as cultural systems of a special kind. National cultures are intimately tied to natural languages, and the acquisition of a national culture occurs as part and parcel of the (...) acquisition of a natural language. Acquiring a natural language is a prerequisite for learning other cultural systems (artefactual languages as well as other natural languages). National cultures function as metacultures. They are also the reference cultures for modern states and their citizens, a political dimension of nations that is of paramount importance, though it will only be touched on in this paper. National cultures should be considered as the most fundamental type of cultural system today. (shrink)

Given the recent ethics scandals in the United States, there has been a renewed focus on understanding the antecedents to ethical decision-making in the research literature. Since ethical norms and standards of behavior are not universally consistent, an individual’s choice of referent may exert a large influence on his/her ethical decision-making. This study used a social identity theory lens to empirically examine the relative influence of the macro- and micro-level variables of national culture and peers on an individual’s (...) intention to behave ethically. Our sample consisted of respondents from Germany, Italy, and Japan. The results indicated that both national culture and peers were found to act as significant referents in ethical decision-making dilemmas. Although peers exerted a much stronger influence on an individual’s ethical decision-making, the impact of peers varied depending on the national culture levels of individualism and power distance. (shrink)

This study aims to examine the relationship between national cultural dimensions and the probability of a firm being externally audited. It uses a large set of representative micro-data from nearly 3000 firms across 34 industries in 13 countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East over the period 2008–2010, and Schwartz’s cultural dimensions, namely autonomy, embeddedness, egalitarianism and hierarchy. The findings show that the relationship between firm audits and cultural autonomy and egalitarianism is strongly positive and statistically significant. Specifically, (...) they show that an increase of one standard deviation in affective autonomy increases the probability that a firm will engage in an external audit by 3.37%. Along the same lines, a 1 SD increase in egalitarianism leads to a 8.36% increase in the likelihood of a firm engaging in an external audit. However, there is no clear evidence that embeddedness and hierarchy play a role in firms’ external auditing trends. These findings remain robust to the use of several confounding factors at the firm and country levels. This research highlights its uniqueness in the choice of national culture as a determinant for the likelihood of external audits. (shrink)

This paper examines the impact of the level of economic development, income inequality, and five cultural variables on the rate of software piracy at the country level. The study finds that software piracy is significantly correlated to GNP per capita, income inequality, and individualism. Implications for anti-piracy programs and suggestions for future research are developed.

This article offers a critical analysis of David Miller’s proposal that liberal immigration policies should be conceptualized in terms of a quasi-contract between receiving nations and immigrant groups, designed to ensure both that cultural diversity does not undermine trust among citizens and that immigrants are treated fairly. This proposal fails to address sufficiently two related concerns. Firstly, an open-ended, quasi-contractual requirement for cultural integration leaves immigrant groups exposed to arbitrary critique as insufficiently integrated and unworthy of trust as citizens. Secondly, (...) the focus on national culture instead of citizenship obfuscates the close link between political membership and political trustworthiness. An examination of two models of interpersonal trust, affective and cognitive,shows that there is no room for the mid-way position associated with a quasi-contract. The effect of grounding political trust in a shared national culture instead of democratic institutions is to normalize the domination of immigrants and citizens alike. (shrink)

Since UNESCO launched its Culture of Peace Programme, it has helped mobilize people from all walks of life and from all continents to support the transformation from a culture of war and violence to a culture of pace. This is a report of the Programme's actions.

We investigate the cross-cultural relationships between spirituality and ethical decision-making in Norway and the U.S. Data were collected from business students ( n = 149) at state universities in Norway and the U.S. Results indicate that intention to behave ethically was significantly related to spirituality, national culture, and the influence of peers. Americans were significantly less ethical than Norwegians based on the three dimensions of ethics, yet more spiritual overall. Interestingly, the more spiritual were Norwegians, the more ethical (...) was their decision-making. By contrast, the more spiritual were Americans, the less ethical was their decision-making. The research also found that peer influences were more important to Norwegians than to Americans in making ethical decisions. Finally, spiritual people from the U.S. were more likely to use a universalistic form of justice ethics, as opposed to a more particularistic form of justice ethics used by Norwegians. (shrink)

The objective of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of national culture on firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) across geographical regions. Empirical tests are based on CSR performance of 3055 corporations from 28 countries located in Eastern Asia and Europe. The findings suggest that the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions have significant impacts on CSR performance, both positively and negatively depending on a given dimension of CSR. In addition, corporations located in European countries tend to effectively outperform those (...) in Eastern Asian countries in every facet of socially responsible practice. (shrink)

Chinese national culture has a glorious past, as does our science, technology, and production. It was in the modern era that, for a variety of reasons, the Chinese national culture fell behind the West in many respects, not keeping up with the demands of the times.

Examines the role of the visual arts in the United States during the 1930s.

The article explores the complex and multi-dimensional relationship between organization and discourse, using interview data and written documents collected within banks in Sweden, Germany and Britain. The first part of the analysis, which examines the extent to which the organizations studied can be said to form discourse units in their own right, shows that management ideas, norms and values seem to have a considerable impact on bank discourse. Although the discourse found in different banks naturally has many features in common, (...) each organization is found to be created at least partly differently by its discourse. Analyses of sender markings, expressive illocutions and expressions of thanks to the staff show how discourse is part of the construction of an organizational culture in relation to ideas concerning leadership, hierarchy, centralization etc. The second part of the analysis focuses on the role of the national community in the formation of an organization. An analysis of the bank images disseminated in spoken discourse and documents points to differences which could be attributed to national cultural patterns. The interview data further show how much effort is devoted to internally and externally disseminated images; this could be seen as a sign of an awareness among management of the decisive role of the spoken and written word for their company. (shrink)

A nation cannot exist without national culture and national self-consciousness. These concepts are decisive in the development of the nation. Values are the priorities of any nation, determined by its culture and self-awareness. The national cool is the basis for the formation and development of national self-consciousness. The aim is to analyze the influence of national culture on the formation of national consciousness. Justify their objective and subjective factors of formation, which (...) are based on the motivational core of personality behavior. National culture and national self-consciousness are the main features of a nation, without which it cannot exist and develop as a whole. National culture and national self-consciousness are one whole of the spiritual world of nations and nationalities. The development of national culture and national self-consciousness is an objective regularity. Naturally, contradictions in this process will exist and demand their resolution or escalate into conflicts. With a timely solution, they will play the role of an indicator of national development. (shrink)

Several investigations are conducted currently on the requirement of organizational trust for successful market operation. The constrained conceptual perception, lacking contextual applicability, and inadequate measure replication in the field of organization have been emphasized as flaws of employee behavior and trust research. To investigate trust variables that influence distinct national cultural values, the objective of this study is to enhance the framework for facilitating individual-level organizational trust and behavior to include conceptual and socio-affective factors. The 500 participants are obtained (...) and 450 participants are selected for the research with proper responses. Hypotheses are developed. There are 10 questionnaires that were conducted on the participants by utilizing 5 variables of independent (cultural adaptability (CA), national cultural values (NCV)), and dependent variables such as organizational trust (OT), employee engagement (EE), and organizational behavior (OB). The statistical analysis includes regression analysis and descriptive analyses are performed using SPSS software. The outcomes show that the OB, NCV, and OT variables are more effective and strongly influence the national cultural values of organizational behavior and trust. The study's primary conclusions emphasize the importance of organizations considering the behavioral and cultural variables by performing ideas and leadership practices and support the idea that cultural variables have a major influence on the results of the organizations. (shrink)

The Soul of a Nation is a series of essays on American society’s culture, morality, law, education, and faith: subjects that confront our society and will be of interest to citizens and scholars who have studied its political drift in recent years.

This study examines the role of codes of ethics in reducing the extent to which managers act opportunistically in reporting earnings. Corporate codes of ethics, by clarifying the boundaries of ethical corporate behaviors and making relevant social norms more salient, have the potential to deter managers from engaging in opportunistic financial reporting practices. In a sample of international companies, we find that the quality of corporate codes of ethics is associated with higher earnings quality, i.e., lower discretionary accruals. Our results (...) are confirmed for a subsample of firms more likely to be engaging in opportunistic reporting behavior, i.e., firms that just meet or beat analysts’ forecasts. Further, codes of ethics play a greater role in reducing earnings management for firms in countries with weaker investor protection mechanisms. Our results suggest that corporate codes of ethics can be a viable alternative to country-level investor protection mechanisms in curbing aggressive reporting behaviors. (shrink)

A number of studies have investigated and found a significant relationship among economic wealth, Hofstede’s national culture dimensions, and software piracy rates (SPR). No study, however, has examined the relationship between economic wealth, culture, and the fact that national SPRs have been declining steadily since 1994. Using a larger sample than has previously been available (57 countries), we confirm the expected negative relationship between economic wealth, culture (individualism and masculinity) and levels of software piracy. The (...) rate of decline in software piracy, however, is found to be a cultural phenomenon, with two factors (power distance (PDI) and uncertainty avoidance (UAI)) working in opposition. Similar results are found for a subset of 37 relatively poor countries. This suggests that, while the rise in economic wealth seen for most countries should lead to a reduction in software piracy, the rate of decline is determined by cultural factors. Global strategies for dealing with software piracy are discussed. (shrink)

This chapter explores the representations of the Renaissance developed by two prominent intellectuals in Argentine philosophy during the first three decades of the twentieth century: José Ingenieros and Alejandro Korn. Their work is contrasted with that of a nineteenth- century Spanish source that served as the basis for their own performances, Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo. It will highlight how these authors articulated the ideas and ideals of the Renaissance with the construction of a national thought and culture. For the (...) Argentines it was important to understand how the Renaissance was perceived in Spain, the country that set the course for the predominant ideas in Argentina in the colonial period between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Menéndez Pelayo devoted special attention to the Renaissance because there he finds the highest and most genuine moment of the Spanish intellectual history. All three thinkers are interested in weighing the differences between the Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation, and their impact in the construction of the national culture of their countries, both Spanish and Argentine. Regardless of their philosophical, political and religious differences, the historical narratives of these authors used the Renaissance ideologically, and made of it a conceptual motive, an inspiring model containing the values to be embodied by the culture of their nations, above all the value of “free inquiry”. (shrink)

Shifts in the national cultural identity of the US have been reflected in shifts in the US’ dominant constitutional narratives. For the United States, “inter-legality” has been less a matter of dealing with alternative non-state legal narratives than of contending with constantly arising and competing narratives about the “correct” nature of the “official” legal order of the state. The US Supreme Court has claimed to have the “last word” in resolving these arguments but because that Court is so often (...) sharply divided and because the Court membership and the nature of its “last words” changes so often, where a significant element of the society seeks to advance its ideas and interests, it will often do so in legal and constitutional terms. As the national culture undergoes changes, a competing constitutional narrative may gain ground and even ultimately prevail, at least for a time, and achieve Supreme Court “endorsement” for its claims. (shrink)

The turn of the 20th and the 21st century is a very interesting period. On the one hand, there is a growth of internationalist tendencies, which make us look for common values and universal culture, and on the other hand, the centrifugal tendencies lead to the revival of new forms of nationalism and national and religious conflicts. Integrative tendencies are an unquestioned fact of every aspect of societal life: economic, political, and in culture, which succumbs to a (...) tendency to create global and universal mass culture. It turns out, however, that neither international commerce, nor the blossoming systems of communication and transport, provide us with the common feeling of identity or belonging. At the same time the need for those does not cease to exist. As a result, “people rediscover or create new historical identity”, since they feel uprooted and “need new sources of identity and new forms of stable community, new systems of moral imperatives, which could give them a sense of meaningful and purpose life”. One of the most important forms of collective and cultural identity still turns out to be the national one. The prophecies of the end of the era of nations have not come true. “The strength of national sentiments – writes Jerzy Szacki – even if changeable in time and diverse in space, does not show any symptoms of clear decline, the era of nations keeps lasting and nothing predicts it will end soon.”. (shrink)

National unity is important in Kenya, since ethnic divisions have sometimes become deadly. The imposed Coalition government and the recent new Constitution in 2010 were attempts to overcome division. But cultural divisions among the generations are just as much of a challenge as ethnic divisions, as the youth sometimes sideline the practices and worldviews of their elders, leaving people to wonder what binds people to each other as Kenyans? The idea of “national culture” has its pitfalls, bit (...) seems necessary nevertheless, as explained by Frantz Fanon, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Okot ‘Bitek, and H. Odera Oruka. This article explores how ideas of “Kenyanness” have developed since Kenyan independence and the rejection of colonized mentality and education. Odera Oruka’s advocacy of “Sage Philosophy” as a project to pull Kenyans together, and more recent academics’ attempts to encourage civic education by articulating core Kenyan values are explored in depth. These scholarly and artistic efforts at describing or encouraging common identity are contrasted to efforts by the Ministry of Culture to construct (and “sell”) Kenya culture to tourists as a commodity. (shrink)

Summary During the past decade, the cultural restorationist wing of the New Right has sought to impose its own anachronistic and sentimental conception of ?British culture? on schools and colleges. This conception, which is little more than a glib celebration of quintessential ?Englishness?, characterises the national culture in largely monolithic and ethnically undifferen?tiated terms. Concerned about the possible pernicious effects of educational policies inspired by such thinking, we present the findings of a recently completed ethnographic study of (...) 8?11 year?olds? conceptions of British national culture. Our paper considers the extent to which children's understanding of this complex form of collective identity may vary with age, and ethnicity. We conclude by exploring the implications of the findings for anti?racist and multicultural education. (shrink)

This paper aims to examine the impact of national cultural values on the relation between auditing and reporting standards and ethical behaviours of firms. Based on a regression analysis using data regarding 54 countries between the years 2007 and 2012, we found that the impact of the perceived strength of auditing and reporting standards on the perceived ethical behaviours of firms is accentuated when a society is characterized by low power distance and in-group collectivism, and high institutional collectivism, future (...) orientation and uncertainty avoidance. Empirically, the study addresses a gap in the literature by highlighting the influence of national culture on the effectiveness of legal settings and regulations on ethical behaviours. (shrink)

This study examines the discourse of resistance constructed in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake coverage by Chinese state media. It tries to explore how media discourse can be constructed to facilitate crisis control in natural disaster situations. Set in a context of nationalistic culture in contemporary China, this paper dissects how state media in China frame narratives and represent meanings to construct national cultural identity in earthquake coverage. In analysing this discursive process, this research adopts the methodology of critical (...) discourse analysis and cluster criticism; the findings indicate that the discourse of resistance deals with the disorderly information flow in a crisis by differentiating the messages, framing media stories and engaging with the broad nationalistic culture, to construct positive representations of disaster relief. Specifically, a strong sense of belonging to a national community is constructed for people trapped in uncertainty, anxiety and trauma. This study concludes that, in doing so, discourse of resistance enhances disaster relief by controlling the meaning of the crisis. (shrink)