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A Refereed Monthly International Journal of Management

Perceived National Culture and Behavioural Preference of professionals experiencing corporate culture - a study of Emerging Country Multinationals

Author

Dr. Prachi Bhatt Ph.D., Associate Professor, OB&HR FORE School of Management, “Adhitam Kendra”B-18 Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi Email: prachi@fsm.ac.in +91-11-41242414 +91-9999092493

Abstract

Cultural values shapes perceptions an individual has about his/her environment and provides preferences or priorities for one behavior over another. In today’s context of global workplaces, differences in the cultural values is bound to exist and so do the influence on the cultural identity and behavior of people. Hence, it is easy for an employee who is exposed to MNC corporate cultture to get drawn into change in their national cultural values perceptions and generic behavioural preferences.The objective ofthe paper is to explore perceived national cultural values andpreferred behaviour in general of respondents experiencing corporate culture of Emerging Country Multinationals’ (ECMs). The present work contributesto the research gap regarding national undergoing transformation. The data was collected using a questionnaire, 130 professionals responded belonging to the selected four Indian IT MNCs. The findings suggest the differences between the IT MNCs in terms of the perceived national culture and generic behavioural preference. Result reveal significant difference between the employees’ perception and their preferred behavior in general; along with comparing scores of perceived national cultural values with India’s cultural value scores (Hofstede’s). The results emphasise theexistence of changing or transforming cultures especially in the context of global world.Keeping in mind the relevance of the study, limitations of the study suggest several prospects for further research which can throw more light on the aspects of cultural dimensions undergoing transitions.

Keywords:National Culture; Corporate culture; MNC, Cultural perception, Behavioural Preference; Emerging Country Multinationals, Cross-cultural management, Indian IT sector.

1.Introduction

With the advent of Multinational Companies (MNCs) in India during 1990s, it has been seen that corporate culture of MNCs had a deep influence on the socio-cultural environment of the organisations, and in general. Organisations like MNCsare embracing appropriate appreciation for other cultures (Koshy, 2010) and are promoting their own acceptable or desired values and behaviours as part of their MNC corporate culture. In this process of appreciation and adjustments, cultures have undergone change where national culture is found to be highly dominant impacting organizations culture (Lindholm, 2000) and organisational practices (England, 1983, cited in Thomas, 2008).National cultures relatively remain unchanged, as opposed to organisational culture, at a deeper level such as values, beliefs, or attitudes (Beamer and Varner, 2003; Burke, et al, 2008). Past researches have supported that national culture is not something apart from business, but determines its very essence (Maher, 1994; Rhody and Tangi, 1995).Jung et al. (2008) supported also the significant role of the national culture- values, beliefs, customs and others to a large extent on the employees of MNC. The behaviour of the employees is shaped by its organizational culture which is influenced by the national culture (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004).In today’s context of global workplaces, differences in the cultural values is bound to exist. As cultures are ambivalent toward change and simultaneously embrace, resist, and fear it (Treven, 2001), it is easy for an employee who is exposed to MNC corporate culture to get be more sensitive to the differences between national and corporate culturewhich would consequently led to change in their national cultural values perceptions and their generic behavioural preferences reflecting their discernment. Thus, reaserch attempts to contribute tothe existing research gap regarding transforming national cultures and impact of MNCs in emerging countries. However important, this belief has received less attention by the researchers.Researches (Seth, 2006; Budhwar, et al., 2008) have highlighted the need of more attention in research in the emerging country multinationals (ECMs) and cross-cultural comparative management. Asian multinationals growth has also attracted less research (Sim and Pandian, 2003; Sim, 2006; Aulakh, 2007). According to Woldu, Budhwar and Sparrow (2006), India is one such country where most of the convergence of culture is occurring. And the changing business environment of the Indian multinationals is leading to constant adjustment and transformation. Also, according to Fischer et al (2004, pp. 700), “the tensions between Indian and Western managerial values have been emphasized by the normative Indian literature that has developed distinctive managerial values and ethics from roots deep in Indian culture”. It very likely that an experience of the corporate culture different form national culture creates this tension, which also highlights the influence of corporate culture on the way employees (working in MNCs) evaluate and interpret national cultural values. This poses a research question to explore perception about the national cultural values and preferred generic behavior of the respondentswho have experienced or have been exposed to the corporate culture of ECMs. It also raises another question to compare perception about national culture with the existing national cultural value (Hofstede) scores of the country, here India. Research in case of Indian multinationals are scant (Bruton and Lau, 2008; Nigam and Zhan, 2011). There is lack of prior research which examinesrespondents who have been working and thus have experienced corporate culturewhen analyzing corporate and national culture considered jointly. Hence, the present paper addresses this gap by assessing perceived national cultural values and generic behavioural preferences of the respondents (employees) who have been exposed to or are experiencing corporate culture of Emerging Country Multinationals’.

Culture Hofstede Cultural Dimensions

An understanding of the deeper-level assumptions and values explain whycertain behaviours are more appropriate than others. Works of Hofstede (1980) have embarked thecontributions as formative in the area of cultural studies. Citations and listings in indices like Social Science Citation Index also attest to their significance of their work. Their work has been considered relevant among the most influential scholars on intercultural studies(Ming-xiang, 2012; Parboteeah, Addae and Cullen, John, 2005; Rogers and Tan, 2008).The cultural dimension theories utilized by Hofstede provide legitimate and accepted approach to the cultural dilemma (Browaeys and Price 2013, pp. 90). The following literature presentsthe six cultural dimensions of the widely used cultural dimension framework for characterizing and describing cultures along different cultural-value dimensions. Hofstede’s work (1980, 1983, 1984, 2001) presented the cultural dimensions i.e., power distance; uncertainty avoidance; individualism and collectivism; masculinity and femininity;ong-term and short-term orientations; and indulgence and restraint . According to Hofstede (1980), these dimensions represent the cultural systems of the countries and thus help us understand the national culture and also organisations practices (Pheng andYoquan, 2002). The following text presents the cultural dimensions used for this study. Power distanceis defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. It examines how societies handle inequality in power and wealth i.e., to what extent the less powerful members of organizations and institutions within a society accept this inequality as normal and desirable.In high power distance organizations, organizational hierarchy is obvious. There is existence of power inequality between superiors and subordinates.India scores high on this dimension i.e., 77, indicating an appreciation for hierarchy in the society and organizations. Communication is top down and directive in its style and often feedback which is negative is never offered up the ladder. Uncertainty avoidance is the other dimension which refers to people’s tolerance of ambiguity. Uncertainty avoidance refers to “The extent to whichpeople feel threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity and tryto avoid these situations” (Hofstede, 1991, pp.113). Cultures high on this dimension feel high need for well-defined rules.India scores 40 on this dimension and thus has a medium-low preference for avoiding uncertainty. In India, there is an acceptance of imperfection; nothing has to be perfect nor has to go exactly as planned. India is traditionally a patient country where tolerance for the unexpected is high; even welcomed as a break from monotony. Individualism and collectivism dimension refers to how people value themselves as an individual and as groups they are associated with. It describes the relationships individuals have in each culture, like in individualistic societies where individuals are concerned about themselves and their immediate family only, whereas in collectivistic cultures, individuals belong to groups that look after them in exchange for loyalty.Individualism score of 48 for India, clearly highlights collectivistic traits. This means that there is a high preference for belonging to a larger social framework in which individuals are expected to act in accordance to the greater good of one’s defined in-group(s). Decisions are often made based on relationships which is the key to everything in a collectivist society. Masculinity and feminity describes the culture of a nation where masculine cultures have dominant values of achievement and success, whereas in feminine cultures people care for others, relations, and quality of life.India scores 56 and is more of a masculine society. Even though it is mildly above the mid-range in score, India is actually very masculine in terms of visual display of success and power. Long-term andshort-term dimension, here the long-term orientation can be explained as “stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards, in particular perseverance and thrift” (Hofstede, 2001, pp. 359). Thisdimension explains that societies prioritizechallenges of the present and the future differently.Societies who score low on this dimension, for example, prefer to maintain time-honored traditions and norms while viewing societal change with suspicion. Those with a culture which scores high, on the other hand, take a more pragmatic approach.India scores 51 on this dimension, which indicates a preference for a more long-term, pragmatic culture. In India the concept of “karma” dominates religious and philosophical thought. Time is not linear, and thus is not as important as it is to western societies which typically score low on this dimension. India hasa great tolerance for religious views from all over the world. In India there is an acceptance that there are many truths and often depends on the seeker. Societies that have a high score on pragmatism typically forgive lack of punctuality, changing game-plan based on changing reality, and a general comfort with discovering the fated path as one goes along rather than playing to an exact plan. Indulgence and restraint, dimension is a more recent addition to the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. It is theextent to which people try to control their desires and impulses, however, relatively weaker control is inferred as “Indulgence” and relatively strong control as “Restraint”.Society high on indulgence allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun. On the other hand, restraint suppresses gratification of needs and regulates it through putting strict social norms in place. India receives a low score of 26 on this dimension, meaning that it is a culture of restraint. Societies with a low score for this dimension have a tendency to cynicism and pessimism. Also, in contrast to indulgent societies, restrained societies do not put much emphasis on leisure time and control the gratification of their desires. People with this orientation have the perception that their actions are restrained by social norms and feel that indulging themselves is somewhat wrong.

MNC Corporate Culture

Hofstede’s (1984) work in ‘Culture’s Consequences’ has explored the domain of studying international organizations. It concluded that “organizations are cultural-bounded” (pp. 252). More than the business and performance, researches have shown that national culture determines the very essence of the organisation (Maher, 1994; Rhody and Tangi, 1995). Corporate culture is a management tool to hold the company together (Bartlett & Ghosal, 1987). MNCs are often interested in promoting corporate culture to improve control, coordination, and integration of their foreign subsidiaries (Schneider, 1987). Corporate culture has been discussed as a means of control for headquarters over their subsidiaries (Baliga & Jaeger, 1984; Doz & Prahalad, 1984). It is a “cognitive framework consisting of attitudes, values, behavioural norms, and expectations" (Greenberg and Baron, 1997); "the collective thoughts, habits, attitudes, feelings, and patterns of behaviour" (Clemente and Greenspan, 1999).

Changing perception& Preferred behavior in generalof people exposed to corporate culture.

Changing perception and preferred generic behavior of people exposed to corporate culture is very relevant to explore especially in the context of transforming cultures. Cultural values provide preferences or priorities for one behavior over another, it shapes perceptions (Triandis and Suh, 2002; Rousseau, 1995; Thomas et al., 2003). It determines weight or importance an individual puts to information gained from the environment (Triandis, 1989). The influence or change in the cultural identity and behavior of people who are working abroad or working in a culture is different from their national culture,is especially relevant in a global business environment. Mao & Shen (2015) explored and highlighted the importance cross-cultural relational dynamics on maintenance and change in expatriates’ cultural identity while working abroad. In the Indian context, the Indian managers and management systems have been influenced by the West owing to reasons such as education outside of India, work experience or working in western business models within India (Budhwar et al., 2008). Also, factors like easy and instant (internet) access to global world, culturally diverse workforce, etc. contribute to influence on mindsets (Budhwar and Sparrow (2002). Similarly, the employees who are exposed to the corporate culture of MNCs would influence their perceived change in national cultural values. Also, “Shared” meaning and understanding about distinctive or unique culture is important (Martin, 2002), that gets translated in the behavioural preferences or behvaiours. Cross-cultural organizational theory leaves no doubt that behaviour in organizations is culturally contingent (Hofstede’s, 1984, Hofstede, 1980, Pheng and Yoquan, 2002, Treven and Treven, 2007). Thus, along with the perception, preferred behaviour is equally significant aspect to be explored especially in the context of cultural diversity at workplace. India’s quest for a place at the global market MNCs will have to continuously pay attention to the notion of corporate culture and national culture. Management across borders in Indian global companies introduces substantial complexity because it forces multinationals to tailor their practices and approaches to each and every cultural context they operate in (Ghemawat, 2011). It has implications on the transforming cultures the growth and success of organisation in the ever-increasing international competitive environment.

About the Study

The present work sets out the effort to explore the perceived national culture by the employees who are exposed to different corporate cultures in IT MNCs in India, and compare it with the existing national cultural value scores (Hofstede) of India. In addition to the perception, the objective is also to explore their preferred behaviour in general (not work related). Thus, for the respondents i.e., Indian employees working in IT MNCs,who have been exposed to or are experiencing who have experienced corporate culture of Emerging Country Multinationals’, the objectives of the study are to:
1.	Explore differencebetween the respondentsa) perceived national culture and b) general (not work related) preference to behave regarding cultural dimensions, across the four Indian IT MNCs.
Hypothesis 1.1: There is no significant difference in the perceived national culture by respondents belonging to the four IT MNCs.
Hypothesis 1.2: There is no significant difference in the general (not work related) preference to behave of the respondents belonging to the four IT MNCs.
2.	Assess the difference between respondents’ behavioural manifestation (in general) and their perceived national culture.
Hypothesis 2: The mean difference between respondents’ behavioural manifestation (in general) and their perceived national culture is zero.
3.	Compare between employee’s perceived national culture and India’s cultural value scores (Hofstede’s)
Hypothesis 3: There is no significant difference in the perceived national culture by the respondents and the national cultural value score (Hofstede’s) of India.

Measure and Respondents

Six cultural dimensions were, as mentioned in the literature review, assessed using questionnaire: part –a and part-b. Part-a of the questionnaire aimed to gauge respondents’ perception towards national cultural valueswas assessed using CVScale (26 items) developed by Yoo, Donthu& Lenartowicz(2011) i.e., PD- Power distance; UA- Uncertainty avoidance; MF- Masculinity vs. Feminity; CI-Collectivism vs. Individualism; LT- Long-term vs. short term orientation (short forms used in the text hereon). Four more items were added to the scale for the sixth new dimension ofHofstede’s cultural dimension (not included in CVS scale) i.e., IVR- Indulgence vs. Restraint. Part-b, entailed items (15) designed toassessrespondents’ general (not work related) behavioural preferences w.r.t the cultural dimensions. For e.g. two items of UA dimensions are “I generally plan much in advance”;“Mostly, it is good to not trust people whom you do not know”. Respondents’ responses were capturedona Likert scaleon 1 to 5; 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree.The items were reviewed and reframed to improve comprehension of the respondents and consequently to improve the reliability of the measure. Pilot study (N=33) was conducted and the reliability of the questionnaire was calculated and the Cronbach alpha values for the two sets of questions came out to be 0.71 and 0.64, respectively for part-an and part-b of the questionnaire.Based on reliability of the scale analysis, a total of four items (two from IVR, one fromCI and LT, each) were deleted from part-a, and three items were deleted (one from IVR, CI and MF, each) from part-b of the questionnaire. Thus, total number of items in part-the questionnaire were 26, to assess perception about the cultural dimensions- PD, UA, MF, CI, LT, IVR. Part-b had 12 items for assessing the preference to behave. Questionnaire was distributed to employees working in top four IT MNCs in India. These employees were working in different offices across India. After approaching 180 working professionals from IT MNC firms, finally, a sample size of 130 respondents was considered for the study. Average age of the respondents was 27 years. Of the total respondents, 52 percent were male and 48 percent were female. Average work experience that respondents had in these organisations was 2.5 years. Scores of the respondents’ (exposed to MNC culture in the Indian IT MNCs) perception about the national culture were compared with that of India’s score for Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. For this, scores of India out of 100 (as mentioned in the above literature) were converted into scores out of 5. These converted scores were then used for further comparison (Table 4). Data was analyzed using SPSS 23.0. Conducting test of normality, using Kolmogorov and Smirnov test approved (null hypothesis was accepted) for further analysis using one-sample t test, one-way ANOVA, and paired-t-test, along with mean scores analysis.

Result

Table 1 presents the calculation of mean values and the standard deviation of the responses, across the four MNCs. The scores reveal how respondents’ perceived their national culture;the score was lowest (M=3.22) for PD, and highest in case of LT (M=3.85). And in case of the respondents’ preferred behavior in general, lowest score (M=3.30) was for IVR, and highest score in case of LT (M=4.00) of all the cultural dimensions.

Table 2, reports the result of one-way ANOVA were employed to test the significance of the above mentioned differences in the mean scores across four IT MNCs.For perception about national culture, one-way ANOVA resultsrevealed a significant difference in perception of the respondents belonging to the fourIT MNCsin case of three cultural dimensions, i.e., PD, MF, and IVR dimensions. However, no significant difference was found in case of employees’ perception regarding the UA, CI, and LTnational cultural dimensions.

In Table 3, referring to the scores of India on cultural dimensions (scores converted out of 5 as mentioned above) help to infer the asymmetry between the perceived national culture by respondents working in IT MNCs in India and the national culture scores of India. The result reveal (Table 3) that the national cultural dimension as perceived by respondentswho have been working in IT MNCs in India is significantly different from the India’s cultural value scores (Hofstede) on all the dimensions.For example, in case of the average PD perceived (3.22) by these employees is less than India’s score for PD (3.85). Similarly, difference is visible in case of average MF perceived (3.64) by these employees is more than India’s score for MF (2.8), and so on. Scores show lesserasymmetry from the India’s cultural value scores in case of PD, and higher asymmetry from national culture (scores) in case of other dimensions. In Table 4 one-way ANOVA highlight significant differences in the preferred generic behaviour of the respondents who have experienced corporate culture in four different IT MNCs. Only in case of LT, the difference in the respondents’ preferred behaviour across the four MNCs, emerged non-significant.

Further, paired t-test (Table 5) was employed to explore the difference in respondents’ perceptions and their preference of behaviour generally regarding the cultural dimensions. Table 5 reveals that for every cultural dimension, there exists a significant difference. Thus, revealing the asymmetry between whatIndian respondentswho are exposed to/ experiencing corporate culture of IT MNCs perceiveabout the national culture and their general preference for behavior. However, this difference between perception and preferred behaviour of respondents is not significant in case of MF.

Discussion and Conclusion

Culture is "the set of knowledge, values, emotional heritage, behaviour and artifacts which a social group share, and which enables them to functionally adapt to their surroundings” (defined by Aneas, 2003, pp.120). According to Gupta and Bhaskar (2016), it is important for the Indian MNCs to understand India culturally and geographically, build trusting relationships with HCNs, partner with local players who are familiar with domestic challenges and localize the best practices.This explains that culture affects individual perception in the way he/she interacts with the environment and in influencing how one constructs and interprets it. The result throws light on the understanding about the perceived national culture by respondents experiencing the corporate culture of the Indian IT MNCs and their preference to behave in general. Results (Table 2) indicate that there is a significant difference in respondents’ perception towards the cultural dimensionsfor PD, MF, and IVR dimensions. And there is no significant difference in the LT orientation, CI, and UA cultural values being perceived by respondents belonging to the four Indian IT MNCs.With respect to the preference for general behavior (Table 4),there was no significance difference between the employees across four companies in their preference of behavior in general related to LT dimension (M=3.57).It implies that respondents working in IT MNCs have the long-term orientation and associated general behaviors-such as persistence, adapting to changed or changing circumstances. However, for the rest of the dimensions, the four IT MNCs vary significantly in theirrespondents’ preferences to behave. This further highlights that organizational cultural differences exist in MNCs, and that cultures vary in their receptivity to change, and brings us to further explore the role of degree exposure and type of corporate cultures of these four IT MNCs. The above differences imply the influence of different types corporate cultures on the respondentswhich varied with each IT MNC. Thus, poses further research extended over corporate cultures MNCs in other countries and other business sectors. This would enhance further understanding and the dynamics of transformation in national cultural values perceived and its behavioural manifestations. Results also reveal the asymmetry between what employees perceive about their national culture and their preferred behaviour in general.It can be seen(Table 5) that except for masculinism,there is a significant difference in what respondents perceive about their national culture and their preference to behave in general.There is significantly gap between the preference to behave in general and perception about national culture in cases of PD, CI, IVR, LT and UA dimensions. It is important to note that regarding MF dimension, there is no such significant gap. This implies the sturdiness of this dimension in cultures like that of India, and poses question to further resaerch about the strength of this value, including other values and its disposition to change. Also, perception about the national culture highlight the emerging asymmetry from the Hofstede’s national cultural value scores(Table 3) of India. Cultures evolve and many factors contribute to it, one of them being the influence of different culture. Influence of other cultures different from national cultures is relevant for the cultural studies - both at society and organisational levels. These gaps draw our attention towards with the experience of MNC corporate culture there exists asymmetry between their perception about the national culture and their preferred behavioural manifestation in general. Thus, poses future scope of research in the domain of cultural transformation and the influence of different corporate culture in MNCs. Influence or change in the cultural identity and behavior of people who are working abroad (Mao & Shen (2015). Influence of other cultures different from national cultures cannot be ignored (Budhwar et al., 2008).Matei & Maria-Madela Abrudan (2018) findings are that some national cultures are more stable than others. The cultures that are subject to major changes, such as economic ones, change to a greater extent and faster, while others change more slowly.The present paper asserts the impact of MNC corporate and it is also one of the factors influencing change in cultural values being perceived by the people. Thus, the present paper explored asymmetry between the perceived national culture and behavioural manifestation of the respondents owing to their exposure to work in corporate culture of MNCs. Thus, poses a starting point of a research question not addressed.

Implications: Limitations and Future Research

Thus, amidst multi-cultures, the results present a canvashighlighting changing perception about national cultural values andasymmetry between perceived and preferred behavior of the respondents exposed to the MNC corporate culture in IT sector in India. Owing to the movement of talent across national borders, it has become necessary to study cultural changes in the MNCs. McKenna and Richardson (2007)raised practical issues relating to the increasing complexity of the internationally mobile professionals. According to Bhattacharjee, (2015) in Times of India, Infosys, Wipro, other IT firms are feeling the need to revamp their corporate culture. Hence, further research may explore the influence of MNC corporate culture on the employer branding practices and expatriate management practices. The limitations of the study suggest several prospects for further research.Although a moderately large sample size was used for the study, the sample may not be a truly representative sample, and the results of the study cannot be generalized. Keeping in mind the relevance of such studies, research can further draw inferences by improving the sample size andenhancing applicability of the results. Longitudinal studies can throw more light on how and what aspects of cultural dimensions would instigate changes in the perceptions about the national culture.Further research across other industries contributing to a significant extent to the perception of national culture and preferred behaviours may explore more comprehensively for e.g., in relation with cultural identity. Changing business environment of the Indian MNCs is causing constant adjustment and transformation. As cultures simultaneously embrace, resist, and fear change, thus highlights the need of more attention in research in the emerging country multinationals (ECMs) and cross-cultural reaserch and cross-cultural comparative management.However, there are still many unknowns and more research is needed to fully understand the determinants of this asymmetry.

Acknowledgements
The author is thankful to the reviewers for their efforts.
The infrastructural support provided by FORE School of Management, New Delhi in completing this paper is gratefully acknowledged.

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