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Research has typically examined culture as an independent or moderating variable. In this empirical study, we examine culture as a dependent variable and specifically investigate whether higher levels of economic performance might shape a national culture more supportive of entrepreneurial activities. Analysis controlling for the effects of unobserved country-specific factors and prior levels of economic development reveals that people in nations with greater gains in per capita GDP tend to place greater value on jobs that allow for achievement, the exercise of initiative, and more interesting and challenging work. Results show that people in nations with below average economic performance become less enterprising/entrepreneurial and that the propensity for nations to converge on pro-entrepreneurial values will depend on how economic performance is distributed across countries. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The present paper examines how the influence of prior entrepreneurial exposure on entrepreneurial intention is contingent on national culture. Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior, we test our hypotheses on a dataset of 253 students from Germany and Ethiopia. We find evidence that individuals from individualistic societies preferably draw on their own entrepreneurial experience in establishing their entrepreneurial intention. In contrast, individuals from collectivistic cultures mostly prefer in-group-referenced resources and knowledge provided by entrepreneurial role models. Our study contributes to resolving previously inconclusive findings regarding the relationship between prior entrepreneurial exposure and entrepreneurial intention by considering culture as boundary condition.

This paper proposes a conceptual framework to analyse how a company's business model needs to be adjusted if it is expanded into another cultural context. For this, we use the example of changes in the business model of a Danish IT-company opening a new office in the U.S. Using a single case study, we integrate the concepts of business models (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2005) and national culture (Hofstede, 1980). Our findings explain why and how adjustments in the business model are necessary regarding the company's communication, team composition, and customer involvement in projects. As to implications, we construct a matrix combining business models and national culture that other multinational companies can use to achieve better understanding of their business model in different national contexts.

Organisational culture plays a significant role when considering the management of information. The culture of individual organisations is influenced by national culture, and this paper considers the literature relating to the various cultural models. Particular attention is paid to Hofstede's dimensions and the implications of them for information management are suggested.

Societies exhibit varying capacities for information dissemination. This research explores the impact of national culture practices on information dissemination capacity (IDC) at the societal level. Nine hypotheses were formulated and tested. Countries with high information dissemination capacities were found to have a pattern of high uncertainty avoidance, high future orientation, high institutional collectivism, low in-group collectivism, and low gender egalitarianism practices. However, the comparison of the results of the culture values-based and culture practices-based regression models suggest that cultural values provide a better interpretation for the IDC variance than do cultural practices. A society's IDC can be interpreted in terms of its uncertainty avoidance, institutional collectivism, and gender egalitarianism cultural values. Given its limitations, the findings of this research provide a foundation for the formulation of culturally-oriented policies to enhance IDC at the societal level.

This research discusses the SECI Model of Knowledge Conversion as it relates to the 10 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) that are now part of the European Union (EU). The socio-economic conversion from socialism to capitalism of these societies is unique in historical precedence, whereby utilising the contextual models in knowledge conversion are applicable for understanding the implications of such a phenomenon. The results indicate that there is a unique set of variables that need to be considered within this context and for future similar situations.

The work reported in this paper has identified a research gap regarding the specific area of cross-cultural knowledge sharing through online systems in organisational settings, i.e. what are the factors impacting organisational members' online knowledge sharing behaviour in cross-cultural contexts? A survey of the relevant literature has recognised three main categories of potentially significant factors: organisational issues, national culture and computer-mediated communication. Although scholarly efforts have been taken in each of the three single areas, no previous study has integrated all three categories systematically. A review of the existing studies in all three areas shows that each areas is limited in some way, for understanding how and why people with different national cultural values, share or do not share knowledge through online systems within the same organisation. This paper explains the importance of identifying and addressing the research gaps, as well as suggests ways in which scholars can make use of new research methods that provide better explanations of why certain knowledge sharing behaviours exist.

Considerable research has been conducted in the field of entrepreneurship. However, very few studies have explored the impact of entrepreneurship on the life satisfaction/happiness of individuals. Furthermore, they have yet to analyze the extent to which the impact of entrepreneurship is mediated by national cultures. The present study explores the effect of entrepreneurship on the life satisfaction/happiness of individuals and analyzes the extent to which such impact is mediated by ‘national cultures.’ Resorting to fixed effect panel data techniques, this study was conducted using the 2016 World Values Survey dataset, encompassing 90350 individuals from 60 countries over the 2010–2013 period, combined with information provided by the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) Framework on cultural measures. We found that being an entrepreneur increases the chances of happiness across the entire set of countries analyzed. Culture does matter in such relation as the impact of entrepreneurship on happiness varies across the sample, being positive for sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe and negative for the Middle East culture cluster. Governments should implement active policies to foster the emergence of new businesses because new ventures enable countries not only to increase their output per capita, but also to achieve economic development by stimulating well-being and happiness. Nevertheless, this study highlights the danger of ‘blind’ recipes/formulas to promote entrepreneurship without considering the ‘entrepreneurship ecosystem’ and, at a more general level, the countries’ culture.

This study analyzes the effects of national cultural practices on gender gaps in entrepreneurial entry in developing countries. We conducted a multilevel analysis based on Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) data from 22 countries for 2013–2017. Our findings suggest that while women are less likely than men to create a new business, they are much less likely to enter opportunity-based entrepreneurship. Moreover, we find that cultural practices of gender egalitarianism have a positive moderating effect on gender gaps when it comes to entry into both total and opportunity-based entrepreneurship. By contrast, our results show that cultural practices of assertiveness and power distance increase gender gaps in entry into both total and opportunity-based entrepreneurship. Policy makers should implement policies that promote women’s access to the necessary resources and improve the visibility of successful female entrepreneurs to change the perception of entrepreneurship as a masculine activity.

We investigate the impact of an informal social attribute on cost behavior. More specifically, we examine the effect of generalized trust (trust in others) on cost stickiness. Using a large international sample from 44 countries, we find that generalized trust significantly increases cost stickiness. Important rationales for this result are that managers in more trusting societies are more optimistic and are committed to stable, long-term employment relationships. This study makes a significant contribution in understanding cost stickiness differences across the globe. Our results further complement prior research which has found, to the contrary, that trust and cost stickiness are negatively associated at the local level. Hence, our study corroborates the importance of distinguishing between local social capital and global generalized trust concerning their effects on economic outcomes.

We examine the impact of national culture on earnings. Specifically, we examine managers’ likelihood of using accrual or real earnings management (REM) and the role of culture on various attributes of earnings (accruals quality, persistence, smoothing, and predictability). We measure national culture using Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture (1984, 2001, 2010). Using data from 36 countries during 1997–2018, we find that managers are likely to use both accruals and REM in high power distance (PDI) countries. In long-term-oriented countries, managers are more likely to use REM. In uncertainty avoidance (UAI) countries, in high individualist countries, and in higher indulgent versus restraint countries, managers are less likely to use either type of earnings management. In masculine countries, managers tend to use lower accruals management and rely on production cost REM. We also find the use of accruals management and the use of REM are substitutes for each other. In addition, we are able to classify countries into four earnings quality groups based on the culture impact on the earnings attributes (primarily driven by accruals quality, predictability, and smoothing). Persistence is generally not significant in classifying countries by earnings attributes. Our findings indicate that a universal set of accounting standards is a challenging goal to achieve given the cultural diversity across countries. To improve the existing corporate governance framework and to ensure high quality and uniform financial statements, the enforcement of standards should be tailored to specific cultures, or at a minimum, corporate boards need to be more culturally diversified.

We provide a framework that builds upon the findings of Chaney, Lodh and Nandy (2021) for future research to examine the mechanism through which national culture is related to earnings management. In particular, the framework can be used to examine how specific contexts, reference points, corporate culture and economic institutions affect the relation between national culture and earnings management.

Synopsis

The research problem

In this study, we examined the effect of an important informal institution, namely, national culture, on audit fees in an international context.

Motivation

In recent years, extant literature has increasingly focused on country-level differences in the audit environment, as these might have a significant influence on how financial statement audits are conducted across the globe. We contribute to this stream of literature by investigating the impact of national culture on audit fees.

The test hypotheses

Based on the demand- and supply-side perspectives of audit fees, we hypothesized that national culture dimensions — namely, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity versus femininity — affect audit fees.

Target population

We used a sample of 27,670 firm-year observations across 22 countries over the 2002–2019 period.

Adopted methodology

We used ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions as baseline technique and entropy-balanced method (EBM) and system-generalized method of moments (GMM) to address endogeneity concerns.

Analyses

We examined the impact of Hofstede’s four national culture dimensions — uncertainty avoidance, power distance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity versus femininity — on audit fees. We also tested the robustness of results using alternative measures of national culture, subsample analyses, and additional firm-level factors.

Findings

Consistent with our hypotheses, we find that audit fees are higher (lower) in countries with higher uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity (power distance) scores. Our further analyses reveal that earnings management proxied by abnormal accruals does not impact the relationship; however, country-level creditor rights influence audit fees in high power distance and masculine cultures. We also note that national culture influences auditor choice and audit opinion. Our main findings are robust to alternate proxies and subsample analysis, as well as to address potential endogeneity concerns. Overall, our findings offer important implications for firms operating in global markets and for the audit profession.

Continuous innovation is one of the key challenges businesses are currently facing, which makes organisational absorptive capacity (ACAP) — a firms ability to explore and exploit external knowledge — a highly relevant topic. This study addresses ACAPs consequences and antecedents in an international context by analysing data from 549 small and medium-sized companies in Austria, Brazil, Germany, India, Singapore, and the US First, we reveal that both potential and realised ACAP have an equally strong positive impact on firm performance around the world. Second, we assess that the relationship between organisational structure and potential ACAP is not moderated by national cultural values. Furthermore, we show that the role a formalised organisational structure plays with regard to realised ACAP is positively moderated by the national cultural characteristic of power distance and negatively by the national cultural trait of masculinity. In contrast, masculinity positively moderates the relationship between specialisation and realised ACAP. Overall, with our study, we advance research on the consequences as well as the antecedents of ACAP and provide managers with mechanisms to support corporate knowledge absorption and innovation generation throughout the world.

This study draws on a sample of 49,919 firms from 13 countries to investigate the impact of national culture on the performance of inbound open innovation strategies. The study first validates the curvilinear relationships of external search breadth and depth with innovation performance, as first established by Laursen and Salter (2006) [Laursen, K and A Salter (2006). Open for innovation: The role of openness in explaining innovation performance among U.K. manufacturing firms. Strategic Management Journal, 27(2), 131–150] controlling for a number of country-specific factors including culture and the institutional environment. The study then draws on Hofstede’s cultural framework to theoretically and empirically investigate the influence of a country’s culture on the effectiveness of firms’ search strategies. The results show that cultural factors not only directly impact innovation performance, but also interact with search breadth and depth, thereby moderating the success of inbound open innovation strategies.

The objective of this research is to analyse the relationship between cultural dimensions and the degree of innovation at the national level. For such, secondary data were collected relating to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and the Global Innovation Index (GII). They were analysed using multiple linear technical regressions based on a sample of 72 countries. The results reveal the existence of three cultural dimensions associated with innovation outputs (technology and creativity): individualism, long-term orientation and indulgence, while a partially supported relationship was encountered for the power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity dimensions. National cultures were also classified as being competitive, planning, hierarchical or benevolent, to distinguish the most innovation-driven cultures. This evidence contributes to the innovation and competitiveness perspective, in which the intrinsic values of a national culture can favour the development of innovation and raise the competitiveness level of both nations and organisations.

This paper examines bondholder wealth effects in global business collaborations with the form of cross-border joint ventures (JVs) and strategic alliances (SAs). Based on a sample of 1,898 event-firms from 2009 to 2015, we find significant and positive abnormal returns for bondholders. On average, bondholder value increases 14.4 basis points in a 3-month observation window. We find that country-level governance and national culture are dominant drivers of bondholder wealth effects. More specifically, bondholders benefit more from JVs and SAs if they are from countries with poorer institutional governance or greater regulatory governance in creditor protection (higher creditor rights and lower shareholder rights). In addition, bondholders gain more when they are from countries characterized with greater individualism, less power distance, a higher level of trust, or larger culture distance. Robustness tests and subsample analyses confirm the main findings. We find a positive impact of JVs and SAs on stockholder wealth, but little evidence for wealth transfer between stockholders and bondholders.

Innovation is crucial for firms to gain competition advantages. Social media provides firms a new platform to facilitate innovation because consumers are getting more involved in the whole innovation process with the help of Web 2.0 technologies. Social media has been used as an important tool by firms to influence consumers’ attitude and behavior. Influence occurs in social media-based brand communities because community members have the control of discovering, producing, sharing, and distributing information and because the spread out of their experiences and opinions in the format of electronic word-of-mouth forms brand images. Because social media has the ability of global reach, cross-border factors should not be neglected in studying the influence process. As such, this paper adopts national cultural dimensions identified by Hofstede (1984), individualism/collectivism and power distance particularly, the index of cultural distance, and the social influence theory to explore how culture impacts the opinion influence occurring in social media-based brand communities. Furthermore, this paper predicts that the use of social media facilitate firms’ innovation due to consumers’ active involvement.

This work aimed to examine the influence of national culture measured by secrecy and collective intelligence on accrual-based earnings management (EM). This research has two contributions. First, it is focused on collective intelligence, a concept that is little approached by the previous literature. Second, this study aimed to fill a gap in the literature by using cultural dimensions than previous studies. Here, we used a sample of 30 countries observed between 2000 and 2009. Accruals were used to measure EM, secrecy (SEC) was used to measure the national culture, and intelligence quotient (IQ) was used to measure collective intelligence. The results revealed a positive and significant relationship between SEC and EM. The same result was found for the relationship between IQ and EM. The principal implication of these results is that auditors, standards setters, international market participants, and policymakers need to consider the effects of SEC and collective intelligence on financial reporting. More specifically, these actors should scrutinize the financial reports more in cultures characterized by high levels of SEC and collective intelligence.

A cryptocurrency is a digital medium of exchange that operates independent of the central bank. It relies on cryptography to secure financial transactions and to check asset transfer. Several studies have shown that several factors play a role in inhibiting cryptocurrency spread, such as national culture, variables related to consumer psychology as well as factors related to regulation and monetary policy. Despite all the technological innovations, the inclusion of cryptocurrencies has become a challenge to governments and central banks since cryptocurrencies are often disfavored by rigorous regulation and monetary policy. On the other hand, psychological levels such as the need for human interaction, the organizational and functional barriers and many other variables related to power distance and uncertainty avoidance are the hindering factors for cryptocurrency adoption. In this chapter, we study the phenomenon of resistance to the spread of cryptocurrency. This study aims to explain how economic and psychological factors could discourage the consumer to use cryptocurrency.