Exploring cultural heterogeneity: The effect of intra-cultural variation on executives’ latitude of actions in 18 countries : WestminsterResearch

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Title	Exploring cultural heterogeneity: The effect of intra-cultural variation on executives’ latitude of actions in 18 countries
Type	Journal article
Authors	Haj Youssef M.S. and Christodoulou, I.
Abstract	Research on the degree of managerial discretion, or latitude of action, accorded to executives at the national level has primarily focused on the effect of intercultural variation in values on managerial discretion by assuming spatial homogeneity within countries. However, evidence in crosscultural research indicates that cultural heterogeneity within countries can be as salient as or sometimes even more than inter-country variation. Thus, this study examines the extent to which intra-cultural variation affects the degree of discretion accorded to executives. The study tests the proposed relationships using fixed-effect regression analysis by measuring managerial discretion through survey responses of senior management consultants. It operationalizes intra-cultural variation by the standard deviation in societal members’ behaviour in terms of individualism, uncertainty tolerance and power distance. Results show that a strong relationship exists between intra-cultural variation and managerial discretion and that the direction of the relationship is negative. Executives operating in countries with high heterogeneity are subject to increased constraints from the national environment and, as such, are not able to take idiosyncratic or bold actions. Managerial discretion not only is a function of the central tendency of a society but depends on the homogeneity/heterogeneity in views innate therein. Using institutional, stakeholder and upper echelons theories, the study shows that greater intra-cultural variation negatively affects the degree of executive discretion. Thus, it provides a more nuanced understanding of such relationship and introduces a new national conceptualization that plays an important role in the strategic decision-making of business executives.
Keywords	Cultural heterogeneity, intra-cultural variation, latitude of actions, managerial discretion, national culture
Journal	International Journal of Cross Cultural Management
Journal citation	18 (2), p. 241–263
ISSN	1470-5958
Year	2018
Publisher	Sage
Accepted author manuscript	Christodoulou - Haj Youssef_IJCCM-Manuscript.pdf
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)	https://doi.org/10.1177/1470595818790611
Web address (URL)	http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470595818790611
Published	03 Aug 2018

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Exploring cultural heterogeneity: The effect of intra-cultural variation on executives’ latitude of actions in 18 countries

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