The Effect of Cultural Differences on Behavioral Responses to Low Job Satisfaction
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Effect
of
Cultural
Behavioral
Differences
Responses
to
on
Job
Low
Satisfaction David C. Thomas* SIMON FRASERUNIVERSITY
KevinAu** THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
This article reports the results of a field study that evaluated behavioral responses to low job satisfaction of participants in Hong Kong and New Zealand. Culture, measured by vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism, had both main and moderating effects on responses. First, cultural groups INTRODUCTION Rarely can organizations guarantee uniformly high job satisfaction among members. Thus, behavioral responses of employees to low job satisfaction, such as absenteeism, turnover, and dissent, are of continuing interest. Also, increased globalization and changing work force demographics mean managers are increasingly concerned with understanding the complexities associated with
responded differently to low job satisfaction with exit, voice, loyalty, or neglect. Second, culture moderated the effect of quality of job alternatives and job satisfaction on exit and loyalty, and moderated the effect of quality of job alternatives on voice.
managing workers from different cultures. These factors suggest a practical concern for understanding cultural differences in the nature of exchange relationships that employees have with their employer and their responses to low job satisfaction in particular. Rusbult and colleagues (Rusbult, Farrell, Rogers, and Mainous, 1988) made a significant contribution to our understanding of employee-employer
*David C. Thomas is an Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University. His research is
concerned with cross-cultural interactions in organizationalsettings. **Kevin Au is Associate Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include cross-culturalmethods, intra-culturalinteraction, and various management issues in MNCs. The authors are grateful to Kurt Dirks, Ping Ping Fu, Chun Hui, and Bruce Meglino for comments on a previous version of this article and to JaniceChan for data collection assistance. Part of this research was conducted while the first author was affiliated with the University of Auckland, New Zealand. JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES,
33, 2 (SECONDQUARTER2002): 309-326
309
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ANDJOBSATISFACION CULTURE
transferring; searching Exit-quitting; for a different job; thinking about quitproblems with ting; Voice-discussing the supervisor or co-workers; suggesting solutions; seeking help from an outside agency; Loyalty-waiting and hoping for improvement; trusting the organization to do the right thing; Neglect-reduced interest or effort; chronic lateness or absenteeism; using company time for personal business; increased error rate. The responses relate to one another systematically by differing along the dimensions of constructiveness versus destructiveness and activity versus passivity. According
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