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S. Arzu Wasti Sabanci University, Istanbul Tilburg University, NL (Visiting) Cetin Onder

Methodological Issues in Cross-Cultural Research: Lessons from a Review of the Organizational Commitment Literature. S. Arzu Wasti Sabanci University, Istanbul Tilburg University, NL (Visiting) Cetin Onder Sabanci University, Istanbul. Employee Commitment in the Western Context.

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S. Arzu Wasti Sabanci University, Istanbul Tilburg University, NL (Visiting) Cetin Onder

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  1. Methodological Issues in Cross-Cultural Research: Lessons from a Review of the Organizational Commitment Literature S. Arzu Wasti Sabanci University, Istanbul Tilburg University, NL (Visiting) Cetin Onder Sabanci University, Istanbul

  2. Employee Commitment in the Western Context • Affective commitment (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979): Desire to stay with an organization • Continuance commitment (Becker, 1960; Hrebiniak & Alutto, 1972): Need to stay with an organization • Normative commitment (Weiner & Vardi, 1980): Obligation to stay with an organization • In 1990, Allen and Meyer offered a three component model of organizational commitment

  3. Cross-Cultural Research on Organizational Commitment • More than two decades’ of research • Testing the generalizability of antecedents and consequences of commitment • Comparing of overall levels of commitment in different cultures • Methodological problems blur the understanding of the influence of culture on commitment • Randall (1993) • 27 articles published between 1971-1990 • Redding, Norman & Schlander (1994) • Summary of the OC literature in East Asian settings

  4. Article Sampling • Timeframe • January 1991-December 2001 • Journals • English language academic journals currently indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) • Social Psychology, Applied Psychology, Management, and Industrial Relations • Articles • “Cross-cultural” organizational commitment articles that empirically investigated the construct itself, its antecedents, and/or outcomes • Final sample: 56 articles

  5. Cross-Cultural Research Design Pseudo-etic:Emic constructs and measures assumed to be etic • Generalizability • Exploratory pseudo-etic study with no explicit or ex post treatment of culture • One-way • Pseudo-etic study advancing theoretical hypotheses based on culture theories • N-way • Study by a multicultural team in an attempt to incorporate both etic (universal) and emic (culture-specific) perspectives • Indigenization from without (Derived etic) • Study adapting imported theories, concepts, and methods to better suit the local context • Indigenization from within (Emic) • Study that draws on indigenous theories and methods

  6. Sampling • Sampling of Culture/Country • Purposive versus convenience sampling • Alignment/description of macro- and meso-institutional contexts • Broad politico-economic and industrial/organizational environments • Equivalence of sample characteristics and/or statistical control for sample differences • Demographics, occupational characteristics and hierarchical status • Description of sample characteristics

  7. Instrumentation • Translation • Translation only, committee approach to translation, translation-backtranslation,ensuring semantic equivalence (adaptation) • Reliability • Validation • Reference to validation in the original source language, reference to validation in the local language, report of study-specific validation analyses • Measurement Equivalence • Covariance structure analysis • Pilot testing

  8. Data Collection • Alignment/description of administration procedure • Alignment/description of administration of the research instrument (data collection procedure) • Familiarity with stimuli • Participants’ familiarity with the research instrument administered

  9. Validation of the Coding • Pilot test on 13 articles in Randall’s (1993) sample, published in SSCI journals • Satisfactory interrater reliability (73%-100%) for all but two coding measures • Further validation of the cross-cultural research design coding by the reference information in the articles • Whether research design relates to the extent to which articles draw on • research in disciplines such as sociology, • previous comparative research on organizational commitment, • relevant publications in the local language

  10. Cross-Cultural Research Design

  11. Methodological Practices of Comparative Studies:Sampling and Data Collection

  12. Methodological Practices of Comparative Studies:Instrumentation

  13. Methodological Practices of “No-Context” Studies:Sampling and Data Collection

  14. Methodological Practices of “No-Context” Studies: Instrumentation

  15. Methodological Practices of Generalizability Studies:Sampling and Data Collection

  16. Methodological Practices of Generalizability Studies:Translation

  17. Methodological Practices of Generalizability Studies:Validation

  18. Methodological Practices of One-Way Studies:Sampling and Data Collection

  19. Methodological Practices of One-Way Studies:Instrumentation

  20. Methodological Practices of Indigenization from Without and N - Way Studies:Sampling and Data Collection

  21. Methodological Practices of Indigenization from Without and N - Way Studies :Instrumentation n % Translation No translation information provided 1 33 Scale translated and back -translated 1 33 Previous translation referred to 1 33 Pilot test information provided 1 33 Satisfactory reliability reported 3 100 Validation Previous validation in local language referred to 1 33 Satisfactory validation information reported 2 67 (N = 3)

  22. Discussion • A more theoretically informed approach to the inclusion of culture is emerging • The majority of the studies still exploratory • The pseudo-etic approach is dominant • The validity of extant (typically North American) knowledge is assumed • Some cross-cultural work appears to be opportunistic • Overestimations of similarity despite failures to account for economical, legal (e.g., labor mobility) or organizational (e.g., prevalence of family firms) differences

  23. Discussion • One-way studies also suffer from errors of omission • Only dealing with constructs found to be important in the North American context (e.g., affective commitment) • Future comparative research can benefit from • N-way research designs • More active involvement of international collaborators (e.g., decentering research instruments) • Undertaking multi-method designs

  24. Discussion • Single-country studies should use the opportunity to build indigenous theory • More qualitative inquiry • To identify emic constructs and as a check on “underinclusive” instruments • Greater consultation of other disciplines such as sociology, history • e.g., kin vs. non-kin collectivism (Redding et al., 1994); affective, instrumental, mixed relationships (Hwang, 1987)

  25. Discussion • Researchers should not indulge in “cosmetic indigenization” • How culture-specific are the proposed constructs • How meaningful are they in understanding behavior in contemporary society • Do indigenous measures truly improve on imported measures in predicting relevant criteria • The value of indigenous work also derives from its potential to confirm universals

  26. My Dissertation Research • To test the generalizability of Meyer and Allen’s (1990) three-component model of organizational commitment in a non-Western context • To identify and measure emic antecedents, expressions of commitment as well as exploring its relation to various job-related outcomes in the Turkish context • To investigate the influence of individual differences in individualism and collectivism on the development and consequences of organizational commitment

  27. Overall Research Design • Study 1: Conducted in-depth interviews with 83 Turkish employees. • Study 2: Administered the emic antecedent and commitment items as well the three-component OC Scale developed by Meyer et al. (1993) to 351 Turkish public sector employees. • Study 3: Administered a revised survey to 916 Turkish private sector employees from 46 organizations.

  28. Results of Study I and II • Generated several emic organizational commitment items • Identified several emic organizational commitment antecedents and developed scales for: • Influence of family • Informal recruitment • Organizational collectivism • Generalized norms for loyalty • Investments in relationships

  29. Study I and II -- CFA Results

  30. Study III: Exploring Affective-Continuance Commitment • Affective attachment: identification with and involvement in the organization (Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1979) • Calculative attachment: recognition of costs associated with leaving; side-bets (Becker, 1960)

  31. Culturally Varying Nature of Side-bets “A person sometimes finds he has made side-bets constraining his present activity because the existence of generalized cultural expectations provides penalties for those who violate them. One such expectation operates in the area of work. People feel that a man ought not to change his job too often and that one who does is erratic and untrustworthy.” Becker (1960. p.36)

  32. Becker’s (1960) Side-bet Theory Impersonal bureaucratic arrangements Continuance commitment Individual’s adjustments to social positions Generalized cultural norms Self-presentation, social image concerns

  33. Antecedents and Consequences of Affective and Continuance Commitment Organizational collectivism Satisfaction with life Affective commitment Satisfaction with work Norms for loyalty Work withdrawal Informal recruitment Continuance commitment Citizenship behaviors Ingroup influence Lack of alternatives Turnover intentions Investments

  34. The moderating influence of culture on antecedents of continuance commitment Satisfaction with life Satisfaction with work .43*(.05) .38*(.05) Work withdrawal -.35*(.05) Affective commitment Organizational collectivism .55*(.05) .46*(.05) Citizenship -.64*(.05) Informal recruitment Turnover intentions -.07* (.04) Norms Satisfaction with life .08 (.07) .29*(.09) -.06 (.05) Continuance commitment .34*(.08) -.05 (.05) Ingroup influence Work withdrawal .39*(.07) .03 (.05) .30*(.05) Investments Citizenship -.16*(.04) .37*(.07) Note. * p < .05 (one-tailed) Low allocentrics (n=319) High allocentrics (n=329) Turnover intentions Lack of alternatives

  35. Some Supporting Evidence • Currently, mainstream turnover research is being criticized for lack of universal applicability (e.g., Maertz et al., 2003) • Neglected antecedents such as normative expectations, relationships with coworkers and leaders • Assumption that turnover decisions are the result of individual choice behavior • The construct of continuance commitment is also under scrutiny (e.g., Gellatly and Meyer, 2004) • Its relation to normative commitment • Its “calculative” nature

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