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Parent cultural control through organizational acculturation: HCN employees learning new work values in foreign business subsidiaries
Author(s) -
SELMER JAN,
DE LEON CORINNA
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1379(199612)17:1+<557::aid-job823>3.0.co;2-0
Subject(s) - subsidiary , acculturation , work (physics) , business , business administration , control (management) , psychology , management , knowledge management , sociology , multinational corporation , computer science , economics , anthropology , finance , engineering , mechanical engineering , ethnic group
Local employees in foreign business subsidiaries could learn new work values from the parent organizational culture through a process of organizational acculturation. As this is a new concept in academic research, it is important to explore organizational acculturation and its ramifications, especially since it may be used as a strategy of cultural control applied by the parent organization. Following a discussion of the theoretical foundation of this concept, the consequences of organizational acculturation are exemplified by an investigation of middle managers in Singapore. The study was undertaken in two stages. The first stage included a comparison of work values of Singaporean managers, employed by Swedish companies in Singapore, and those of a control group of Singaporean managers, not employed by Swedish companies. In the second stage, work values of managers in Singapore and Sweden were compared. Our results imply that some Swedish work values had been adopted, suggesting that the local managers had experienced organizational acculturation. Practical implications and possible further research are discussed.