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Working Across Cultures
When will people from different national cultures
have similar ethical attitudes? And why is this important to know in international business?
Dr. Andrew Spicer, assistant professor of international
business, addresses these questions in both his teaching and his research. In his classes on
globalization and corporate responsibility, he asks students to explore whether they agree or
disagree on ethical issues with classmates with different national background. In his research, he
collaborates with
Dr. Wendy Bailey, assistant professor of accounting, to
examine the convergence and divergence of ethical attitudes across national borders.
Spicer’s and Bailey’s research, funded in part through the Moore School’s Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), compares the ethical attitudes of American expatriate managers working in Russia with the ethical attitudes of American managers in America and Russian managers in Russia. They find “a common morality in individual ethical evaluations across borders, even in situations where society-level behavior seems to suggest otherwise.” This is important to know, said Spicer, because “…in an increasingly globalized marketplace, the identification of cultural similarities may be just as important as differences since members of different societies need to build on common morality and beliefs when working together to meet collective goals.”
In a nutshell, the professors found similar ethical attitudes under conditions of “ hypernorms,” i.e., a common morality that all peoples of the world hold, such as the need for companies to avoid physical harm to their employees and consumers. Bailey and Spicer also found commonality when expatriates working abroad are highly integrated into local cultures. In this case, they are more likely to follow the local ethical norms of their host country rather than their home country.
Spicer's and Bailey's collaborative papers:
—Spicer, A., Dunfee, T. & Bailey, W. (2004). “Does national context matter in ethical decision making? An empirical test of integrative social contracts theory.” Academy of Management Journal, 47 (4): 610-620.
—Spicer, A., & Bailey, W. “When does national identity matter?: Convergence and divergence in international business ethics.” Academy of Management Journal. Forthcoming. December 2007.
When will people from different national cultures
have similar ethical attitudes? And why is this important to know in international business?
Dr. Andrew Spicer, assistant professor of international
business, addresses these questions in both his teaching and his research. In his classes on
globalization and corporate responsibility, he asks students to explore whether they agree or
disagree on ethical issues with classmates with different national background. In his research, he
collaborates with
Dr. Wendy Bailey, assistant professor of accounting, to
examine the convergence and divergence of ethical attitudes across national borders.
Spicer’s and Bailey’s research, funded in part through the Moore School’s Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), compares the ethical attitudes of American expatriate managers working in Russia with the ethical attitudes of American managers in America and Russian managers in Russia. They find “a common morality in individual ethical evaluations across borders, even in situations where society-level behavior seems to suggest otherwise.” This is important to know, said Spicer, because “…in an increasingly globalized marketplace, the identification of cultural similarities may be just as important as differences since members of different societies need to build on common morality and beliefs when working together to meet collective goals.”
In a nutshell, the professors found similar ethical attitudes under conditions of “ hypernorms,” i.e., a common morality that all peoples of the world hold, such as the need for companies to avoid physical harm to their employees and consumers. Bailey and Spicer also found commonality when expatriates working abroad are highly integrated into local cultures. In this case, they are more likely to follow the local ethical norms of their host country rather than their home country.
Spicer's and Bailey's collaborative papers:
—Spicer, A., Dunfee, T. & Bailey, W. (2004). “Does national context matter in ethical decision making? An empirical test of integrative social contracts theory.” Academy of Management Journal, 47 (4): 610-620.
—Spicer, A., & Bailey, W. “When does national identity matter?: Convergence and divergence in international business ethics.” Academy of Management Journal. Forthcoming. December 2007.