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Description
Many important models of organizational psychology have been developed, and these have seen wide use in business over the years, a testament to their value. At the same time, however, there has been increasing recognition that the models might reflect cultural values that are narrowly or even uniquely embraced by Americans. Consequently, scholars have suggested that they may have limited applicability outside of the USA (Hofstede, 1993; Trompenaars, 1993).
Consider the concept of social loafing--the tendency to reduce input in a group setting. Although the loafing effect is reliable among Americans (with their individually centred values), studies in different countries find a more complicated pattern. In China, where groups are more concerned with harmony, loafing is less likely to occur. But even among the relatively collective Chinese, loafing effects for outgroups--groups that are relatively unimportant to people--were also found. For important in-groups, the Chinese keep their contributions high (Earley, 1993).
Social comparison theory is another well-established model. It predicts that our satisfaction with work outcomes (e.g. pay) depends on relative comparisons with other people. Numerous articles have shown that while different types and motives for comparisons may exist, the basic theoretical predictions do a good job of explaining people's behaviour (e.g. Buunk & Mussweiler, 2001).
Surprisingly, this is one area where there has been little cross-national investigation. This could be an important oversight given that there are reasons to believe that comparison processes might vary across borders and cultures. Indeed, the loafing effect described above is consistent with this conjecture since, at least in some cultures, people look to group members as a guide for how much effort to expend. Likewise, social comparison theory claims that people are motivated to compare with similar others to obtain information relevant to the self. And while research shows that we make both upward (Gruder, 1977; Wheeler, 1966) and downward comparisons (Wills, 1981, 1991), both seem to occur in the service of self-evaluation.
This perspective on the self reflects a Western, if not American, emphasis on individualism (Hofstede, 1993), one in which the self is viewed as independent of others rather than interdependent (Markus & Kityama, 1991). Despite this backdrop, we are aware of only two studies that speak to the issue of social comparisons across countries. An interesting study by Brown and Haeger (1999) looked at comparison choices made by citizens in six different EU countries. Respondents were asked to name other EU countries with which they compare. Brown and Haeger observed a tendency for people to choose a country that was better off economically than their own. Germany generally was the country most often chosen as the upward comparison other. Also, Tropp and Wright (1999) looked at comparisons made by two US cultural groups. They found that when Latinos and African-Americans... |
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