How national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience with paradoxical tensions
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience of tension when confronting paradoxical demands that arise during their day-to-day organizational experience. The paper further explores two types of paradoxical demands (task oriented...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140481 |
| _version_ | 1811682884202790912 |
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| author | Keller, Joshua Chen, Erica Wen Leung, Angela K.-Y. |
| author2 | Nanyang Business School |
| author_facet | Nanyang Business School Keller, Joshua Chen, Erica Wen Leung, Angela K.-Y. |
| author_sort | Keller, Joshua |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience of tension when confronting paradoxical demands that arise during their day-to-day organizational experience. The paper further explores two types of paradoxical demands (task oriented and relational oriented) and two mediating mechanisms (tolerance for contradictions and harmony enhancement concerns) that exhibit contrary cultural effects. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing from a sample of white-collar workers in China and the USA, the authors first inductively generated scenarios with task-oriented and relational-oriented paradoxical demands and then conducted three studies where participants rated the perceived tension from the scenarios. In Study 1, they examined cross-cultural differences in perceived tension and the mediating role of tolerance for contradictions. In Study 2, they primed Americans with proverbs that promoted tolerance for contradictions. In Study 3, they examined the indirect effects of harmony enhancement concerns in China in relational-oriented paradoxical demands. Findings: The results found that for task-oriented paradoxical demands, Chinese participants were less likely than American participants to experience tension and the effects were mediated by a higher tolerance for contradictions. Americans exposed to proverbs that promoted tolerance for contradictions also experienced less tension. For relational-oriented paradoxical demands, on the other hand, the authors found no cross-cultural differences, as the indirect effects of a tolerance for contradictions were mitigated by negative indirect effects of greater harmony enhancement concerns. Originality/value: This paper demonstrates that culture can influence the tension that individuals subjectively experience when they confront paradoxical conditions, suggesting that individuals learn implicitly how to cope with tensions associated with paradoxes from their broader cultural environment. However, the authors also found different cultural effects within different paradoxical conditions, suggesting that the knowledge that individuals acquire from their broader cultural environment is multifaceted |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T04:03:56Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/140481 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T04:03:56Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1404812023-05-19T07:31:16Z How national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience with paradoxical tensions Keller, Joshua Chen, Erica Wen Leung, Angela K.-Y. Nanyang Business School Business::Management Culture Harmony Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience of tension when confronting paradoxical demands that arise during their day-to-day organizational experience. The paper further explores two types of paradoxical demands (task oriented and relational oriented) and two mediating mechanisms (tolerance for contradictions and harmony enhancement concerns) that exhibit contrary cultural effects. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing from a sample of white-collar workers in China and the USA, the authors first inductively generated scenarios with task-oriented and relational-oriented paradoxical demands and then conducted three studies where participants rated the perceived tension from the scenarios. In Study 1, they examined cross-cultural differences in perceived tension and the mediating role of tolerance for contradictions. In Study 2, they primed Americans with proverbs that promoted tolerance for contradictions. In Study 3, they examined the indirect effects of harmony enhancement concerns in China in relational-oriented paradoxical demands. Findings: The results found that for task-oriented paradoxical demands, Chinese participants were less likely than American participants to experience tension and the effects were mediated by a higher tolerance for contradictions. Americans exposed to proverbs that promoted tolerance for contradictions also experienced less tension. For relational-oriented paradoxical demands, on the other hand, the authors found no cross-cultural differences, as the indirect effects of a tolerance for contradictions were mitigated by negative indirect effects of greater harmony enhancement concerns. Originality/value: This paper demonstrates that culture can influence the tension that individuals subjectively experience when they confront paradoxical conditions, suggesting that individuals learn implicitly how to cope with tensions associated with paradoxes from their broader cultural environment. However, the authors also found different cultural effects within different paradoxical conditions, suggesting that the knowledge that individuals acquire from their broader cultural environment is multifaceted MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore) 2020-05-29T07:50:02Z 2020-05-29T07:50:02Z 2018 Journal Article Keller, J., Chen, E. W., & Leung, A. K.-Y. (2018). How national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience with paradoxical tensions. Cross Cultural and Strategic Management, 25(3), 443-467. doi:10.1108/CCSM-02-2017-0013 2059-5794 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140481 10.1108/CCSM-02-2017-0013 2-s2.0-85048885308 3 25 443 467 en Cross Cultural and Strategic Management © 2018 Emerald Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. |
| spellingShingle | Business::Management Culture Harmony Keller, Joshua Chen, Erica Wen Leung, Angela K.-Y. How national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience with paradoxical tensions |
| title | How national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience with paradoxical tensions |
| title_full | How national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience with paradoxical tensions |
| title_fullStr | How national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience with paradoxical tensions |
| title_full_unstemmed | How national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience with paradoxical tensions |
| title_short | How national culture influences individuals’ subjective experience with paradoxical tensions |
| title_sort | how national culture influences individuals subjective experience with paradoxical tensions |
| topic | Business::Management Culture Harmony |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140481 |
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