China and U.S. organizational culture via value statements: an emic-etic yin-yang approach

We investigate the influence of country and industry on organizational cultural values in a sample of 277 China and 241 U.S. firms using these firms-published value statements. We use an emic-etic, yin-yang approach that allows each culture to inform and define the other which allows identification of indigenous values as well as values shared by both nations. We then analyze the shared values to determine to what extent they are influenced by industry and national environments. Our results indicate that in most cases, national environment has a stronger influence and that indigenous values emerge to provide important cultural insights missed in international business research where the primary focus is on global shared values. We recommend that organizational culture researchers and international managers be more open to understanding the influence of indigenous characteristics on organizational cultures rather than exclusively focusing on universal aspects that can be compared across societies.