The effects of managers' cultural distance, ethnocentrism, and quality-of-life (QOL) orientation on program standardization

The main purpose of this dissertation is to examine the effect of managerial attitudes on program standardization in international marketing. Three attitudinal variables have been identified as potential predictors of program standardization decisions: managers’ cultural distance, ethnocentrism, and quality-of-life (QOL) orientation. This dissertation empirically examines the effects of these managerial attitude variables on program standardization. It is hypothesized that managers’ ethnocentrism is directly related to program standardization, whereas cultural distance and QOL orientation are inversely related to program standardization. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that both ethnocentrism and QOL orientation are likely to moderate the relationship between cultural distance and program standardization. That is, cultural distance is likely to affect program standardization more for managers who have a high QOL orientation (or low ethnocentrism) than for managers who have a low QOL orientation (or high ethnocentrism). Cross-cultural comparisons of the three attitudinal variables and degree of standardization between U.S. managers and South Korean managers also have been explored. Specifically, it is hypothesized that compared with South Korean managers, U.S. managers are more likely to be characterized by high cultural distance, low ethnocentrism, and a high QOL orientation, and by a low degree of commitment to program standardization. Hypothesis were tested through an experiment using convenience samples of American and Koreans who were enrolled in MBA programs in the United States and South Korea. Results provide moderate support for the hypotheses. Implications are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Business

Department dc:contributor.department

Business

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1996

Author dc:creator

• Yi, Tong-jin

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Sirgy, M. Joseph

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ganesan, Shankar
• Hauenstein, Neil M. A.
• Littlefield, James
• Ozanne, Julie L.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-06062008-152058

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/38049