Cultural variations in whether, why, how, and at what cost people are proactive: A followership perspective

Abstract

The objective of this conceptual article is to illustrate how differences in societal culture may affect employees’ proactive work behaviors (PWBs) and to develop a research agenda to guide future research on cross-cultural differences in PWBs. We propose that the societal cultural dimensions of power distance, individualism–collectivism, future orientation, and uncertainty avoidance shape individuals’ implicit followership theories (IFTs). We discuss how these cross-cultural differences in individuals’ IFTs relate to differences in the mean-level of PWB individuals show ( whether), in the motivational states driving individuals’ PWBs ( why), in the way individuals’ enact PWBs ( how), and in the evaluation of PWBs by others ( at what cost). We recommend how future research can extend this theorizing and unpack the proposed cross-cultural differences in PWBs, for example, by exploring how culture and other contextual variables interact to affect PWBs.

Understanding the initiative paradox: the interplay of leader neuroticism and follower traits in evaluating the desirability of follower proactivity

“…This is consistent with the results from the additional analyses from Study 2 and further aligns with arguments from personality theory (Costa & McCrae, 1992a;Matthews, 2018;Watson & Casillas, 2003) and previous research showing that the negative cognitive-emotional mechanism that are likely experienced by people high in neuroticism result in negative evaluations and attitudes (Burris, 2012; Niemann et al, 2014). On the other hand, leaders might sometimes rely on and appreciate followers' initiatives in order to create needed constructive change because leaders high in neuroticism tend to score lower on proactivity themselves (Tornau & Frese, 2013).…”

International differences in employee silence motives: Scale validation, prevalence, and relationships with culture characteristics across 33 countries

“…The GLOBE project provides country-level societal practices and societal values scores. We used societal practices scores, because societal cultural practices (as a culture "is") mirror individuals' reality of "how things are" in a society and how a societal culture is practiced in everyday life (Frese, 2015;Urbach et al, 2020). This is why practices are more likely to drive behavior than societal values (i.e., how a society's culture "should be").…”

“…Second, to advance understanding of the link between culture and employee silence, we examine whether approaches developed to differentiate between national cultures can be applied to explain international differences and similarities in the prevalence of silence motives. Specifically, we propose and test links between silence motives and societal practices dimensions from the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program framework (House et al, 2004)-an established approach to characterize cultural influences on organizational behavior (Dorfman et al, 2012;Urbach et al, 2020). Our study offers a rare opportunity to examine the relationship between culture and silence, because it provides sufficient variance in cultural variables of interest, minimizes context effects, and allows for examining cultural differences at the level at which they occur (Spector et al, 2015;Tsui et al, 2007).…”

The Longitudinal Link between Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and Three Different Models of Happiness

“…In the same vein, Urbach et al [ 62 ] state that “the effect of societal culture and its associated values has received little research attention to date” (p. 2). That is unfortunate, because cultural differences may affect both the antecedents and the consequences of employees’ proactive work behaviors (such as some OCBs).…”