EMPLOYEE’S USE OF SOURCES OF GUIDANCE AT WORK: A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18568/internext.v17i2.669

Keywords:

Sources of guidance, Organizational behavior, Cross-cultural Research

Abstract

Purpose – The objective of this research was to statistically compare employee’s use of sources of guidance (SOGs) at work in the United States and Brazil and discuss results in the light of differences concerning national cultural characteristics.

Method – 220 employees from a Brazilian university and 166 employees from an American university filled out a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. Pearson correlation tests (r) and Student t tests were run in order to investigate statistically significant differences between the two samples, which were discussed in the light of national cultural characteristics.

Main results – Americans presented significant higher means than Brazilians on Informal Rules and People Outside Organization, and Brazilians presented significant higher mean than Americans on Formal Rules and Procedures. The discussion showed that some of these differences are compatible with national culture characteristics.

Relevance/Originality – Recognizing the importance and the role of national cultures on individual’s attitudes and behavior within the organizational environment is fundamental in the search for effective and contextualized management practices.

Theoretical/methodological contributions – Up until 2020, only 12 theoretical-empirical studies about SOGs were developed. Hence, the present study theoretically and empirically contributes to knowledge about this very important work-related construct.

Social/management contributions – The results suggest to managers, human resource professionals, and psychologists important differences in the attitudes of American and Brazilian employees with respect to the use of sources of guidance at work, contributing, for instance, to recruitment and selection processes in multinationals.

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Author Biographies

André Luiz Mendes Athayde, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG, Minas Gerais, (Brasil)

Doutor em Administração pela Universidade de Brasília - UnB, Brasília, (Brasil).  Estágio Doutoral na University of Tampa - UT, Florida, (Estados Unidos). Atualmente, é Professor Adjunto do Magistério Superior lotado na Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG, Minas Gerais.  Subcoordenador do Curso de Administração; Membro do Comitê de Coordenação do Centro de Estudos Latino-Americanos, vinculado à Diretoria de Relações Internacionais (DRI/UFMG); Coordenador do Grupo de Estudos em Administração (GEA/ICA/UFMG) e Membro do Núcleo Docente Estruturante (NDE) do Curso de Administração da referida Universidade.

Claudio Vaz Torres, Universidade de Brasília - UnB, Brasília, (Brasil).

Ph.D. em Industrial Organizational Psychology - California School of Professional Psychology (1999), pós-doutorado em Marketing pela Griffith University, Austrália (2004), pós-doutorado em Cross-cultural Research pela University of Sussex, Inglaterra (2009), pós-doutorado em Cross-cultural Psychology and Human Values pela Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (2013) e pós-doutorado em Basic Human Values na University of Haifa (2018). Em todos estágios pós-doutorais, desenvolveu e validou para amostras brasileiras medidas para uso em pesquisa transcultural, notadamente o Questionário Refinado de Valores - PVQ-RR. Atualmente é revisor do JCCP - Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology; IJIR - International Journal of Intercultural Research; American Psychologist Journal; Revista Psicologia: Teoria e Prática; RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea; e RAM - Revista de Administração da Mackenzie. Avaliador de trabalhos da Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração. É filiado à Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-graduação em Psicologia, na qual coordena um Grupo de Trabalho em Psicologia e Segurança Pública. 

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Published

2022-03-18

How to Cite

Athayde, A. L. M., & Torres, C. V. (2022). EMPLOYEE’S USE OF SOURCES OF GUIDANCE AT WORK: A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL. Internext - International Business and Management Review, 17(2), 152–168. https://doi.org/10.18568/internext.v17i2.669

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Vol. 17 No. 2 (2022): Maio - Agosto

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