Abstract
International management studies have been based primarily on the comparison of managerial behavior in countries around the world. Often, these studies have implied that business-people behave similarly with their domestic colleagues as with their foreign counterparts. In questioning that assumption, this study tests whether intra-cultural behavior accurately predicts cross-cultural behavior. Using a negotiation simulation and a sample of 462 Japanese, American, and Canadian businesspeople, behaviors in cross-cultural negotiations were found to differ in some important ways from those in intra-cultural negotiations.
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*Nancy J. Adler is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Cross-Cultural Management at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Dr. Adler received her MBA and Ph.D. from UCLA. Her research focuses on international management issues and cross-cultural management issues. She has published numerous articles, produced the film, A Portable Life, on the role of the spouse in overseas moves, and written the books, International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior (Kent Publishing 1986) and Women in Management Worldwide (M.E. Sharpe 1987).
**John L. Graham is presently Visiting Associate Professor of Marketing and International Business at the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Irvine. He received his doctorate in business administration (with a minor emphasis in cultural anthropology) from the University of California, Berkeley. His primary professional interests are in international business negotiations.
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Adler, N., Graham, J. Cross-Cultural Interaction: The International Comparison Fallacy?. J Int Bus Stud 20, 515–537 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490367
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490367