Abstract
The study addresses the issue of female employment in foreign companies in Japan by introducing a conceptual framework that integrates the theoretical perspective of the Japanese business culture and system of values used in intercultural research with the empirical description of the present-day growing “generation and gender gap” from the literature on intercultural management. The article further reports on a qualitative, in-depth study of work-related expectations of the Japanese female employees of foreign companies. Participants shared the reasons for choosing foreign companies as a place of employment and detailed the differences they perceived between the “classical” Japanese corporate culture in terms of gender roles and western companies’ culture, as well as their level of satisfaction with western organisations’ cultures and HR practices. The implications of these findings suggest that female employees of foreign firms generally assess their work environment more positively than with respect to Japanese companies. The women mention a higher level of correspondence of HR practices of foreign companies with their individual values and job expectations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ballon R (1992) Foreign competition in Japan: human resource strategies. Routledge, London
Bando K (2008) Policies and efforts in Japan for gender equality in sciences. Gender Equality Bureau
Bajdo LM, Dickson MW (2001) Perceptions of organizational culture and women’s advancement in organizations: a cross-cultural examination. Sex Roles 45:399–414
Baruch Y (2006) Career development in organizations and beyond: balancing traditional and contemporary viewpoints. Hum Res Manage Rev 16:125–138
Buckley S (1994) A short history of the feminist movement in Japan. In: Gelb J, Palley ML (eds) Women of Japan and Korea: continuity and change. Temple University Press, Philadelphia
Dickson MW, Den Hartogb DN, Mitchelson JK (2003) Research on leadership in a cross-cultural context: Making progress, and raising new questions. Leadersh Q 14:729–768
Diekman AB, Eagly AH (2000) Stereotypes as dynamic constructs: women and men of the past, present and future. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 26:1171–1188
Dore R (2000) Stock market capitalism: welfare capitalism: Japan and Germany versus the anglo-Saxons. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Duignan R, Iaquinto A (2005) Female managers in Japan: early indications of career progression. Women Manag Rev 20(3):191–207
Economic Survey of Japan (2008) Organisation for economic co-operation and development. http://www.oecd.org/. Accessed 12 Feb 2010
Economic Survey of Japan (2009) Organisation for economic co-operation and development. http://www.oecd.org/. Accessed 20 Feb 2010
Emrich CG, Denmark FL, Den Hartog DN (2004) Cross cultural differences in gender egalitariansm: implications for societies, organizations and leaders. In: House RJ, Hanges PJ, Jivadan M, Dorfman PW, Gupta V (eds) Culture, leadership and organization. The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp 343–394
Fagenson EA (1990) Perceived masculine and feminine attributes examined as a function of individuals’ sex and level in the organizational power hierarchy: a test of four theoretical perspectives. J Appl Psychol 75:204–211
Female Labour Force Participation (2009) Past trends and main determinants in OECD countries. OECD economics department, May 2004. http://www.oecd.org. Accessed 15 Jan 2010
Fernandez DR, Carson DS, Stepina LP, Nicholson JD (1997) Hofstede’s country classification 25 years later. J Soc Psychol 137(Fall):43–54
Ford JB, Honeycutt ED (1992) Japanese national culture as a basis for understanding Japanese business practices. Bus Horiz 27–34
Fox WM (1977) Japanese management: Tradition under strain. Bus Horiz 76–85
Fujimura-Fanselow K, Kameda A (1994) Women’s education and gender roles in Japan. In: Gelb J, Palley ML (eds) Women of Japan and Korea: Continuity and change. Temple University Press, Philadelphia
Haghirian P (2009) Japanese women in international management. Japan Spotlight 1(2):112–115
Hall RH, Xu W (1990) Research note: run silent, run deep—cultural influences on organisation in the far east. Organ Stud 11(4):569–576
Hofstede G (1980) Culture’s consequences: international differences in work-related values. Sage, Beverly Hills
Hofstede G (2001) Culture’s consequences: comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations, 2nd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks
House RJ, Hanges PJ, Ruiz-Quintanilla SA, Dorfman PW, Javidan M, Dickson MW, Gupta et al (1999) Cultural influences on leadership and organizations: Project GLOBE. In: Mobley WH, Gessner MJ, Arnold V (eds) Advances in global leadership. JAI, Stamford, pp 171–233
House RJ, Javidan M, Hanges PJ, Dorfman PW (2002) Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE. J World Bus 37(1):3–10
Javidan M, House RJ (2001) Cultural acumen for the global manager: lessons from project GLOBE. Organ Dyn 29(4):289–305
Javidan M, Dastmalchian A (2009) Managerial implications of the GLOBE project: a study of 62 societies. Asia Pac J Hum Res 47:41–58
Japan Statistical Yearbook (2003) Statistics bureau of Japan. http://www.stat.go.jp/. Accessed 18 Jan 2010
Japan Statistical Yearbook (2008) Statistics bureau of Japan. www.stat.go.jp/. Accessed 18 Jan 2010
Kakauchi S (2003) Japan: more women achieve equality in male-dominated businesses. Global Info Netw 31:1
Kambayashi N, Scarbrough H (2001) Cultural influences on IT use amongst factory managers: a UK-Japanese comparison. J Info Technol 16:221–236
Keeley D (2001) International human resource management in Japanese firms. Palgrave, London
Kelsky K (2001) Women on the verge—Japanese women, western dreams. Duke University Press, Durham
Kolb J (1999) The effect of gender role, attitude toward leadership, and self-confidence on leader emergence: implications for leadership development. Hum Res Dev Q 10:305–320
Lam AC (1992) Women and Japanese management: discrimination and reform. Routledge, New York
Lansing P, Ready K (1988) Hiring women managers in Japan: an alternative for foreign employers. Calif Manage Rev 30(3):16
Mainero LA (1994) Getting anointed for advancement: the case of executive women. Acad Manage Exec 8:53–67
Malone EF, Paik CM (2007) Value priorities of Japanese and American service academy students. Armed Forces Soc 33(2):169–185
Matsumoto D, Kudoh T, Takeuchi S (1996) Changing patterns of Individualism and collectivism in the United States and Japan. Cultur Psychol 2(1):77–107
Melkas H, Anker R (2003) Towards gender equity in Japanese and Nordic labour markets: a tale of two paths. International Labour Office, Geneva
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MECSST) (2006) Tokyo
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MECSST) (2009) Tokyo
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW): Report (2004) Tokyo
Nakata F, Takehiro R (2002) Employment and wages of female Japanese workers: past, present and future. Ind Relat 41(4):521–527
Onoa H, Piper N (2004) Japanese women studying abroad, the case of the United States. Women’s Stud Int Forum 27:101–118
Pearson C, Chatterjee S, Okachi K (2003) Managerial work role perceptions in Japanese organizations. Int J Manage 20(1):101–109
Ralston DA, Holt DH, Terpstra RH, Yu KC (1997) The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: A study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China. J Int Bus Stud First Quarter:177–207
Renshaw JR (1996) A future for Japanese women managers? JPRI Critique III(5)
Robinson PA (2003) The embeddedness of Japanese HRM practices: the case of recruiting. Hum Res Manage Rev 13:439–465
Sarros JC, Santora JC (2001) The transformational-transactional leadership model in practice. Leadersh Organ Dev J 22(8):383–394
Schwartz SH (1992) Universals in the content and structure of values: theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In Zanna MP (ed) Advances in experimental social psychology. Academic Press, San Diego
Schwartz SH (1994a) Are there universal aspects in the content and structure of values? J Soc Issues 50(4):19–45
Schwartz SH (1994b) Cultural dimensions of values: towards an understanding of national differences. In: Kim U, Triandis HC, Kagitcibasi C, Choi SC, Yoon G (eds) Individualism and collectivism: Theoretical and methodological issues. Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp 85–119
Stedham YE, Yamamura JH (2004) Measuring national culture: does gender matter? Women Manage Rev 19(5):233–243
Shimada H, Higuchi Y (1985) An analysis of trends of female labour force participation in Japan. J Labour Econ 3(1):355–374
Steinhoff P, Tanaka K (1986/1987) Women managers in Japan. Int Stud Manage Organ Fall/Winter 86/87, 16:108–132
Steinhoff P, Tanaka K (1993) Women executives in Japan. Int Stud Manage Organ 23(2):25–48
Sukigara M (1999) Foreign companies shake novelty status. Nikkei Wkly 14:16
Takahashi H (1998) Working women in Japan: a look at historical trends and legal reform. Japan Econ Inst Rep 42(6)
Taniguchi M (2006a) Succeeding where others fail to try: a case study of diversity management in the Japanese retail sector. Career Dev Int 11(3):216–229
Taniguchi M (2006b) Introduction to special issue on careers in Japan. Career Dev Int 11(3)
Trompenaars F (1993) Riding the waves of culture: understanding cultural diversity in business. The Economist Press, London
United Nations Human Development Report (2009) Overcoming barriers: human mobility and development. Human Development Reports 2009. http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2009/. Accessed 25 Jan 2010
Vogel E (1986) Japan’s new middle class. University of California Press, Berkeley
Wahlin W (2007) Women in the workplace in Japan. Profiles of professionals. Japan Inc. Sep/Oct:58–62
Weathers C (2005/2006) Equal opportunity for Japanese women. What progress? Jpn Econ 33(4):16–44
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Groznaya, E. Foreign or National?. Z Betriebswirtsch 81 (Suppl 3), 117–141 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11573-011-0455-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11573-011-0455-x