How Will We Work Together? Synthesizing a Cross-Cultural Collaboration Grid from the Dual Concern Model and Acculturation Framework

Abstract

Cross-cultural collaboration through multicultural groups and teams is the current reality of international business. However, management research does not specifically address the process by which individuals from different national cultures come together to collaborate in an organizational work setting. This work takes a step towards understanding this process. We first discuss the dual concerns model and the acculturation framework to identify areas of congruence that have explanatory value for cross-cultural collaboration. From this point, we derive a cross-cultural collaboration grid that can help understand how people from different national cultures might work together based on the relative prioritization of concern for self vs. concern for the other. After introducing the cross-cultural collaboration grid, we discuss potential moderating variables at both the individual (contact, superordinate goals, and power) and cultural levels (individualism-collectivism, tightness-looseness, and power distance) that will impact the cross-cultural collaboration process. We conclude with contributions and limitations that can be addressed by future research.

Keywords: acculturation, cross-cultural, collaboration, negotiation, dual concern model