Individualism/Collectivism and Attitudes towards Human Resource Systems: A Comparative Study of American, Irish, and Indian MBA Students

17 Pages Posted: 14 Oct 2012

See all articles by Amit Gupta

Amit Gupta

Management Development Institute; Indian Institute of Management Amritsar; Indian Institute of Management (IIMB), Bangalore; Indian Institute of Management Amritsar; Indian Institute of Management Amritsar

N. Ramamoorthy

University of Houston - Victoria

Ron Sardessai

University of Houston - Victoria - School of Business Administration

Patrick Flood

Dublin City University

Date Written: August 30, 2003

Abstract

In this study, we collected data from one-hundred-and eight MBA Students from the USA, Ireland, and India on their individualism/collectivism (IC) orientations and their preferences for human resource management (HRM)practices. Countrary to expectations, the Indian sample tended to be more individualistic than the American or Irish sample. While there were no differences on the preferences for progressive HRM practices across sample, the Americans exhibited a greater preference for paternalistic practices than the Indians and the Irish. Further, the Americans also showed a greater preference for quality in rewards than the Irish and fairness in appraisals/rewards than the Indians. At the individual level, controling for nationality, age, and gender, a higher individualism on the supermacy of group goals and self-reliance dimensions were positevly related to progressive HRM practices. A higher individualism on supremacy of group goals was also positively related to procedural fairness in appraisals/rewards and negatively related to paternalistic HRM practices. A higher preference to work alone was negatively related to progressive HRM practices. Further a higher indvidualism on supermacy of group interest dimension was negatively related to progressive HRM practices and positively related to paternalistic HRM practices. Implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

Gupta, Amit and Gupta, Amit and Ramamoorthy, N. and Sardessai, Ron and Flood, Patrick, Individualism/Collectivism and Attitudes towards Human Resource Systems: A Comparative Study of American, Irish, and Indian MBA Students (August 30, 2003). IIM Bangalore Research Paper No. 212, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2159716 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2159716

Amit Gupta (Contact Author)

Indian Institute of Management Amritsar ( email )

Inside Government Polytechnic Campus
Polytechnic Road PO: Chheharta, G.T. Road
Amritsar, 143105
India

Management Development Institute

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Indian Institute of Management (IIMB), Bangalore ( email )

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Bangalore, Karnataka 560076
India

HOME PAGE: http://amitg@iimb.ernet.in

Indian Institute of Management Amritsar ( email )

Inside Government Polytechnic Campus
Polytechnic Road PO: Chheharta, G.T. Road
Amritsar, 143105
India

Indian Institute of Management Amritsar ( email )

Inside Government Polytechnic Campus
Polytechnic Road PO: Chheharta, G.T. Road
Amritsar, 143105
India

N. Ramamoorthy

University of Houston - Victoria ( email )

14000 University Blvd.
Sugar Land, TX 77479
United States

Ron Sardessai

University of Houston - Victoria - School of Business Administration ( email )

14000 University Blvd.
Sugar Land, TX 77479
United States
281-275-3381 (Phone)
281-275-3378 (Fax)

Patrick Flood

Dublin City University ( email )

Dublin
Ireland

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