The impact of organizational and national cultural differences on social conflict and knowledge transfer in international acquisitions

Journal of Management Studies

Volumn 49, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 1-27

  Vaara, Eero ^a   Sarala, Riikka ^b   Stahl, Günter K ^c   Björkman, Ingmar ^d  

^a EMLYON BUSINESS SCHOOL   (France)

^b UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT GREENSBORO   (United States)

^c VIENNA UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS   (Austria)

^d HANKEN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS   (Finland)

Author keywords

Acquisition; Culture; Integration; Knowledge transfer; Learning; Social conflict; Social identity

Indexed keywords

EID: 83755224676     PISSN: 00222380     EISSN: 14676486     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00975.x     Document Type: Article

References (112)

1. Alvesson, M. (2002). Understanding Organizational Culture. London: Sage.
2. Ambos, B. and Ambos, T. C. (2009). 'The impact of distance on knowledge transfer effectiveness in multinational corporations'. Journal of International Management, 48, 24-41.
3. Anderson, J. C. (1987). 'An approach for confirmatory measurement and structural equation modeling of organizational properties'. Management Science, 33, 525-41.
4. Anderson, J. C. and Gerbing, D. W. (1988). 'Structural equation modelling in practice: a review and recommended two-step approach'. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 411-23.
5. Arbuckle, J. L. (1996). 'Advanced structural equation modelling: issues and techniques'. In Marcoulides, G. A. and Schumacker, R. E. (Eds), Full Information Estimation in the Presence of Incomplete Data. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 243-77.
6. Ashforth, B. E. and Mael, F. (1989). 'Social identity theory and the organization'. Academy of Management Review, 14, 20-39.
7. Barkema, H. G. and Vermeulen, F. (1998). 'International expansion through start-up or acquisition: a learning perspective'. Academy of Management Journal, 41, 7-26.
8. Birkinshaw, J., Bresman, H. and Håkanson, L. (2000). 'Managing the post-acquisition integration process: how the human integration and task integration processes interact to foster value creation'. Journal of Management Studies, 37, 395-425.
9. Björkman, I., Stahl, G. and Vaara, E. (2007). 'Impact of cultural differences on capability transfer in acquisitions: the mediating roles of capability complementarity, absorptive capacity, and social integration'. Journal of International Business Studies, 38, 658-72.
10. Boomsma, A. (2000). 'Reporting analyses of covariance structures'. Structural Equation Modeling, 7, 461-83.
11. Bresman, H., Birkinshaw, J. and Nobel, R. (1999). 'Knowledge transfer in international acquisitions'. Journal of International Business Studies, 30, 439-63.
12. Buono, A. F. and Bowditch, J. L. (1989). The Human Side of Mergers and Acquisitions. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
13. Byrne, B. (2001). Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
14. Capron, L., Dussage, P. and Mitchell, W. (1998). 'Resource redeployment following horizontal acquisitions in Europe and North America, 1988-1992'. Strategic Management Journal, 19, 631-61.
15. Cartwright, S. and Cooper, C. L. (1992). Mergers and Acquisitions: The Human Factor. Oxford: Betterworth-Heineman.
16. Cartwright, S. and Cooper, C. L. (1993). 'The role of cultural compatibility in successful organizational marriage'. Academy of Management Executive, 7, 50-70.
17. Chatterjee, S., Lubatkin, M. H., Schweiger, D. M. and Weber, Y. (1992). 'Cultural differences and shareholder value in related mergers: linking equity and human capital'. Strategic Management Journal, 13, 319-34.
18. Cohen, W. M. and Levinthal, D. A. (1990). 'Absorptive capacity - a new perspective on learning and innovation'. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 1128-52.
19. Cornelissen, J. P., Haslam, S. A. and Balmer, J. M. T. (2007). 'Social identity, organizational identity, and corporate identity: towards an integrated understanding of processes, patternings, and products'. British Journal of Management, 18, 1-16.
20. Dacin, T. and Weber, K. (in press). 'Special Issue on the Cultural Construction of Organization life'. Organization Science, in press.
21. Datta, D. K. (1991). 'Organizational fit and acquisition performance: effects of post-acquisition integration'. Strategic Management Journal, 12, 281-97.
22. Datta, D. K. and Grant, J. H. (1990). 'Relationships between type of acquisition, the autonomy given to the acquired firm, and acquisition success: an empirical analysis'. Journal of Management, 16, 29-44.
23. Datta, D. K. and Puia, G. (1995). 'Cross-border acquisitions: an examination of the influence of relatedness and cultural fit on shareholder value creation in U.S. acquiring firms'. Management International Review, 35, 337-59.
24. David, K. and Singh, H. (1994). 'Sources of acquisition cultural risk'. In Krogh, G., Sinatra, A. and Singh, H. (Eds), The Management of Corporate Acquisitions. Houndmills: Macmillan, 251-92.
25. Easterby-Smith, M., Lyles, M. A. and Tsang, E. W. K. (2008). 'Inter-organizational knowledge transfer: current themes and future prospects'. Journal of Management Studies, 45, 477-690.
26. Elsass, P. M. and Veiga, J. F. (1994). 'Acculturation in acquired organizations: a force-field perspective'. Human Relations, 47, 431-53.
27. Empson, L. (2001). 'Fear of exploitation and fear of contamination: impediments to knowledge transfer in mergers between professional service firms'. Human Relations, 54, 839-63.
28. Fiol, C. M. (1994). 'Consensus, diversity and learning in organizations'. Organization Science, 5, 403-20.
29. Fornell, C. and Larcker, D. F. (1981). 'Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error'. Journal of Marketing Research, 18, 39-50.
30. Gertsen, M. C., Søderberg, A.-M. and Torp, J. E. (1998). 'Different approaches to understanding of culture in mergers and acquisitions'. In Gertsen, M. C., Søderberg, A.-M. and Torp, J. E. (Eds), Cultural Dimensions of International Mergers and Acquisitions. Berlin: De Gruyter, 39-56.
31. Ghoshal, S. (1987). 'Global strategy - an organizing framework'. Strategic Management Journal, 8, 425-40.
32. Golden, B. R. (1992). 'The past is the past - or is it? The use of retrospective accounts as indicators of past strategy'. Academy of Management Journal, 35, 848-60.
33. Greenwood, R., Hinings, C. R. and Brown, J. (1994). 'Merging professional service firms'. Organization Science, 5, 239-57.
34. Gupta, A. K. and Govindarajan, V. (2000). 'Knowledge flows within multinational corporations'. Strategic Management Journal, 21, 473-96.
35. Hair, J., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L. and Black, W. (1998). Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
36. Hambrick, D. C. and Cannella, A. A. (1993). 'Relative standing: a framework for understanding departures of acquired executives'. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 733-62.
37. Harzing, A. (2004). 'The role of culture in entry-mode studies: from neglect to myopia?'. Advances in International Management, 15, 75-127.
38. Haspeslagh, P. and Jemison, D. B. (1991). Managing Acquisitions: Creating Value through Corporate Renewal. New York: The Free Press.
39. Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. London: Sage.
40. Hogg, M. A. and Terry, D. J. (Eds) (2001). Social Identity Processes in Organizational Contexts. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
41. House, R. J., Hanges, P. W., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. and Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies. Beverly Hills: Sage.
42. Hu, L. T. and Bentler, P. (1999). 'Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives'. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1-55.
43. Huber, G. P. (1991). 'Organizational learning: the contributing processes and the literatures'. Organization Science, 2, 88-115.
44. Huber, G. P. and Power, D. (1985). 'Retrospective reports on strategic-level managers: guidelines for increasing their accuracy'. Strategic Management Journal, 6, 171-80.
45. Javidan, M., Stahl, G. K., Brodbeck, F. and Wilderom, C. (2005). 'Cross-border transfer of knowledge: cultural lessons from project GLOBE'. Academy of Management Executive, 19, 59-76.
46. Jehn, K. (1997). 'A qualitative analysis of conflict types and dimensions in organizational groups'. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 530-57.
47. Kirkman, B. L., Lowe, K. B. and Gibson, C. B. (2006). 'A quarter century of Culture's Consequences: a review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede's cultural values framework'. Journal of International Business Studies, 37, 285-320.
48. Kleppestø, S. (2005). 'The construction of social identities in mergers and acquisitions'. In Stahl, G. K. and Mendenhall, M. (Eds), Mergers and Acquisitions: Managing Culture and Human Resources. Palo Alto: Stanford Business Press, 130-52.
49. Kogut, B. and Singh, H. (1988). 'The effect of national culture on the choice of entry modes'. Journal of International Business Studies, 19, 411-32.
50. Krishnan, H. A., Miller, A. and Judge, W. Q. (1997). 'Diversification and top management complementarity: is performance improved by merging similar or dissimilar teams?'. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 361-74.
51. Krug, J. A. and Hegarty, W. H. (1997). 'Postacquisition turnover among U.S. top management teams: an analysis of the effects of foreign vs. domestic acquisitions of U.S. targets'. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 667-75.
52. Lado, A. A. and Wilson, M. C. (1994). 'Human resource systems and sustained competitive advantage: a competency-based perspective'. Academy of Management Journal, 19, 699-727.
53. Lane, P. J. and Lubatkin, M. (1998). 'Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning'. Strategic Management Journal, 19, 461-77.
54. Larsson, R. and Finkelstein, S. (1999). 'Integrating strategic, organizational, and human resource perspectives on mergers and acquisitions: a case survey of synergy realization'. Organization Science, 10, 1-27.
55. Larsson, R. and Lubatkin, M. (2001). 'Achieving acculturation in mergers and acquisitions: an international case study'. Human Relations, 54, 1573-607.
56. Larsson, R. and Risberg, A. (1998). 'Cultural awareness and national vs. corporate barriers to acculturation'. In Gertsen, M., Søderberg, A. and Torp, J. E. (Eds), Cultural Dimensions of International Mergers and Acquisitions. Berlin: De Gruyter, 39-56.
57. Lehto, E. (2006). Yrityskaupat Suomessa 1989-2003: Yrityskauppojen Vaikutukset Henkilöstön Ja Toimipaikkojen Määrään Sekä Tuottavuuteen. Tutkimuksia 100. Helsinki: Palkansaajien tutkimuslaitos.
58. Little, R. J. and Rubin, D. B. (1989). 'The analysis of social science data with missing values'. Sociological Methods and Research, 18, 292-326.
59. Lubatkin, M., Calori, R., Very, P. and Veiga, J. F. (1998). 'Managing mergers across borders: a two-nation exploration of a nationally bound administrative heritage'. Organization Science, 9, 670-84.
60. Lubatkin, M., Schweiger, D. and Weber, Y. (1999). 'Top management turnover in related M&As: an additional test of the theory of relative standing'. Journal of Management, 25, 55-74.
61. Malekzadeh, A. R. and Nahavandi, A. (1998). 'Leadership and culture in transnational strategy alliances'. In Gertsen, M. C., Søderberg, A.-M. and Torp, J. E. (Eds), Cultural Dimensions of International Mergers and Acquisitions. Berlin: De Gruypter, 111-27.
62. Marsh, H. W., Hau, K.-T. and Wen, Z. (2004). 'In search of golden rules: comment on hypothesis-testing approaches to setting cutoff values for fit indexes and dangers in overgeneralizing Hu and Bentler's findings'. Structural Equation Modeling, 11, 320-41.
63. McKenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, P. M. and Fetter, R. (1993). 'The impact of organizational citizenship behaviors on evaluations of sales performance'. Journal of Marketing, 57, 70-80.
64. Miller, C. C., Cardinal, B. and Glick, W. H. (1997). 'Retrospective reports in organizational research: a reexamination of recent evidence'. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 189-204.
65. Minbaeva, D., Pedersen, T., Björkman, I., Fey, C. F. and Park, H. J. (2003). 'MNC knowledge transfer, subsidiary absorptive capacity, and HRM'. Journal of Business Studies, 34, 586-99.
66. Mirvis, P. H. and Sales, A. L. (1990). 'Feeling the elephant: culture consequences of a corporate acquisition and buy-back'. In Schneider, B. (Ed.), Organizational Climate and Culture. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 345-82.
67. Morosini, P. and Singh, H. (1994). 'Post-cross-border acquisitions: implementing national culture compatible strategies to improve performance'. European Management Journal, 12, 390-400.
68. Morosini, P., Shane, S. and Singh, H. (1998). 'National cultural distance and cross-border acquisition performance'. Journal of International Business Studies, 29, 137-58.
69. Nahavandi, A. and Malekzadeh, A. R. (1988). 'Acculturation in mergers and acquisitions'. Academy of Management Review, 13, 79-90.
70. O'Grady, S. and Lane, H. W. (1996). 'The psychic distance paradox'. Journal of International Business Studies, 27, 309-33.
71. Olie, R. (1994). 'Shades of culture and institutions in international mergers'. Organization Studies, 15, 381-405.
72. Pettigrew, A. M. (1979). 'On studying organizational cultures'. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 570-82.
73. Pfeffer, J. and Salancik, G. R. (1977). 'Organizational context and the characteristics and tenure of hospital administrators'. Academy of Management Journal, 20, 74-88.
74. Phillips, N. and Maguire, S. (2008). 'Citibankers at Citigroup: a study of the loss of institutional trust after a merger'. Journal of Management Studies, 45, 372-401.
75. Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y. and Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). 'Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies'. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 879-903.
76. Pucik, V., Evans, P., Björkman, I. and Stahl, G. K. (2010). 'Human resource management in cross-border mergers and acquisitions'. In Harzing, A.-W. and Pinnington, A. (Eds), International Human Resource Management. London: Sage, 3rd edition, 119-52.
77. Ranft, A. L. and Lord, M. D. (2002). 'Acquiring new technologies and capabilities: a grounded model of acquisition implementation'. Organization Science, 13, 420-41.
78. Reus, T. H. and Lamont, B. T. (2009). 'The double-edged sword of cultural distance in international acquisitions'. Journal of International Business Studies, 49, 1298-316.
79. Riad, S. (2005). 'The power of "organizational culture" as a discursive formation in merger integration'. Organization Studies, 26, 1529-54.
80. Riad, S. and Vaara, E. (2011). 'Varieties of national metonymy in media accounts of international mergers and acquisitions'. Journal of Management Studies, 48, 737-71.
81. Sackmann, S. A. (1997). Cultural Complexity in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
82. Sales, A. L. and Mirvis, P. H. (1984). 'When cultures collide: issues of acquisition'. In Kimberly, J. R. and Quinn, R. (Eds), Managing Organizational Transitions. Homewood, IL: Irwin, 107-33.
83. Schulz, M. (2003). 'Pathways of relevance: exploring inflows of knowledge into subunits of MNCs'. Organization Science, 14, 440-59.
84. Schweiger, D. M. (2002). M&A Integration: A Framework for Executives and Managers. New York: McGraw-Hill.
85. Schweiger, D. M. and Goulet, P. K. (2005). 'Facilitating acquisition integration through deep-level cultural learning interventions: a longitudinal field experiment'. Organization Studies, 26, 1477-500.
86. Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D. and Campbell, D. T. (2002). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
87. Shenkar, O. (2001). 'Cultural distance revisited: towards a more rigorous conceptualization and measurement of cultural differences'. Journal of International Business Studies, 32, 519-35.
88. Shook, C., Ketchen, D., Hult, T. and Kachmar, K. M. (2004). 'An assessment of the use of structural equation modeling in strategic management research'. Strategic Management Journal, 25, 397-404.
89. Simonin, B. L. (1999). 'Transfer in marketing know-how in international strategic alliances: an empirical investigation of the role of antecedents of knowledge ambiguity'. Journal of International Business Studies, 30, 463-90.
90. Sirmon, D. G. and Lane, P. J. (2004). 'A model of cultural differences and international alliance performance'. Journal of International Business Studies, 35, 306-19.
91. Slangen, A. H. L. (2006). 'National cultural distance and initial foreign acquisition performance: the moderating effect of integration'. Journal of World Business, 41, 161-70.
92. Stahl, G. K. and Sitkin, S. B. (2005). 'Trust in mergers and acquisitions'. In Stahl, G. K. and Mendenhall, M. E. (Eds), Mergers and Acquisitions: Managing Culture and Human Resources. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 82-102.
93. Stahl, G. K. and Voigt, A. (2008). 'Do cultural differences matter in mergers and acquisitions? A tentative model and examination'. Organization Science, 19, 160-76.
94. Szulanski, G. (1996). 'Exploring internal stickiness: impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm'. Strategic Management Journal, 17, Winter Special Issue, 27-43.
95. Teerikangas, S. and Very, P. (2006). 'The culture-performance relationship in M&A: from yes/no to how'. British Journal of Management, 17, 31-48.
96. Terry, D. J. (2001). 'Intergroup relations and organizational mergers'. In Hogg, M. A. and Terry, D. J. (Eds), Social Identity Processes in Organizational Contexts. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press, 249-64.
97. Tsai, W. P. and Ghoshal, S. (1998). 'Social capital and value creation: the role of intrafirm networks'. Academy of Management Journal, 41, 464-76.
98. Vaara, E. (2002). 'On the discursive construction of success/failure in narratives of post-merger integration'. Organization Studies, 23, 213-50.
99. Vaara, E. (2003). 'Post-acquisition integration as sensemaking: glimpses of ambiguity, confusion, hypocrisy, and politicization'. Journal of Management Studies, 40, 859-94.
100. Vaara, E., Tienari, J. and Björkman, I. (2003). 'Knowledge transfer around "best practices": a sensemaking perspective'. Nordiske Organisasjonsstudier, Special Issue, 5, 37-57.
101. Vaara, E., Tienari, J., Piekkari, R. and Säntti, R. (2005). 'Language and the circuits of power in a merging multinational corporation'. Journal of Management Studies, 42, 595-623.
102. Van Knippenberg, D. and Van Leeuwen, E. (2001). 'Organizational identity after a merger: sense of continuity as the key to post-merger identification'. In Hogg, M. A. and Terry, D. J. (Eds), Social Identity Processes in Organizational Contexts. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press, 249-64.
103. Van Wijk, R., Jansen, J. J. P. and Lyles, M. A. (2008). 'Inter- and intra-organizational knowledge transfer: a meta-analytic review and assessment of its antecedents and consequences'. Journal of Management Studies, 45, 830-53.
104. Veiga, J., Lubatkin, M., Calori, R. and Very, P. (2000). 'Measuring organizational culture clashes: a two-nation post-hoc analysis of a cultural compatibility index'. Human Relations, 53, 539-59.
105. Vermeulen, F. and Barkema, H. G. (2001). 'Learning through acquisitions'. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 457-76.
106. Very, P., Lubatkin, M., Calori, R. and Veiga, J. (1997). 'Relative standing and the performance of recently acquired European firms'. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 593-614.
107. Weber, Y. (1996). 'Corporate cultural fit and performance in mergers and acquisitions'. Human Relations, 49, 1181-202.
108. Weber, Y., Shenkar, O. and Raveh, A. (1996). 'National and corporate cultural fit in mergers and acquisitions: an exploratory study'. Management Science, 42, 1215-27.
109. Zahra, S. A. and George, G. (2002). 'Absorptive capacity: a review, reconceptualization, and extension'. Academy of Management Review, 27, 185-203.
110. Zander, U. (1991). Exploiting a Technological Edge: Voluntary and Involuntary Dissemination of Technology. Stockholm: Institute of International Business.
111. Zollo, M. and Singh, H. (2004). 'Deliberate learning in corporate acquisitions: post-acquisition strategies and integration capability in U.S. bank mergers'. Strategic Management Journal, 25, 1233-56.
112. Zollo, M. and Winter, S. G. (2002). 'Deliberate learning and the evolution of dynamic capabilities'. Organization Science, 13, 339-51.