Cultural and Economic Determinants of Managerial Perceptions of Quality

ABSTRACT

The study investigates the impact of societal-level factors and organizational attributes on managerial perceptions of quality. The results are based on a cross-national study of managerial perceptions of quality utilizing data from the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Turkey. The study draws on Cheng (1994) by including the societal context into the analysis of organizations. It has been shown that the application of such an inclusive approach improves cross-national research by focusing on society-level variables in addition to the organizational-level variables. Models' coefficients are estimated using an Ordered Logit estimation method. The findings suggest that cultural factors are significant predictors of overall perceptions towards quality exhibited by managers. Specifically, the results indicate that managers from cultures with high levels of individualism and hierarchy tend to perceive quality processes differently than do their counterparts in other cultures.

KEYWORDS:

• Cross-national study
• quality perceptions
• survey
• culture