Coping with rapid information technology change in different national cultures

Abstract

Coping with rapid information technology change challenges IT organizations throughout the world. National culture theory based on the GLOBE study suggests that culture affects the coping with such change in China and the United States, but does not cogently suggest that coping mechanisms differ in effectiveness across the two cultures. Analysis of data from 71 IT executives and managers in China and 246 in the United States suggests that Chinese IT organizations employ coping mechanisms of vendor support, education and training, and internal procedures more extensively than do U.S. IT organizations. IT organizations in both countries apply education and training as well as internal procedures to successfully deal with the problems of rapid IT change. Vendor support additionally predicted success in Chinese but not U.S. organizations, whereas in both U.S. and Chinese organizations endurance predicted lack of success. The research thus extends national culture theory by proposing that culture affects successful coping. Implications for research suggest the identification of actions to overcome the impact of cultural differences. Implications for practice suggest that multinational corporations deal with rapid IT change differently in divisions in different cultures, regardless of whether in China, the United States, Europe, or elsewhere.

Keywords:

• coping mechanisms for rapid information technology change
• national culture
• rapid information technology change

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Erratum: Coping with rapid information technology change in different national cultures

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xiang Fang

About the authors

Xiang Fang is an Associate Professor of MIS at the Farmer School of Business, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, U.S.A. He received his Ph.D. in MIS from the University of Kentucky, M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, masters of engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology in China, and bachelors of engineering the Harbin University of Commerce. He had 8 years of industry and teaching experience before he came to the U.S. His research interests include web site design, e-commerce, and cross cultural studies in MIS. His research has previously appeared in Decision Support Systems, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Information Resources Management Journal, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, and elsewhere.

John “Skip” Benamati

John Skip Benamati is a Professor of MIS at the Farmer School of Business, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, U.S.A. He holds a Ph.D. in MIS from the University of Kentucky, an M.S.C.S. in Information Systems from Marist College, and a B.S. in Computer Science from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He has 16 years of MIS industry experience. His major research and teaching interests are e-commerce trust, changing IT, and IT management/strategy. His research has previously appeared in the Communications of the ACM, Decision Sciences Journal, Journal of MIS, Decision Support Systems, Information & Management, and elsewhere.

Albert L Lederer

Albert L. Lederer is a Professor of Information Systems at the Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering and his M.S. in Computer and Information Science from the Ohio State University, and his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati. He had a decade of MIS industry experience before becoming a professor. His major research area is information systems planning. His research has previously appeared in European Journal of Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, IEEE Transactions, and elsewhere.