Cultural Effects on Organizational Resilience: Evidence from the NAFTA Region

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of national culture on organizational resilience, the effects of which are analyzed for companies from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) region. This paper utilizes an etic approach to study this relationship and has an empirical design with a sample of N = 464. The direct effect of national culture on organizational resilience is investigated. To measure national culture, this paper relies on the dimensions of Hofstede. A multiple regression analysis is applied to answer the hypotheses. Results show that the dimensions of power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence have a significant direct effect on an organization’s resilience. This paper confirms the necessity for reflecting upon the importance of national cultures to globally-working organizations. Organizations that are dedicated to proactive development in their organizational resilience must understand the cultural circumstances that might hinder resilience development. Indeed, cultural influences play a significant role in human resource trainings, choices of location, leadership styles, and managing stakeholders and external alliances to improve organizational resilience. This paper is the first to quantitatively study the relationship of national culture on organizational resilience.