Cross-Cultural Role Expectations in Nine European Country-Units of A Multinational Enterprise

Abstract

The study analyses role expectations of 104 staff from nine European country-units within a multinational enterprise (MNE). Questions were administered to a sample of staff to elicit data on managers’ and employees’ expectations about managerial and employee roles. Following a categorization of reports and statistical analyses within and between country-units (i.e. subsidiaries and headquarters offices), results offer substantial evidence of differential patterns of role expectations across country-units, suggesting influences of local cultures and other societal forces. Significant differences were also found between managers and employees independent of country-office for expectations about the managerial and employee roles. Implications for research and practice are presented and future research directions are suggested.