Crossvergence and cultural tendencies: A longitudinal test of the Hong Kong, Taiwan and United States banking sectors

Cultural attitudes in two, sometimes assumed similar, regions of Greater China (Hong Kong and Taiwan) were compared and examined within the context of an often assumed, dissimilar region (the United States) for the banking industry during 1985 and 2000. The potentially dynamic nature of national culture, as opposed to a more static approach that is often assumed in management research using a Hofstede framework, is examined. The evidence of relative sample convergence, particularly in relation to collectivism and uncertainty avoidance, along with select, individual region static positions for cultural dimensions provide support for the crossvergence theory [Ralston, D., Holt, D, Terpstra, R., Kai-Cheng, Y., 1997. The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: a study of the U.S., Russia, Japan and China. Journal of International Business Studies 28, 177-207]. Pragmatically the research suggests organizational policies and practices should be updated for maximum effectiveness in relation to crossverging realities and that culture is not static. Academically the research cautions use of approaches that rely on dated rankings for cultural indicators as a basis for current examination since relative cultural positions among regions and nations are also not static.