Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA
Date of Award
12-2000
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
International Business
First Advisor
Dr. Linda Matthews
Second Advisor
Dr. John Sargent
Third Advisor
Dr. Jose A. Pagan
Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation is to use field research data gathered from Mexican maquiladora administrative professionals in order to develop a new scale of Mexican Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (MOCB—“going beyond the norm”). A major tenet from the literature states that to correctly capture an entire phenomenon such as MOCBs in a different culture, researchers must use both the emic/etic dyad, triangulation, and should use employee samples.
The methodology in this dissertation utilizes a preliminary study and a main study. The first study uses two large multinational enterprises (MNEs) to empirically test six propositions. The preliminary study determined that organizational citizenship behavior needs a significant amount of emic refinement when used in a Mexican cultural context. The results imply that existing scales are incapable of capturing the OCB construct in Mexico. Study two followed Churchill's (1979) blueprint to develop a new scale. This study used three independent samples of Mexican employees to develop an MOCB scale. The data for the second study consists of 632 full-time employees who provided 1,712 items and 1,182 useable employee evaluations from 76 different MNEs.
This dissertation contributes to the international management literature in several ways. First, I developed a functional MOCB scale for Mexico and found that our domestic research has an etic and an emic dimension that affects its direct applicability in other cultures. Second, I was able to combine different streams of literature to provide an enhanced method to take domestic constructs internationally and develop functional and equivalent scales that allow researchers to make true cross-cultural comparisons. I found that MOCBs in the Mexican maquiladora environment have both an etic and emic dimension. Furthermore, I address etic issues such as the differences in semantics and idiosyncrasies of different cultures, along with explaining the newly developed emic dimensions of camaraderie, sincerity, and professional development.
The implications of this study indicate that domestic U.S. measures contain both a universal and culturally specific dimension. This study alludes to the fact that certain phenomena have global implications, such as the willingness of an employee to give his or her whole effort to an employer (MOCB), job satisfaction, organizational trust, and the search for fairness in the workplace. Future research should proceed to explain which variables drive a Mexican to go beyond the norm for an organization.
Granting Institution
University of Texas-Pan American
Comments
Copyright 2000 Luis Ortiz. All Rights Reserved.
https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/etic-emic-dimensions-organizational-citizenship/docview/304681544/se-2?accountid=7119