TY - GEN
T1 - Assessing the relevancy of national culture in predicting the efficacy of constraints in the information systems consulting domain
AU - Dawson, Gregory S.
AU - Li, Yan
AU - Zhang, Hongyun
AU - Huang, Wayne
AU - Watson, Richard T.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Opportunism is present in professional services and, as a result, organizations adopt mechanisms to constrain it. Despite the work on constraining opportunistic consultants, researchers have generally ignored the potential impact of national culture on the efficacy of constraint mechanisms. Using the theory of relationship constraints (TRC), this study examines the effectiveness of different constraint mechanisms for information systems (IS) consultants in the United States and China based on different levels of information asymmetry, tacit and explicit knowledge. While we found support in both cultures for the salience of these dimensions, we also found important distinctions for the effectiveness of different constraints between the cultures. Legal constraints are more effective in China while social constraints are more effective in the United States. While TRC is relevant in both cultures, national culture moderates the effectiveness of various constraint mechanisms and highlights the need for additional study.
AB - Opportunism is present in professional services and, as a result, organizations adopt mechanisms to constrain it. Despite the work on constraining opportunistic consultants, researchers have generally ignored the potential impact of national culture on the efficacy of constraint mechanisms. Using the theory of relationship constraints (TRC), this study examines the effectiveness of different constraint mechanisms for information systems (IS) consultants in the United States and China based on different levels of information asymmetry, tacit and explicit knowledge. While we found support in both cultures for the salience of these dimensions, we also found important distinctions for the effectiveness of different constraints between the cultures. Legal constraints are more effective in China while social constraints are more effective in the United States. While TRC is relevant in both cultures, national culture moderates the effectiveness of various constraint mechanisms and highlights the need for additional study.
KW - Knowledge type
KW - National culture
KW - Opportunism
KW - Theory of relationship constraints
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84897696946&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84897696946
SN - 9781629934266
T3 - International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2013): Reshaping Society Through Information Systems Design
SP - 520
EP - 537
BT - International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2013)
T2 - International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2013
Y2 - 15 December 2013 through 18 December 2013
ER -