آیا یک مسئولیت قابلیت جمع پذیری دارد؟ تاثیر فرهنگ بر اعتماد و مشتری مداری سازمانی: مطالعه هفت کشور

For firms competing in the global marketplace, sustainable competitive advantages can be developed through building capabilities in one or more of three processes: internal, external, or spanning [J. Mark. 58 (1994) 37]. This paper addresses the question: “To what extent does a firm's national culture affect its ability to develop any of these capabilities, particularly those needed to develop strong relationships with external partners?” Focusing on individualism/collectivism, we examine differences in the level of four measures that reflect capabilities in these processes: (1) a firm's internal climate of trust, (2) a firm's trust for external partners, (3) customer orientation, and (4) the propensity to trust of individuals from the firm. Hypotheses are introduced and tested using data from bank managers of six Asian nations and two U.S. states. Results show that U.S. managers generally show higher levels of trust and customer orientation than Asian managers.

Marketers, particularly those engaged in global marketing, increasingly recognize the importance of relationships with a host of exchange partners: both external and internal (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Schultz (2001) argues for a “marketing triad,” in which marketers, customers, and employees all work together to create value for each other. Kotler (2000, p. 22) stresses integrated marketing requiring both external marketing, directed at people outside the company, and internal marketing: the task of hiring, training, and motivating able employees who want to serve customers well. In Zeithaml et al.'s (1990) service quality gap model, perceived quality is a function of both the accuracy of the marketer's understanding of customer expectations and the organization's (employees) performance in delivering the service. Day (1994) emphasizes the importance of both external (outside-in) and internal (inside-out) processes in the delivery of value and the development of positions of advantage. Global competitiveness, therefore, requires vision and execution both externally and internally. Managers and employees must be customer oriented and capable of building trusting relationships with external partners. Internally, value delivery is enhanced by a climate of trust. An important question for marketers and nations is to what extent culture influences an organization's external and internal capabilities. Do some cultures foster an internal environment where trust prevails? Are some more trusting of external partners and more capable of developing a customer orientation? This paper examines the role of culture in fostering trust and a customer orientation. We focus on the influence of individualism/collectivism (Hofstede, 1980), then propose hypotheses regarding national differences in the level of four measures: organizational members' propensity to trust, internal and external organizational trust, and customer orientation. Hypotheses are tested using data from midlevel bank managers from the U.S. and six Asian nations.

This study represents a major effort at measuring elements of organizational trust and effectiveness across a diverse sample of Asian nations and the United States. It introduces scales of internal and external organizational trust, organization members' propensity to trust, and customer orientation. It shows variation across nations on all of the measures and shows that organizations from individualist countries may have inherent advantages because of their culture in developing customer orientations and external relationships. As the importance of developing and integrating market-driven external, internal, and spanning capabilities continues to grow, we invite other researchers to join in our effort to more thoroughly understand how culture influences those capabilities.