Title: Cross-culture management: an examination on task, relationship and work overload stress orientations of Japanese and Vietnamese

Authors: Lam D. Nguyen; Bahaudin G. Mujtaba; Loan N.T. Pham

Addresses: College of Business, Bloomsburg University, 400 East Second Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815, USA ' H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship, Nova Southeastern University, 3301 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33314, USA ' Business Administration Department, Banking University of Ho Chi Minh, 39 Ham Nghi Street, Nguyen Thai Binh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract: Firms strategically exploit their human capital as well as other resources to achieve strategic competitiveness. It is increasingly important that firms need to understand different expectations and behaviours of their diverse workforce to be able to succeed in this global economy. This paper examines task, relationship and work overload stress orientations of people in the high-context cultures of Japan and Vietnam. As a result of the analysis of 419 responses, some significant differences were found between the two samples. It appears that Vietnamese have significantly higher scores on task, relationship and stress orientations than Japanese respondents. Gender was not a significant factor in the differences of task, relationship and stress orientations of these respondents. In this paper, literature on Japanese and Vietnamese cultures, leadership styles, and stress is presented along with practical application, suggestions and implications for future studies.

Keywords: cross-culture management; Japan; leadership; relationships; strategic competitiveness; strategic management; stress perception; culture; task orientation; human capital; work overload; culturally diverse workforce; gender; Vietnam.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2013.057557

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2013 Vol.5 No.1, pp.72 - 92

Published online: 22 Sep 2014 *

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