Title: Scenario-Based Scales Measuring
1 Scenario-Based Scales Measuring Cultural
Orientations of Business Owners Christine
Koenig, Holger Steinmetz, Michael Frese, Andreas
Rauch University of Giessen, Germany Zhong-Ming
Wang University of Zhejiang, China
2Introduction
- The scales differ from other scales commonly used
in cross-cultural research -
- Instead of measuring culture at the aggregate
level, the scales measure cultural orientations
at the individual level. -
- Instead of being based on Likert items, the
scales are based on scenarios.
3Individual-Level Measurement
- Cross-cultural studies on individual business
owners should measure cultural orientations
rather than culture. - Cultural orientations are manifested in practices
and values of individuals. - Among the manifestation of cultural orientations,
we consider practices to be more relevant for
studying business owners than values.
4Individual-Level Measurement
- We are not aware of any cultural orientation
scales measuring practices that are suitable for
business owners. - Therefore, we developed cultural orientation
scales that measure the practices owners apply in
their businesses.
5Individual-Level Measurement
- The scales measure seven cultural orientations
- uncertainty avoidance
- power distance
- collectivism
- assertiveness
- future orientation
- humane orientation
- performance orientation
6Scenario-Based Measurement
- Cultural orientations should be measured using
scales based on scenarios rather than using
scales based on Likert items. - Likert items and scenarios differ in the
measurement of cultural orientations.
7Scenario-Based Measurement
- Scales based on Likert items tend to hold lower
cross-cultural validity than scales based on
scenarios - Likert items are more likely to be interpreted
differently by people from different cultures
than scenarios. - Likert items are more affected by the reference
group effect than scenarios.
8Development
- We developed the cultural orientation scales in a
team of Chinese and German researchers. - We created scenarios that consist of social
situations and behavioral options. - The social situations describe problems owners
may encounter in their businesses. - Each of the social situations represents one of
the cultural orientations.
9Development
- The behavioral options describe behaviors owners
may show to solve the problems. - The first option represents of low score on the
cultural orientation, whereas the second option
represents a high score. - Between the two behavioral options, there are two
mirror-inverted three-point scales.
10Sample Scenario
11Participants
- Among the 461 owners who completed the scales,
were 260 Chinese and 201 German owners. - They were not only owners but also managers of
their businesses and had at least one employee. - Their businesses belonged to information
technology, hotel and catering, automobile, or
construction industry.
12Cross-Cultural Validation
- To ascertain whether the cultural orientation
scales hold cross-cultural validity, we tested
five forms of invariance - configural invariance
- metric invariance
- scalar invariance
- factor variance invariance
- error invariance
13Configural Invariance
- The model of configural invariance comprised 23
scenarios that measured the seven cultural
orientations.
14Model
15Configural Invariance
- The model of configural invariance comprised 23
scenarios that measured the seven cultural
orientations. - The model of configural invariance provided
adequate fit (Chi2(418) 603.45 RMSEA .044
CFI .94).
16Metric Invariance
- The factor loadings were constrained to be equal
across the Chinese and the German samples. - The model of full metric invariance achieved
adequate fit (Chi2(434) 628.26 RMSEA .044
CFI .93).
17Scalar Invariance
- The item intercepts were restricted to be equal
across the Chinese and the German samples. - The model of partial scalar invariance achieved
adequate fit (Chi2(446) 641.92 RMSEA .044
CFI .93). - Given metric and scalar invariance, the means of
the seven cultural orientations can be
meaningfully compared across both samples
(Steenkamp Baumgartner,1998).
18Factor Variance Invariance
- The factor variances were constrained to be equal
across the Chinese and the German samples. - The model of partial factor variance invariance
provided adequate fit (Chi2(451) 646.71 RMSEA
.044 CFI .93). - Given metric and partial factor variance
invariance, different covariances can be
interpreted as different correlations for the
remaining five cultural orientations (Marsh
Hocevar, 1985).
19Error Variance Invariance
- The error variances were restricted to be equal
across the Chinese and the German samples. - The model of partial error variance invariance
achieved adequate fit (Chi2(463) 664.85 RMSEA
.044 CFI .93). - Given metric and factor variance invariance, this
result implies that the Chinese sample showed a
lower reliability in half of the scenarios.
20Conclusion
- All five forms of invariance were at least
partially supported. - Given metric and scalar invariance, the means of
the seven cultural orientations can be
meaningfully compared across the Chinese and the
German samples. - Given metric and factor variance invariance,
different covariances can be interpreted as
different correlations except for uncertainty
avoidance and assertiveness. - Given metric invariance, regression coefficients
can be compared across the Chinese and the German
samples.
21Thank you very much for your attention.