When interpreting this research some limitations should be taken into account. For example, the construct cultural values is very broad whereas this research ultimately focused on five dimensions from which two dimensions were combined due to better factor loadings. Other dimensions and instruments could be used in the future to better determine how the cultural values of people are interpreted. Moreover, culture most often is seen as something that happens on and relates to group level manifestations, whereas this study focussed on the individual level of employees. However, Bishop et al. (2006) discussed that culture could be studied at different levels from an entire corporation to a single work group. Since a group exist of individuals it is debatable to what extent there can truly be spoken of group or individual level. Furthermore, as Frambach et al. (2012) pointed out culture is shared by members of a social group and the organisation could be seen one type of group. It is very likely that a group will not be the same as time goes by. A group will evolve and will go through different stadiums just as the organisation will evolve. Cultural values will likely change with the organisation and it would be interesting to see in future research how the cultural values are on that moment. Therefore, it is recommended to use longitudinal designs in order to better determine the relationships.
Another limitation was that there can only be spoken of a true mediation when there is a direct relationship between the dependent and independent variables (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Since some relationship analyses revealed that not all cultural values not impacted on informal learning, there cannot be spoken of true mediation in all cases. However, more recently Hayes (2009) stated that it is possible that an independent factor influences a dependent factor indirectly through a mediating variable, even at the absence of a direct effect. Furthermore, he states that modern thinking about mediation analysis does not impose the requirement of an association between independent and dependent variable in order to estimate and test hypotheses about indirect effects. In the future one could also use different research methods such as interviews to gain more in depth insight or combine both qualitative and quantitative research.
Another limitation was that employees who filled in the questionnaire could be biased towards the research positively or negatively. To minimize this bias the researcher gained a list with randomly chosen e-mail addresses where the researcher again randomly chose one thousand employees as its target group. Moreover, the location(s) in Asia could not be reached, because it was not part of the concerning department. It is suggested when replicating this study to include other location(s) in for example Asia or Afrika.
31
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34
Appendices
Appendix A.
35 Figure 2. London and Sessa (2007) learning processes and outcomes.
36 Figure 3. London and Sessa (2007) ways group leaders can facilitate group learning.
37 Figure 4. The figure shows the adapted model of culture from Bishop et al. (2006).
Appendix B.
Table 1. GLOBE cultural dimension compared to Hofstede’s dimensions.
Dimension Definition Hofstede’s
dimension Gender egalitarianism The degree to which a collective minimizes gender
inequality.
Masculinity/ femininity
Assertiveness The degree to which individuals are assertive,
confrontational, and aggressive in their relationship with others.
Masculinity/ femininity
Institutional collectivism The degree to which organizational and societal institutional practices encourage and reward collective distribution of resources and collective action.
Individualism/ collectivism
In group collectivism The degree to which individuals express pride, royalty, and cohesiveness in their organization or society.
Individualism/ collectivism
Future orientation The extent to which individuals engage in future-oriented behaviours such as delaying gratification, planning and investing in the future.
Long term orientation/ Short term orientation Uncertainty avoidance The extent to which a society, organization or group relies
on social norms, rules, and procedures to alleviate unpredictability of future events.
Uncertainty avoidance
Power distance The degree to which members of a collective expert power to be distributed equally.
Power distance
Humane orientation The degree to which a collective encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring and kind to others.
-
Performance orientation
The degree to which a collective encourages and rewards group members for performance improvement and excellence.
-
Table 2. Results of EFA on Cultural Values.
38
PD IC MF SoGr IC1 - … employees pursue their individual interests; the collective
interests har...
-.575
IC2 - … employees take more pride in their own accomplishments than team accompli...
-.898
IC3 - … team leaders take more pride in the accomplishments of individuals than o...
-.531
SoGr1 - … employees like to work alone rather than in a group. .757 SoGr2 - … employees perform better when working alone than in a group. .599 MF1 - … doing your best isn't good enough, it is important to win. .481
MF2 - … the outcome is more important than what you do to get there. .587 PD1 - … subordinates are limited to question their manager when
in disagreement.
.751
PD2 - … subordinates are expected to obey their manager at all times .818 PD3 - … a person‘s influence is based primarily on the authority of
one‘s positio...
.588
MF3 - … the fulfillment of tasks is more important than caring for others. .648 MF4 - … A job with high earnings is better than a job with quality of life. .525 Eigenvalues % of variance 3.91 32.56 0.87 7.21 0.64 5.54 0.60 5.01
Table 3. Results of EFA on Self-directed Learning.
Item
Rotated factor loadings SDLO SupSupp JobAuto JobComp SDL1 - I find learning an important aspect of my working life. .541
SDL2 - Last year, I learned a lot of new things for my job on my
own initiative. .497
SDL3 - I will never be too old to learn new things for my job. .475 SDL4 - When I want to learn something new that can be useful
for my job, I take th...
.682 SDLO1 - I always search for better ways to execute my work tasks. .678 SDLO2 - I excel in noticing opportunities to learn. .763 SDLO3 - I immediately take opportunities to learn in order to reach
my goals.
.837 SupSupp1 - I receive enough support from my immediate supervisor
in my professional de...
-.822 SupSupp2 - My immediate supervisor encourages me to spend time
and resources on learni... -.958
SupSupp3 - My immediate supervisor lets me know that continuous
39
SRLWQ1 - My job requires me to be creative. .505
SRLWQ2 - I can choose my job assignments. .791
SRLWQ3 - I have opportunities to develop my own special abilities. .624
SRLWQ4 - I can vary how I do my work. .617
SRLWQ5 - My job requires a high level of skill. .736 SRLWQ6 - My job requires me to learn new things. .608 Eigenvalues % of variance 4.61 28.82 1.95 12.18 1.22 7.62 0.79 4.92
Table 4. Results of EFA on Informal Learning Activities
Item
Rotated factor loadings GeneLearn AdapLearn
InLearn1 - Acquiring new information (e.g. by searching the internet) -.458 InLearn2 - Working alone or with others to develop solutions to problems -.689 InLearn3 - Working alone or with others to develop new ideas -.923 InLearn4 - Following new developments in your field -.679
InLearn5 - Performing new tasks -.617
InLearn6 - Attending a training course or using self‐study materials .504 InLearn7 - Observing or replicating colleagues’ strategies to complete a
task or solve... .768
InLearn8 - Finding better way to do a task by trial and error .764 InLearn9 - Reflecting on previous actions .696 InLearn10 - Receiving feedback on tasks from work colleagues .651 Eigenvalues % of variance 4.06 40.57 0.89 8.89
Table 12. Items of cultural values (including source)
Dimension Items Source
Uncertainty Avoidance
- In my work environment, orderliness and consistency are stressed, even at the expense of experimentation and innovation.
- In my work environment, job requirements and
instructions are spelled out in detail so employees know what to do.
- In my work environment, it is possible to try new things and experiment even if the outcome is uncertain
House et al. (2004) House et al. (2004) Van Oudenhoven (2001) Individualism- Collectivism
- In my work environment, the pay and bonus system is designed to maximize individual interests more than collective interests (IC)
- In my work environment, employees pursue their individual interests; the collective interests hardly play a role(IC)
- In my work environment, employees take more pride in their own accomplishments than team accomplishments (IGC)
- In my work environment, team leaders take more pride in the accomplishments of individuals than of teams (IGC)
House et al. (2004) House et al. (2004) House et al. (2004) House et al. (2004) Early (1993)
40 - In my work environment, employees like to work alone
rather than in a group (GWP)
- In my work environment, employees perform better when working alone than in a group (GWP)
Early (1993)
Achievement orientation
- In my work environment, employees are encouraged to strive for continuously improved performance.
- In my work environment, doing your best isn’t good enough, it is important to win.
- In my work environment, the outcome is more important than what you do to get there.
House et al. (2004)
Wagner (1995)
Created.
Power Distance - In my work environment, subordinates are free to question their manager when in disagreement
- In my work environment, subordinates are expected to obey their manager at all times
- In my work environment, a person‘s influence is based primarily on the authority of one‘s position, and not one’s personal abilities House et al. (2004) House et al. (2004) House et al. (2004)
Assertiveness - In my work environment, money and material things are important
- In my work environment, being assertive and ambitious is important
- In my work environment, the fulfilment of tasks is more important than caring for others
- In my work environment, A job with high earnings is better than a job with quality of life
Hofstede et al. (1991) Hofstede et al. (1991) Yoon et al. (2001) Yoon et al. (2001)
41
Appendix C.
Questionnaire
Demographic background
Question Answer possibilities
Q1 - What is your gender? Male
Female
Q2 - What year were you born? 1921
1922 1923 Etc t/m 2000
Q3 - What is your current nationality? American
Asian Dutch
European other Other
Q3_5_TEXT - Other, namely... Text
Q4 - Was your nationality at birth different? Yes
No
Q5 - What was your nationality at birth? American
Belgian Chinese Dutch Indian Other
Recode_Q5 - What was nationality at birth? American
Asian Dutch
European other African
Q5_6_TEXT - Other, namely... Text.
Q6 - What is your highest completed educational degree? High school
Trade/technical/vocational education Associate degree Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree PhD Other…