PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
Research in Psychic, Cultural and Institutional Distance
Saturday 4 August 2007 10:00-12:00 Philadelphia Marriott
Moderator: Keith D. Brouthers (Kings College London, University of London)
Specialist Advisors:
Jean-Francois Hennart (Tilberg University, The Netherlands)
Lance Eliot Brouthers (University of Texas El Paso)
Carlos Sousa (University College Dublin)
Heather Berry (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)
The influence of a nations environment on the strategies, management
and performance of organizations has emerged as one of the active areas
of inquiry among management scholars in the 21st century. This research
has concentrated its work in three specific domains:
1) Institutional influences
2) National cultural influences 3) Psychic distance-related influences
Despite the strong growth in research in these areas, there remains a
lack of coherent theoretical and empirical development. At a
conceptual level, for example, the core concepts in these literatures
have not been defined with consistency, and often without substantial
clarity. Research has yet to firmly establish a universally recognized
definition of psychic distance that not only establishes its empirical
domain, but also differentiates it from the definitions of cultural
distance and institutional distance. This definitional issue, and
others, raises important questions concerning our ability to make
inferences about the impact of psychic, cultural and institutional
distance on a firms strategies, on its management, and on its
performance.
In this PDW we seek to directly address the intersection of research on
institutional, national cultural, and psychic-distance related
influences on organizations. Issues we hope to have covered in the PDW
will address and help to resolve core issues in this research domain:
Is there a need for all three measures? How do they impact
decisions, actions and performance? Can managers improve performance
by considering one or more of these constructs?
In addressing these questions, we suggest that psychic distance could
be conceptualized as a managerial perception about the level of
differences and similarities between two countries. Cultural distance,
on the other hand, could be thought of as being a more objective
construct than psychic distance. Cultural distance measures the
distance between two cultures, their belief and value systems. Finally,
institutional influences, as captured in an institutional distance
measure, are often thought to examine a broader, yet again more
objective set of differences than psychic distance or cultural
distance. Institutional distance is often inclusive of values like
cultural distance, but it can, at the same time, evaluate normative
behavioral differences. In addition, institutional distance examines
the formal institutions (such as laws, rules and regulations) that
influence human and organizational behavior.
Participants in this workshop are asked to submit their written papers
or proposals at least 2-weeks prior to the PDW so that they can be
shared and reviewed by others (SEND PAPERS OR IDEAS TO
KEITH.BROUTHERS@KCL.AC.UK).
Using round table discussions, with experts in each area, we will than
discuss these papers/ideas with an aim toward improving the
contribution, theoretical arguments, and empirical analysis in an
effort to extend our understanding of psychic, cultural and
institutional distance.
--
Keith D. Brouthers
Professor of Business Strategy
University of London, King's College London
150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NH
keith.brouthers@kcl.ac.uk
(0)207 848 3968