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MARK F. PETERSON
Texas Tech University
PETER B. SMITH
University of Sussex and Roffey Park Institute
ADEBOWALE AKANDE, University of the Western Cape
SABINO AYESTARAN, University of the Basque Country
STEPHEN BOCHNER, University of New South Wales
VICTOR CALLAN, University of Queensland
NAM GUK CHO, Korea Military Academy
JORGE CORREIA JESUINO, ISCTE, Lisbon
MARIA D'AMORIM, Gama Filho University
PIERRE-HENRI FRANCOIS, University of Poitiers
KARSTEN HOFMANN, University of Mannheim
PAUL L. KOOPMAN, Free University of Amsterdam
KWOK LEUNG, Chinese University of Hong Kong
TOCK KENG LIM, Nanyang University of Technology
SHAHRENAZ MORTAZAVI, University of Shahid Beheshti
JOHN MUNENE, Makerere University
MARK RADFORD, University of Hokkaido
ARJA ROPO, Tampere University
GRANT SAVAGE, Texas Tech University
BERNADETTE SETIADI, University of Indonesia
T. N. SINHA, Magadh University
RITCH SORENSON, Texas Tech University
CONRAD VIEDGE, University of the Witwatersrand
The extent of role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload reported by middle managers from 21 nations was related to national scores on power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity. We adapted earlier role stress scales and assessed equivalence using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. Role stresses varied mare by country than by personal and organizational characteristics. Data were aggregated to the national level. Power distance and collectivism were negatively related to role ambiguity and positively related to role overload.
Recent decades have seen a steady increase in multinational organizations and in the frequency with which organizations do business far from home. The presumption that a definable set of management skills has worldwide validity continues to command widespread implicit agreement among managers if not among scholars (Boyacigiller & Adler, 1991; Hofstede, 1994). For instance, in recent years master's of business administration (M.B.A.) programs with syllabi like those used in North America have become widely available in Eastern Europe, Russia, China, and elsewhere. But do managers in different countries face settings that truly require similar skills?
To answer such a question is a major undertaking (Jaeger & Kanungo, 1990). In the present article, we provide information relevant to a partial answer by considering the relationship between role stresses and national work culture. Hofstede (1994) classified the work cultures of nations on four dimensions: (1) power distance, "the degree of inequality among people which the population of a country considers as normal"; (2) uncertainty...