Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

2-2019

Abstract

Modern organizations often involve workgroup members who have different cultural heritage. This article provides an examination of how different cultural dimensions (e.g., uncertainty avoidance, individualism–collectivism) influence the ways that workgroups and their members respond to situations that involve threats and rewards. The threats and rewards activate distinct response patterns that are associated with a motivational systems theory of group involvement. Based on this theoretical foundation, a cultural dispositions approach is applied to reveal how culture could impact the ways group members respond (cognitively, affectively, motivationally) to situations that involve varying degrees of threats or rewards. This focus on cultural dispositions locates this article in the larger theoretical context of persons within situations that account for complexities of threat and reward cues as well as groups, organizations, and cultures. Consequently, this article has broad implications to the scientific and applied science communities interested in multicultural workgroups.

Keywords

multicultural, workgroups, cultural dispositions, motivational systems, approach motivation, avoidance motivation, groups, teams

Discipline

Industrial and Organizational Psychology | Multicultural Psychology | Social Psychology

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

Small Group Research

Volume

50

Issue

1

First Page

81

Last Page

137

ISSN

1046-4964

Identifier

10.1177/1046496418797443

Publisher

SAGE Publications (UK and US)

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496418797443

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