An Investigation of National Culture's Influence on Relationship and Knowledge Resources in Interorganizational Relationships Between Japan and the United States

Abstract

The increasing globalization of business has heightened the importance of understanding national cultural influences in interorganizational relationships from both a cross-cultural and an intercultural perspective. The authors use Hofstede's (2001) multidimensional national cultural framework to theorize differences in the relationships between key firm resources. Specifically, they explore relationship resources (i.e., the influence of trust on commitment), knowledge resources (i.e., the influence of information sharing on problem resolution), and their linkage (i.e., the influence of commitment on information sharing) both cross-culturally and interculturally from the perspective of Japanese and U.S. firms. The authors use a sample of Japanese and U.S. firms that report on their primary intra- and intercultural business partners to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that national culture influences relationship resources (i.e., the relationship between trust and commitment) and the linkage of relationship resources to knowledge resources (i.e., the relationship between commitment and information sharing). The authors address implications for both academics and practitioners.