Face’s Consequences: The Impact of “Face” on Leadership, Management and Follower Behaviour in Malaysia

Brian T. O’Donoghue ()
Additional contact information
Brian T. O’Donoghue: NOESIS Ex Ed

Chapter 8 in Culture and Gender in Leadership, 2013, pp 161-181 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract As our world continues to “flatten” with growing globalization, managers are increasingly required to adapt to different cultures. It has been argued by many authors that failure to make such adaptations can lead to negative consequences (Hofstede, 1980a; 2001; Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005; House & Aditya, 1997). Statistics suggest that 70% of international ventures fail (Yan & Luo, 2001), often due to cultural misunderstandings (Livermore, 2011). It is not surprising, therefore, that interest in cross-cultural management research continues to grow (Dickson, Den Hartog & Mitchelson, 2003). It has been argued that a significant barrier to adopting Western management practices in Asia is “face” (Abdullah, 1996; Hofstede, 2001). While significant work has been carried out in this area, it has tended to focus more on the impact of face on societal interactions overall (Earley, 1997; Goffman, 1972; Holtgraves, 1997), on negotiations (Ting-Toomey, 1999), and less on specific management behaviour. Given the importance of face in Asia (Abdullah, 2001; Hofstede, 2001), it is important for Westerners to understand how to adapt their behaviour appropriately to manage and lead others effectively. While recent empirical research on face in Asia exists, notably in China (Kwang, 2006; Leung & Chan, 2003), the concept appears to be under-researched in Southeast Asia and Malaysia in particular.

Keywords: Power Distance; International Joint Venture; Collectivist Culture; High Power Distance; International Venture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-31157-3_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781137311573

DOI: 10.1057/9781137311573_9

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().