Culture and Cost Stickiness: A Cross-country Study

Karen Kitching, Raj Mashruwala and Mikhail Pevzner

The International Journal of Accounting, 2016, vol. 51, issue 3, 402-417

Abstract: In this study, we examine the effect of national culture on managerial decision-making through the lens of cost stickiness. Recent studies document that managerial discretion in adjusting resources leads to costs that are “sticky” in that costs respond less to decreases in activity than to increases in activity. We analyze how different dimensions of societal culture explain cross-country variation in cost stickiness. Using a sample of firms from 39 countries, we find that cost stickiness is less pronounced in countries with higher uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation. Our findings support the proposition that culture affects resource management decisions made by managers and, in doing so, our study makes a significant contribution in understanding differences in sticky cost behavior observed across countries.

Keywords: Culture; Cost behavior; Cost stickiness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M40 M41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:accoun:v:51:y:2016:i:3:p:402-417

DOI: 10.1016/j.intacc.2016.07.010

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