Publications
Publications
- 2024
The Impact of Culture Consistency on Subunit Outcomes
By: Jasmijn Bol, Robert Grasser, Serena Loftus and Tatiana Sandino
Abstract
We examine the association between subunit culture consistency—defined as the
congruence between the organizational values espoused by top management and those
perceived and practiced by subunit employees—and subunit outcomes. Using data
from 235 subunits of a North American food and beverage chain, we draw from an
analytical model (Van den Steen 2010a) to predict that subunits with greater culture
consistency will exhibit greater employee satisfaction and performance but also lower
creativity. As predicted, we find a positive association between subunit culture
consistency and both employee satisfaction and performance, and these positive
associations are amplified for subunits with greater coordination needs. Further,
subunit culture consistency can substitute for a subunit leadership’s reliance on direct
supervision and performance rewards. Contrary to our expectation, we find no
evidence that greater subunit culture consistency damps employee creativity. Overall
our results highlight the importance of value congruence between decentralized
subunits and top management.
Keywords
Citation
Bol, Jasmijn, Robert Grasser, Serena Loftus, and Tatiana Sandino. "The Impact of Culture Consistency on Subunit Outcomes." Working Paper, January 2024.