Investigating the Impact of National Cultures on Performance Management: A Two Country Review

This research investigated the role that national culture plays in performance management when viewed from the prism of performance appraisal. This became necessary in today’s business world as corporations now play more within a global stage. In so doing, the challenge that faces employees and business leaders alike is the ease of applying policies and processes developed from countries of origin to areas of operation across the world. Some have argued for standardization of such practices across the world, particularly to address business challenges of cost efficiency and take advantage of economy of scale. Some others that may have harkened to the voice of cultural studies and international business scholars that culture affects every business process (House et al, 2001; Hofstede, 2005) have called for adaptation of such organizational processes as businesses transcend international boundaries. Using the experience of performance management exercise of a multinational corporation with country of origin being Netherlands and country of active operation being Nigeria – two countries viewed as operating from two different national culture poles of individualism vs communalism (Hofstede, 2005), this research outcome helped to reaffirm and establish the link between national culture and performance management as viewed from the lenses of performance appraisal. The qualitative research methodology followed extensive interviews with twenty nine Managers and employees of different nationalities with experience working in both Nigeria and Netherlands among other countries they have worked, the findings of the study indicate that National culture within the context of individualism and communalism influence the activities of performance management. In other words, this study helped to confirm the fact that national culture as seen from the dimension of individualism and communalism influences appraisal outcomes of organisations operating in different countries. This finding is also confirmed to include the national culture of West African countries, including Nigeria for which research has been hitherto limited.