Culture, Context and Structure: A Test on Hong Kong Banks

Abstract

This research examined both context and home society culture as predictors of organizational structure in 39 multinational banks operating in Hong Kong. Organizational structure and context were operationalized using the Aston instru ments and culture was operationalized using Hofstede's measures of power dis tance and uncertainty avoidance. The results showed that the contextual variable of size was more strongly associated with structural differentiation while the cultural variable of power distance was more strongly associated with authority. These findings help explain the inconsistent relationships reported in previous studies.