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Acquiring knowledge through management consultancy: a national culture perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2021

Joe O'Mahoney ,
Andrew Sturdy Open the ORCID record for Andrew Sturdy [Opens in a new window]  and
Anna Galazka Open the ORCID record for Anna Galazka [Opens in a new window]
Joe O'Mahoney
Affiliation:
Cardiff Business School, University of Cardiff, CardiffCF10 3EU, UK
Andrew Sturdy*
Affiliation:
School of Management, University of Bristol, BristolBS8 1SD, UK
Anna Galazka
Affiliation:
Cardiff Business School, University of Cardiff, CardiffCF10 3EU, UK
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: andrew.sturdy@bristol.ac.uk
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Abstract

This paper examines how national culture informs the sourcing of management knowledge through external consultancy. First, it hypothesises and compares the relationship between quantitative measures of Hofstede's cultural indices with adjusted expenditure on consulting in nine countries. Two cultural indices are found to correlate with consulting use – power distance (negatively) and individualism (positively). However, the disparity between our findings and prior research suggests limitations of generalisation in studies solely employing quantitative cultural indices to understand the purchasing of business knowledge. We therefore propose the use of supplementary, qualitative data with sensitivity to local contexts and briefly apply this by using secondary sources to provide historical narratives for two countries – the UK and Japan. Overall, we find and tentatively explain significant statistical relationships between Hofstede's cultural indices and adjusted expenditure on consultancy. We then draw attention to wider implications for consulting research and for practitioners involved in this context.

Keywords

Hofstedemanagement consultancymanagement knowledgenational cultureprofessional services
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , First View , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2021

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