Cultural differences in geographic mobility readiness among business management students in Germany and Spain ahead of graduation
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SN Social Sciences
Abstract
Given the increased internationalization of organizations and economies of scale
concentrated in urban centers, graduates are often expected to relocate for their
first job. Based on Hofstede’s model and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), we
examine the effects of cultural dimensions (individualism-collectivism and uncertainty
tolerance) as well as subjective norms (parents’ and peers’ attitudes towards
geographic mobility) on readiness for geographic job-related mobility in samples
of German and Spanish business management students ahead of graduation from
university. The study involved administering a survey questionnaire to 273 thirdand
fourth-year business management students of two large universities (one in Germany
and another in Spain). Cross-cultural measurement invariance of the measures
was confirmed, allowing for comparison of scores across the groups. We found that
German students had generally a larger geographical mobility, whose readiness was
predicted by parents’ and peers’ perceived attitude and uncertainty tolerance. Readiness
for geographic mobility was also higher when social or material incentives are
offered, yet geographic mobility readiness for career incentives and for social incentives
was predicted by vertical individualism and horizontal collectivism, respectively.
This study is one of the first to examine geographic mobility readiness among
undergraduate management students in the two countries, who by nature of their
training are expected to be mobile. The study also shows the differential effects of
sub-dimensions of the Hofstede cultural dimensions.
Description
Keywords
Cultural differences, Geographic mobility, Individualism-collectivism, Uncertainty tolerance, Subjective norms
Citation
Baluku, M. M., Groh, J., Dalbert, C., & Otto, K. (2021). Cultural differences in geographic mobility readiness among business management students in Germany and Spain ahead of graduation. SN Social Sciences, 1(7), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00171-0