The primary purpose of this research is to identify the relative importance of HPD, MAS and LTO from the perspective of a Mongolian working for a Chinese boss. This chapter is organized into four sections: (a) selection of participants, (b) method, (c) data collection, (d) data analysis and (e) summary. As stated in the introduction and literature review, there are three radical cultural value differences between Mongolians and Chinese. The research strives to answer the two following questions.
1) Which one of the three dimensions is perceived to have most impact on Mongolians in cases when they cooperate with Chinese managers, whose cultural background is radically different from theirs?
2) To what extent are differences of power distance, masculinity and long-term orientation predicted by Hofstede perceived to exist in places where Mongolians are employed by Chinese?
3.1 Selection of Participants
The population was represented through a purposive sampling of 47 employees who work with various Chinese employers. Purposive sampling involves selecting a sample based upon the researcher’s experience or knowledge of the group to be sampled (Lunenburg & Irby, 2008). But in this study, the researcher knew little about the participants even though he had clear criteria for participants; therefore, reaching the target population was challenging at first. However, this procedure was soon eased by a contact named Erkhemee, who currently works as a project manager at a Chinese mining company in Mongolia and has over 7 years experience of working in a Chinese company. His assistance in distributing the survey to the sample of 47 employees played a crucial part in accelerating the research process and completing this work. It is recommended that in case of using
purposive sample, a researcher had better draw his sample from several different organizations rather than one organization (Lunenburg & Irby, 2008). Thus, to strengthen the external validity of the non-random sample of this study, employees from various companies—mining, construction, restaurants, and trading—are surveyed. The participants’
ages were from 25-40 which is good enough to correlate with the sample of the study by Tkaczuk et al. (2010) and that of Sanduijav (2008) because 70 percent of the latter’s sample consisted of participants age of under 20 to 39 and the former had respondents aged between 17 and 29.
3.2 Method
To identify which cultural gap is most significant for Mongolian employees, this study used a set of statements that describe the characteristics of high power distance, high masculinity and long-term oriented society as they are manifested in the workplace.
Participants were asked to state their opinion about the statements on 18 forced-choice Likert-items. The characteristics of the three dimensions being investigated are those which have been postulated by Hofstede (see Appendix B), and the 18 statements were constructed to be succinct and comprehensible. The items, describe specific characteristics of high power distance, high masculine and long-term oriented society in typical workplace situations, were placed in questionnaire format using a seven-point Likert scale. There were six statements representing each cultural characteristic, which means the three cultural characteristics are equally represented in the 18 statements. The questionnaire was originally written in English and then translated into Mongolian by a professional translator.
Some minor amendments were made to the translation by the researcher prior to uploading online for respondents. The original English version is included as Appendix C. In the first section of the questionnaire, general demographical questions were asked. This was followed the 18 statements. Respondents were asked to rate their level of satisfaction with
the characteristics described by the statement. Responses were scored from 1 (very satisfied) to 7 (very dissatisfied). At the end of the questionnaire, the 18 statements are repeated, this time to find out whether participants had experienced any of characteristics described by them in the workplace. The statements appeared in multiple-choice format and respondents were asked to simply check which situations described by them they had experienced in their workplace.
3.3 Data Collection
The survey was administrated by Google web survey. Although this kind of online survey is constrained by being restricted to internet users, it is arguably appropriate for this study, for it aims to survey middle level managers and translators or those who work closely with their Chinese bosses all of whom most likely use internet on a regular basis rather than blue-collar workers who may not have access to Internet. Those participants most likely use internet on a regular basis. The survey form link was sent along with a message explaining the purpose of the study and assuring that their participation would remain anonymous.
For the construction of the survey questionnaire, secondary data sources were used. For instance, Hofstede and Hofstede’s (2005) book Cultures and organizations and the studies by Tkaczuk et al. (2010), Sanduijav (2008). Those revealed that theoretical cultural differences are corroborated with real problems as reported by Mongolian and Chinese media that take place between a Chinese employer and Mongolian employees in the workplace.
3.4 Data Analysis
This study employed quantitative methods, data collection and data analysis. Quantitative analysis was performed on the data obtained from items expressing levels of satisfaction with the workplace characteristics of high power distance, high masculine and long-term orientation society. Responses ranging from 1-7 for each of 47 respondents along with their demographic data were input into SPSS 20 software. The frequency and percentage of
responses to 18 statements were displayed through descriptive statistics and tables. It was assumed that the satisfaction ratings could be treated as a scale variable. Thus, the mean responses of the sample for 18 items were calculated. Following on this procedure, mean scores for 18 statements were grouped into their three respective cultural categories and mean of the six means was calculated, this providing an indication of the relative impact of the gaps in PD, MAS and LTO. Lastly, a one-way analysis of variance was applied to determine any statistical differences among overall means of satisfaction levels with regard to characteristics of HPD, MAS and LTO. The significance level was set at p=.05 for a one way ANOVA.
3.5 Summary
This chapter restated the purpose of the research and presented the research questions. As regards the sample of this study, a purposive sample of 47 Mongolian employees from various industries participated in this study. Statements as well as question types used in the questionnaire were introduced. The data collection procedures and data analysis for each of the research questions were explained. The following chapter presents results of the data analysis.