Master Thesis
The Influences of Cultural
Differences on Entrepreneurial Leadership
Authors: Chang Shu & Sergey Turuev
Supervisor Pr. Dr. Björn Bjerke Examiner: Pr. Dr. Philippe Daudi Date: May 2015
Subject: Leadership and Management in International
Abstract
With the globalization of the world, more people have access to international working environment. Cultural differences bring increasing challenges to entrepreneurs who lead companies in international market. Hence, it is of great importance to study the influences of cultural differences on entrepreneurial leadership in order to improve the effectiveness of leadership.
This thesis is based on Chinese and Russian cultures. The research focuses on entrepreneur's cultural background and education and how these two aspects influence entrepreneurial leadership. The authors assume that entrepreneur's cultural background and education are the two main aspects which influences entrepreneurial leadership. The education includes family education and school education.
A survey based on questionnaires and on the System View methodology is applied to this research. The result of the survey is analyzed in order to explain the influences of cultural differences on entrepreneurial leadership. Furthermore, two systems, based on Chinese and Russian cultures are built in order to understand the inner-relationship between cultural background, education and entrepreneurial leadership.
Moreover, it is found that family education influences entrepreneurial leadership more than school education does. In the end of the thesis, some practical recommendations are given to make contribution to the future research in this field.
Keywords
Cultural difference, entrepreneurial leadership, entrepreneur, leadership, China, Russia, cultural background, business culture, education, family education, school education, conscious behavior
Acknowledgement
In this part, we want to express our gratitude to the people who helped us during our thesis work.
First of all, we want to thank Prof. Dr. Philippe Daudi, the head of master program:
Leadership and Management in International Contexts. At the beginning of the program, he told us that we have to learn to lead ourselves before we lead others, which inspires us to a great extent. During the period of this year, he not only taught us, but also inspire us and influenced us.
Also, we want to thank our supervisor Prof. Dr. Björn Bjerke. He is always ready to help us with the thesis. Björn helped us to gain the knowledge of methodology which is important to thesis writing. What's more, his rich background in different countries helped us a lot, because our topic of thesis refers to different cultures.
Moreover, we want to express our gratitude to Chris Hörold and Benjamin Feichtinge.
They are the opponent team of this thesis. We got very constructive advise from this excellent opponent team. We thank the great contribution they made to the improvement of the thesis.
Furthermore, we would like to thank all the participants for the survey. They contributed to our research data to a great extent. We appreciate the contribution they made to the research in this field.
Last but not least, mater thesis is a tough work indeed. It is hard to finish it without the support from our families and friends. So, we thank our families members and friends.
They always support us with greatest care.
Declaration
We hereby certify that this master’s thesis was written by ourselves. Meanwhile, we confirm the proper indication of all used sources.
Chang Shu Sergey Turuev Kalmar, 27th of May 2015
Contents
Abstract ______________________________________________________________ i Keywords ____________________________________________________________ ii Acknowledgement _____________________________________________________ iii Declaration __________________________________________________________ iv List of Tables ________________________________________________________ vii List of Figures _________________________________________________________ x 1. Introduction ________________________________________________________ 1 1.1 Background ______________________________________________________ 1 1.2 Definitions ______________________________________________________ 2 1.2.1 Culture ______________________________________________________ 3 1.2.2 Entrepreneurial Leadership _____________________________________ 4 1.3 Research Focus and Research Question ________________________________ 5 1.4 The importance of the Research ______________________________________ 6 1.5 Research Field ___________________________________________________ 7 2. Literature Review ____________________________________________________ 8 2.1 To Understand Culture _____________________________________________ 8 2.1.1 High/ Low Context Cultures _____________________________________ 8 2.1.2 Individual/ Group Oriented Cultural Behavior _______________________ 9 2.1.3 Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory ___________________________ 10 2.1.3.1 Power distance _____________________________________ 10 2.1.3.2 Collectivism versus individualism ______________________ 10 2.1.3.3 Femininity versus masculinity _________________________ 11 2.1.3.4 Uncertainty avoidance _______________________________ 11 2.1.3.5 Long- and short-term orientation _______________________ 11 2.1.3.6 Indulgence versus restraint ____________________________ 12 2.2 To Understand Entrepreneurial Leadership ____________________________ 12 2.3 Cultural Differences in Entrepreneurial Leadership ______________________ 13 2.3.1 Chinese Business Culture ______________________________________ 13 2.3.2 Russian Business Culture ______________________________________ 15 2.4 Conclusion of the Impact of Culture _________________________________ 16
3.1 Systems View: Our Way of Looking at the World ______________________ 18 3.2 System View and Our Approach to It ________________________________ 19 3.3 Data Analyzing __________________________________________________ 21 3.4 Data collection __________________________________________________ 21 3.4.1 Primary Data: Questionnaire ___________________________________ 21 3.4.2 Secondary Data ______________________________________________ 22 3.5 Research Design _________________________________________________ 22 4. How Culture Influence Entrepreneurial Leaders? ________________________ 24 4.1 Overview of the Questionnaire ______________________________________ 24 4.2 Category 1: Research on Chinese Entrepreneurial Leaders ________________ 28 4.3 Category 2: Research on Russian Entrepreneurial Leaders ________________ 36 5. Building a Bridge to Entrepreneurial Leadership ________________________ 44 5.1 Comparative Analysis through Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory ______ 44 5.2 A System in Chinese Context _______________________________________ 47 5.3 A System in Russian Context _______________________________________ 50 6. Conclusions ________________________________________________________ 52 6.1 Findings _______________________________________________________ 52 6.2 Recommendations _______________________________________________ 53 6.3 Limitations _____________________________________________________ 53 6.4 Future Research _________________________________________________ 54 References: __________________________________________________________ 55 Appendix: ___________________________________________________________ 57 Appendix A: Questionnaires __________________________________________ 57 Appendix B: Report of Questionnaire ___________________________________ 62
List of Tables
Table 1: Chinese business cultural characteristics (Bjerke 2013, p. 215) ___________ 13 Table 2: Russian business cultural characteristics _____________________________ 15 Table 3: Nationality distribution __________________________________________ 25 Table 4: Age distribution ________________________________________________ 26 Table 5: Gender distribution ______________________________________________ 26 Table 6: Education distribution ___________________________________________ 26 Table 7: Result of the question: have you been working in international company or group? _______________________________________________________________ 27 Table 8: Result of the question: have you ever faced the problem of cultural differences?27 Table 9: Result of the question: when you had leader position, how big was your
team/company? ________________________________________________________ 27 Table 10: Result of the question: have you ever had your own enterprise or business? 28 Table 11: Result of the question: have you been working in international company or group? (Category 1) ____________________________________________________ 28 Table 12: Result of the question: have you ever had your own enterprise or business?
(Category 1) __________________________________________________________ 29 Table 13: Result of the question: have you ever faced the problem of cultural
differences? (Category 1) ________________________________________________ 29 Table 14: Result of the question: how important is to think about cultural differences when you are working in international team? (Category 1) ______________________ 29 Table 15: Result of the question: please choose the best description of culture out of the list that suits you the most. If here you can’t find definition that you can agree to, please write yours. (Category 1) ___________________________________________ 30 Table 16: Result of the question: please choose the best description of leader out of the list that suits you the most. If here you can’t find definition that you can agree to, please write yours. (Category 1) ___________________________________________ 31 Table 17: Result of the question: please choose the best description of entrepreneur out of the list that suits you the most. If here you can’t find definition that you can agree to, please write yours. (Category 1) ___________________________________________ 31 Table 18: Result of the question: what is the main cultural barrier during work in
international team or company? Please choose THREE answers. (Category 1) ______ 32
Table 19: Result of the question: can leadership be taught or it is an innate talent in your culture? (Category 1) ___________________________________________________ 33 Table 20: Result of the question: please choose out of the list which is the most
important qualities for entrepreneur leader. NO MORE THAN THREE ANSWERS.
(Category 1) __________________________________________________________ 34 Table 21: Result of the question: using any number from 0 to 10, where 0 is the
minimum and 10 is the maximum, what number would you use to rate the extent of influence of family education on entrepreneurial leadership in your culture? (Category 1) ___________________________________________________________________ 35 Table 22: Result of question: using any number from 0 to 10, where 0 is the minimum and 10 is the maximum, what number would you use to rate the extent of influence of school education on entrepreneurial leadership in your culture? (Category 1) _______ 35 Table 23: Result of the question: using any number from 0 to 10, where 0 is the
minimum and 10 is the maximum, what number would you use to rate the extent of influence of cultural background on entrepreneurial leadership in your culture?
(Category 1) __________________________________________________________ 36 Table 24: Result of the question: have you been working in international company or group? (Category 2) ____________________________________________________ 36 Table 25: Result of the question: have you ever had your own enterprise or business?
(Category 2) __________________________________________________________ 36 Table 26: Result of the question: have you ever faced the problem of cultural
differences? (Category 2) ________________________________________________ 37 Table 27: Result of the question: how important is to think about cultural differences when you are working in international team? (Category 2) ______________________ 37 Table 28: Result of the question: please choose the best description of culture out of the list that suits you the most. If here you can’t find definition that you can agree on please write yours. (Category 2) ________________________________________________ 38 Table 29: Result of the question: please choose the best description of leader out of the list that suits you the most. If here you can’t find definition that you can agree on please write yours. (Category 2) ________________________________________________ 39 Table 30: Result of the question: please choose the best description of entrepreneur out of the list that suits you the most. If here you can’t find definition that you can agree on please write yours. (Category 2) ___________________________________________ 39
Table 31: Result of the question: what is the main cultural barrier during work in
international team or company? Please choose THREE answers. (Category 2) ______ 40 Table 32: Result of the question: can leadership be taught or it is an innate talent in your culture? (Category 2) ___________________________________________________ 40 Table 33: Result of the question: please choose out of the list which is the most
important qualities for entrepreneur leader. NO MORE THAN THREE ANSWERS.
(Category 2) __________________________________________________________ 41 Table 34: Result of the question: using any number from 0 to 10, where 0 is the
minimum and 10 is the maximum, what number would you use to rate the extent of influence of family education on entrepreneurial leadership in your culture? (Category 2) ___________________________________________________________________ 42 Table 35: Result of the question: using any number from 0 to 10, where 0 is the
minimum and 10 is the maximum, what number would you use to rate the extent of influence of school education on entrepreneurial leadership in your culture? (Category 2) ___________________________________________________________________ 43 Table 36: Result of the question: using any number from 0 to 10, where 0 is the
minimum and 10 is the maximum, what number would you use to rate the extent of influence of cultural background on entrepreneurial leadership in your culture?
(Category 2) __________________________________________________________ 43
List of Figures
Figure 1: The System View in application __________________________________ 19 Figure 2: Comparison of cultural dimensions between China and Russia __________ 44 Figure 3: Chinese EL (Entrepreneurial Leadership) System ____________________ 47 Figure 4: Russian EL (Entrepreneurial Leadership) System ____________________ 50
1. Introduction
This chapter gives an overview of the thesis: The Influence of Cultural Differences on Entrepreneurial Leadership. In this chapter, the authors present the general background in a wide context along with some definitions of culture and entrepreneurial leadership.
Moreover, the research focus and research question of the thesis are presented. Authors present few strong significance of the research ending with introducing the research field of the study.
1.1 Background
Culture has been discussed in business and management for many years since the world trade and economy became more and more international. It is said that the world has become a global village. The rapid development of modern technology, people's spiritual and material needs narrow the space distance in the world increasing the international communication, making the relationship between people around the world more and more closely connected.
In this context of globalization, it is crystal-clear that people need to learn more about other cultures and try to understand them. It is not enough to just think and behave like our ancestors. Although the globe tends to be a village, the cultural diversity in this village cannot be ignored, especially by the entrepreneurial leaders. Entrepreneurial leaders are the people who lead the change in this world. They have followers and their way of thinking and doing things influences their followers and the economy to a great extent. In other words, they are the minority who has the impact on the majority. In this way, it is evident, that the research on the influences of cultures on entrepreneurial leadership is of great significance.
The research deals with two main cultures which are Chinese culture and Russian culture. The basic reasons why the authors (Chang Shu and Sergey Turuev) choose is their cultural background. Chang Shu is a Chinese student, so he is familiar with Chinese culture. Sergey is a student and resident from Russia, so he inherits the Russian cultural background. The most important reason to choose this topic is the personal interest of the authors in the relationship of culture and entrepreneurial leadership.
Besides the cultural backgrounds of two authors, they believe that it is of practical
China, which is the largest developing country in the world, with more than 5000 years' history and culture, the world's second largest economy, the member country of WTO (World Trade Organization) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), plays an important role in world trade and economy. There is a great amount of enterprises in China. Meanwhile, every single day, there are numerous new companies emerging in China bringing large investments from foreign markets and diverse workforce. Entrepreneurial leaders are influenced by its traditional Confucianism. It is a philosophical system which guide people's thought and behavior. The unique oriental culture and the status in world economy drive the authors to study the relation between its culture and entrepreneurial leadership.
Russia is another member country of BRICS. In 2012, Russia became a member of WTO. The economic power of Russia cannot be ignored in present international environment. The traditional culture of Russia influences entrepreneurial leadership to a great extent. In a way, Russia has some similar aspects with Chinese culture in entrepreneurial leadership. These two cultures are influenced by traditional culture.
Family business is common in Russia and China. Furthermore, in Russia, leaders' ways of doing things and thinking is influenced by medieval culture and religion. There are also some similar aspects with western culture. Therefore, it is both interesting and practical to study the influence of Russian culture on entrepreneurial leadership.
The aim of this thesis is to study the relationship between culture and entrepreneurial leadership and how the culture influences the entrepreneurial leadership with reference to Russian and Chinese culture? The research focus and research questions will be presented in chapter 1.3.
1.2 Definitions
As mentioned above, the key words of this thesis are culture and entrepreneurial leadership. Before we present the research focus and research questions, we want to address the problem: what is culture and what is entrepreneurial leadership? Here, we will give some definitions of culture and entrepreneurial leadership. Then, we will give our own understanding of culture and entrepreneurial leadership.
1.2.1 Culture
"Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts."
(Zimmermann 2015, para. 1)
"Culture is complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society."
(Tylor 1974, p. 1)
"Culture might be described as shared assumptions, values and behaviors that distinguish one group from another and are passed on from one generation to the next."
(Tabuchi 2012, p. 15)
''Culture is basic norms of behavior, values and beliefs, which have developed interactively between people, which have been interpreted and been given a meaning, which by and large are unconscious but which govern behavior without being behavior in themselves.''
(Bjerke 2013, p. 197)
Chang: From my point of view, culture is the way of thinking and doing things.
Different cultures divide people into categories, such as national cultures, corporate cultures and religious cultures. Furthermore, the same cultures bring people together because the people who have the same ways of thinking and doing things are in the same culture. We cannot live without culture because we are a part of it. Culture could be tangible value or/and an unconscious behavior. Culture shapes us and in turn we shape culture at the same time. In other words, we are influenced by the culture consciously as well as unconsciously. Culture is made by people, in the same way as the history is made by them. Thus, I believe people's culture may change by the environment or cultural context to some extent, whereas, the culture will also be influenced by people from other cultures. However, the fundamental aim is not to change ourselves' values or the cultures, but to understand and show respect to other cultures, thus, embedding the concept of cultural intelligence.
Sergey: To me there is no specific definition of culture because this concept has a complex amount of phenomena in different areas of human behavior and psychology.
The culture is a subject of studying philosophy, cultural science, history, art, linguistics, political science, ethnology, psychology, economy, and pedagogics. In this research, I see culture as a set of different aspects such as background, family, education, religion and life experiences. Recognition of a worthiness of everyone’s culture is the cornerstone of a way to life for people and societies. In other words, the culture — is a way of existence of mankind through numerous local cultures. This extremely broad approach puts an equal-sign between culture and history of all the societies. Culture of each certain country, in my opinion is necessary adaptation. Without this adaptability, I don't see the existence of opportunity for development in other countries, companies or communities. First that we adopt are laws and rules, further goes language and history.
1.2.2 Entrepreneurial Leadership
''Entrepreneurial leadership is organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal using proactive entrepreneurial behavior by optimizing risk, innovating to take advantage of opportunities, taking personal responsibility and managing change within a dynamic environment for the benefit of the organization.''
(Roebuck 2011, para. 2)
"The best leaders empower their employees to act on their vision for the organization.
The entrepreneurial leader executes through inspiration and aligns relationships to achieve common goals."
(Kotelnikov 2015, para. 3)
Chang: From my perspective, entrepreneurial leadership is a mix of capabilities for entrepreneurial leaders. The leaders should have the awareness to lead the group. To lead the group, leaders should first make sense of what they are doing which is their
‘vision’. Then, the leaders need to be a sense giver to convince their vision to the followers. It is entrepreneurial leaders' responsibility to set a goal and motivate others.
To do this, the leader should justify himself/herself and convince others to reach the common goal. Besides that, entrepreneurial leaders need to analyze the market in capricious environment, and make the decision without hesitation, sometimes unpopular decisions as well. To get the followers' trust is of great importance to the leader because
it’s the followers who pursue the vision and reach the goals. Everyone can be a leader only if he/she leads himself/herself to lead others. However, the effectiveness of the entrepreneurial leadership is strongly binds up with followers' personal interest. So, it is necessary for an entrepreneurial leader to have an attractive personality.
Sergey: In a more and more unpredictable and competitive modern dynamic economy and quickly changing business environment, firms needs new type of managers – the enterprising leader who differs in behavioral norms from the classical business leader.
Leaders of this type: take the lead and, load people with energy. They work as if they played critical, but not simply an important role in the company. They show enterprise creativity, constantly looking for new opportunities, taking risk, setting the strategic direction and inspiring people, taking the responsibility for failures of the team, learning from these failures and using them as a step on the way to success and strategic achievement. Enterprise leadership demands high self-confidence to think, behave and impact as the to realize the interest and benefit of organization as well as the people of organization.
1.3 Research Focus and Research Question
Entrepreneurs nowadays have more opportunities to do business in international contexts because of the globalization. Thanks to the globalization, entrepreneurs can get more information, more resources easily from multiple channels. However, the globalization means that entrepreneurs have to deal with more complex situations because of more diverse cultural environments than they ever had before. Some people might argue that the cultural factors should be gradually overlooked, because people in different cultures tend to be more and more similar in one way or another and especially in the business settings, pointing that we dress the same business suits in working place, we use the same mobile brands and we all speak English in international contexts. In this situation, people's cultural background would be hidden.
However, we believe that in the future, cultural differences would influence entrepreneurial leadership in lots of aspects. When we start conducting an international business or entrepreneurship, it is extremely important for people to be aware of different cultural beliefs and behavior. We must bear in mind that from our childhood we were brought up in different cultural beliefs. We must remember that behavior which might be considered normal in a Sweden boardroom could be radically different
to behavior expected in Russia or China. For example we believe that, Chinese and Russian are more relationship oriented, while Swedish are more task-oriented. As a result, we can fail to understand foreign business practices and customs which can create strong barriers to the successful business relations. Hence, we must have a clear vision of all cultural differences and how they influence on entrepreneurial leadership.
There is a big field for research in the subject of cultural differences in terms of leadership. Also, cultural differences are a big part of entrepreneurship. Our understanding suggests that it will be interesting and significant to combine these topics (leadership, culture, entrepreneurship) and make our thesis about this particular issue.
So the purpose of the study is to identify not only different cultural beliefs and behaviors that can influence business or entrepreneurship, but also leadership aspect that could be influenced by them.
We assume that people's cultural background and education (including school education and family education) have significant influence on entrepreneurial leadership. Our research issue focuses on studying the influences of different cultures on entrepreneurial leadership from cultural backgrounds and education perspectives. The research question for this thesis is:
How do cultural background and education (including school education and family education) influence entrepreneurial leadership in China and Russia?
1.4 The importance of the Research
This research is important because it has practical significance to entrepreneurial leaders, firms or society. This research can provide entrepreneurial leaders with useful references to successfully deal with the complex circumstances in intercultural environments. They can also avoid misunderstandings and embarrassing situations when communicating with people from different cultural backgrounds. It can help leaders to realize those cultural differences that could prove to be barriers as well as advantages in international settings. The fundamental principle of this research is to keep one's own cultural identity close in the identity, while exploring different cultural traits and developing respect towards those traits or customs.
For enterprises, our research makes contribution to those companies who want to explore new markets overseas, or, those joint venture enterprises who wants to
efficiently deal with culture shock within companies, or, those companies who want to cooperate or negotiate with a foreign company. Also, it helps a company with different cultures to identify their advantage value and enterprise culture.
For society, we cannot develop the economy at the cost of losing cultural diversity and identities. So, our research encourages people to pay attention to the significance of cultural differences. Furthermore, this research contributes to avoiding conflicts, erasing cultural discrimination, facilitating regional cooperation and promoting better understanding.
1.5 Research Field
In this research, we try to find the relationship between cultures and entrepreneurial leadership and how cultures influence entrepreneurial leadership. We will focus on entrepreneurial leaders' cultural background and education, because we believe that these elements influences, entrepreneurial leadership to a great extent. To find the secret behind them, we decide to focus on direct leaders who are leading in business field. Especially those who are the leader of a company or people in leadership position in company. As mentioned above, this research aims at two specific cultures i.e. the Chinese and the Russian culture. Hence, we put our emphasis on the entrepreneurial leaders who are in leadership position in Chinese and Russian companies.
2. Literature Review
Different cultures can influence entrepreneurial leadership to a great extent. In an international business context, it is important for a leader to understand and respect different cultures. Also, it makes sense to understand how these cultural differences influence leadership which can help leaders to build self-awareness as well as empathetic awareness for others with different cultural backgrounds. Our research focuses on Chinese and Russian cultures and how these cultures affect entrepreneurial leadership. In the present research, there is a lot of literature referring to intercultural communication and the influences of different cultures on entrepreneurial leadership.
Especially, there are some researches about Chinese and Russian business cultures, which are intimately related to our research aim. The purpose of the literature review in this study is to present the researches about the entrepreneurial leadership and the cultural influence and understand the relation between them.
2.1 To Understand Culture
“In entrepreneurial activities, culture is easily to be neglected” (Schneider, Barsoux &
Stahl 2014, p. 3). According to Schneider, Barsoux & Stahl (2014, p.4), culture has certain characteristics. First, culture is a set of ways of thinking, behaving and judging.
Second, it provides frames of reference for making decision and taking action. Third, it is shared by a group. Furthermore, it is learned via socialization. Cultures naturally divide people into different categories. So we sometimes spontaneously categorize people by culture, nationality or region. “To some extent, we also label people by age, gender, behavior, appearance or stereotypes and prejudices” (Helde 2015, p. 2).
However, sometimes the interpretation of stereotypes may not be completely true. One of the reasons why we have stereotype is due to the cultural self-esteem (Helde 2015, p.
12). To understand culture, leaders have to take off their tinted glasses.
2.1.1 High/ Low Context Cultures
Language is a carrier of culture, it cannot exist apart without culture. It mirrors different cultures. In high-context societies, people have very similar knowledge and share the same values, beliefs, standard of behavior because of profound historical and cultural backgrounds and their influences on society and people. During the communication, lots of information is already in the background, which is shared by people. Therefore, information is expected to be understood without verbal expression. In other words, oral
communication is not the only channel for people to gain information, rather, it can be gained without language, such as gesture and behaviors.
Compared to high context societies, most of low context societies are considered to be the developed countries. In low context cultures, information is expected to be clear and explicit (Schneider, Barsoux & Stahl 2014, p. 54). People are directly faced with the content of information itself, they rarely refer to social background and the background of the speaker. Language convey most of the information when communicating in the low context cultures. However, context and participants contain little information.
People have more freedom to express themselves. China, Japan and Middle Eastern countries are high context cultures, while western countries, such as Sweden, Demark, USA and Germany, are low context cultures. Russia is also regarded as low context culture.
2.1.2 Individual/ Group Oriented Cultural Behavior
In intercultural communication, individual or group oriented cultural behavior represents the way how people interact with others and the relationship between people (Schneider, Barsoux & Stahl 2014, p. 51). Generally, people who focus on their own interest and are more independent are more individual oriented. Individualism respect people's individual value, dignity and right. The interest of the individual is the overwhelmingly prior to collective interests. For example, it is almost impossible for a Swedish to utilize his or her personal time at the weekend to talk with his/her colleagues about the work without any remuneration.
In contrast, in group oriented cultures, people are supposed to be concerned about the group. Members of a group have strong sense of belonging. They are expected to make contribution to the group, sometimes at the cost of sacrificing their individual interests, such as time and energy. These people are willing to devote themselves to the group because the success of the group exceed their personal sense of achievement to a great extent. In China, there are lots of companies which are family business and they have survived for hundreds of years. One of the reasons for such long time operation is that people in Chinese companies have strong loyalty to the organization.
To sum up, when working together, people with different cultural backgrounds may lead to embarrassing situations. It is imperative for entrepreneurial leaders to develop an
international view in intercultural communication. To avoid conflict, they need to understand different cultural spheres, not only the national cultures, but also industrial cultures, functional cultures, enterprise cultures and so on (Schneider, Barsoux & Stahl 2014, p. 64). Also, it should be realized that cultural differences could be an advantage.
It is advisable to create a collaborative environment to make use of different cultures.
Therefore, ground rules, such as listening, sharing knowledge, should be applied to intercultural communication (Plum et al 2007).
2.1.3 Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory is applied to measure different cultures (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 31). In their famous book, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, authors pointed out that "a dimension is an aspect of a cultural that can be measured relative to other cultural" (Hofstede, Hofstede
&Minkov 2010, p. 31). There are six dimensions of national cultures, which are power distance, collectivism versus individualism, femininity versus masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long- and short-term orientation, and indulgence versus restraint (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 31, p. 235, p. 277). In this research, Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010) is applied to compare Chinese and Russian cultures in Chapter 5.1.
2.1.3.1 Power distance
Power distance is used to measure the degree of inequality in society (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 55). The degree is shown through PDI (Power Distance Index) (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 56). People in countries which have lower PDI are averse to social stratification, the higher position people treat those who in lower position equally (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 54). Vice versa, the people in higher PDI country are willing to accept the gap between different social stratums (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 54). We believe that the position of a person can influence her behavior and the relation between leaders and followers.
2.1.3.2 Collectivism versus individualism
As mentioned in Chapter 2.2.2, In intercultural communication, individual or group oriented cultural behavior represents the way how people interact with others (Schneider, Barsoux & Stahl 2014, p. 51). Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory measures the degree of individualism by the Individual Index (IDV) (Hofstede,
Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 94). Nearly all wealthy countries score high on IDV, while nearly all poor countries score low on IDV (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 95).
People concern more about personal benefits in individualistic countries, they are more independent. While in collectivistic societies, people usually make collective decisions.
Mentally, they have strong loyalty and obligation to organizations.
2.1.3.3 Femininity versus masculinity
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory takes masculinity-femininity as a dimension of culture (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 138). When men are tough, ambitious, while women are modest, tender, and focus on the quality of life, the culture is regarded as masculine (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 140). When both male and female are modest, tender and focus on the quality of life, the culture is identified as feminine (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 140).
2.1.3.4 Uncertainty avoidance
The Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) measures the tolerance of ambiguity in society (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 190). People in high UAI countries are not willing to accept uncertainty, they are comfortable with explicit rules and laws, what's more, people do not like innovation and adventure, they are averse to change (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 188). By contrast, The low UAI cultures tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty, people tend to accept risk, pressure, challenge and change (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 188).
2.1.3.5 Long- and short-term orientation
Geert Hofstede added this dimension to his theory in 1991 according to the Chinese Value Survey (CVS) by Michael Bond, a professor in Chinese University of Hong Kong. This dimension measures people's degree of emphasis of future by the Long- Term Orientation (LTO) Index (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 236). The long- term oriented culture focuses on future, it attaches importance to perseverance, thrift and efforts in order to prepare for the future (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p.
236). By contrast, the short-term oriented culture values past and present (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 236).
2.1.3.6 Indulgence versus restraint
This dimension is the latest one added by Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede and Michael Minkov in their book Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind in 2010. It is based on World Value Survey by Michael Minkov. Indulgence Versus Restraint (IVR) Index measures people's degree of restraining their desires (Hofstede, Hofstede &Minkov 2010, p. 280).
2.2 To Understand Entrepreneurial Leadership
Entrepreneurs are those who influence people, organization, economy and even our society. They take a variety of responsibilities for themselves, their organizations, and the society. Björling (2014, p. 38) demonstrates some entrepreneurial behaviours which are common in the routine professional life of leaders. Nowadays, the economic and social environments tend to be more and more uncertain and capricious, which call for entrepreneurs to adapt to the unpredictability and deal with unforeseen circumstances (Björling 2014, p. 38). In this way, leaders who has the confidence and capability to take risks will make contribution to rescue their company from desperate situations, meanwhile, they will win the trust from others. Thus, they have to possess strong ambition and be impelled by their goals. On top of that, it is impossible that entrepreneurs work alone without collaboration which suggests that they need to realize that those who they work with, will probably support them, give them advices and offset their deficiency. The more development and opportunities the leaders give to their followers, the more fruitful results they will get in return. To work with people, entrepreneurs should develop their languages and behaviours to influence and persuade others instead of controlling them (Eikenberry & Harri 2011). Therefore, in a diverse context nowadays, entrepreneurial leaders should have a strong awareness of the influences of different cultures.
Shane (2003, p. 18) asserts that identifying the opportunity is the critical factor of entrepreneurship. To seek the opportunity, one should firstly build his/her goal and ambition, and has to know herself/himself well, including her/his knowledge, vision, value and the available resources. Usually, opportunities disappear fast, therefore, only when one is fully prepared, can she seize opportunities to take the necessary actions.
There is less time for entrepreneurs to plan all the details and wait for the authorities to do something. Bjerke (2013, p. 22) thinks that making too many plans would impair
creativity. Morriss, Ely and Frei (2011, p.163) states that, it is unnecessary for leaders to ask for permission before every action. What entrepreneurs need is, to act on their personal initiatives when they have perceived opportunities (Björling 2014, p. 38).
2.3 Cultural Differences in Entrepreneurial Leadership
It is meaningful to study the culture differences in entrepreneurial activities.
Entrepreneurial behaviours are driven by value, which are closely related to the culture.
Understanding the characteristics of one's own culture can lead his/her behaviour pattern. Moreover, the globalization makes it possible to collaborate with people with diverse cultural backgrounds. We can avoid misunderstandings and increase efficiency by understanding other cultures.
2.3.1 Chinese Business Culture
Philosophy and strategy Autocracy and pragmatism Power and materialism Sales and quick results Familism
Guan-xi
Face and prestige
Superstitious but risk-willing
Table 1: Chinese business cultural characteristics (Bjerke 2013, p. 215)
Bjerke (2013, pp. 210-216) summarized Chinese culture and its influence on entrepreneurship. According to Bjerke (2013, pp. 210-216), Chinese society is maintained by familism. The social network, especially the contacts with other family members constitutes Chinese society. That is the reason why there are so many family business and most Chinese work for their family instead of themselves. Most Chinese companies are group-oriented and most of the entrepreneurial leaders start business for better life of their family or they devote themselves into family business. The influences from ancestors and traditional culture are profound. Every family has its own family
rules. Hence, entrepreneurial leaders in China are influenced by not only the traditional Confucianism, but also influenced by their home education.
People in the same social network make commitments quickly to help each other in need, which is called "guanxi" (relations) in Chinese (Bjerke 2013, pp. 210-216). Guan- xi is very important in the Chinese culture, especially in a business world. If someone has a contact in a company, it would be much easier to get a job in that company.
Before two people know each other, they won't easily cooperate with each other. A good relationship should be established before they start business together because people believes that if they do not know each other, how can they trust each other for business. Once the relationship has been established, people will take for granted to help their friends in business.
It is interesting that Chinese likes to do business during meal. It different from formal negotiation. As mentioned above, Guanxi is important in China. Chinese like to make friends before signing a contract. At the dinner table, good relationship are established.
The both side of the negotiation or collaboration expect to see the sincerity from the other during dinner. Chinese think that there is no problem that cannot be solved at the dinner table. It represent that the business is already a partially success, after people see the sincerity from others. After the informal process, people start to work together formally.
Additionally, Bjerke (2013, pp. 210-216) summarized that entrepreneurs in China pursue quick results and that they are driven by efficiency, which is related to risk taking. Chinese understand their goals clearly at any time and to reach the goals quickly, entrepreneurs have to act in short order, thus, they are willing to take risks.
Thus, for entrepreneurial leaders, they are good at making decision and seizing the opportunities.
Although Chinese entrepreneurial leaders pursue quick result, they are long-term oriented. It makes them comfortable to make a long-term strategy. When they start their business and register a new company, they will formulate the corporate charter. It includes the rules and regulations including the long-term strategy for future development. It serves as a guideline for leaders and all the members in developing the company. Generally, the guideline will direct the goal for 5 years, 10 years, 20 years or even longer.
Face and prestige cannot be ignored, if you want to do business with Chinese entrepreneurial leaders. In China, leaders are those who have rich experience or qualification. Just like the ancestor's status in a family, the leader has the superior status in a company. You can present different ideas, but it is not advisable to refute or challenge the boss in public as it will make the leader lose face and prestige. The better choice is to discuss the ideas with the open-minded leader individually after the public meeting.
2.3.2 Russian Business Culture
Collectivism
Structure and hierarchy Egalitarianism
Dependence on a family
Combining incongruous properties
Table 2: Russian business cultural characteristics
Speaking about specifics of business culture in Russia, it is important to note a contradictory quality of system of values which is connected to the fact that Russia — the Euroasian country holds boundary position between east and western civilizations.
The famous expert in the field of cross-cultural interaction, Richard Lewis (2015) calls the Russian business culture "schizophrenic" i.e. combining incongruous properties. In the Russian system of values it is possible to find also the qualities inherited from the East (a collectivism, dependence on the family, an inequality in the relations, diligence, etc.), and the qualities peculiar to the West (enterprise, independence, individualism).
The closest for Russian business culture is French culture. We also get well with Germans, Scandinavians and Hindus. Despite cardinal distinctions, Russians can successfully cooperate with Americans as their culture is very straight forward, and it is easy to be guided, only if few basic rules are learned. It is very difficult for Russians to find a common language/ground with Arabs, Chinese and, especially, with Japanese.
It is considered that Russians easily adapt features of their business partners. Such adaptability and susceptibility is peculiar to all cultures combining "incongruous"
properties.
Another quality of the Russian business culture is the good adaptation of the Russian businessmen towards the changes in environment, fast reaction to the events at the management level. Foreigners often speak about the Russian ingenuity, a thinking non- standard, and an ability to survive in any conditions to find a way out of any situation.
However, this merit has also bad consequences: in connection with adaptability Russians seldom think of long-term strategy, counting on short-term benefit and "fast money". Conditions in which the Russian businessmen are compelled to work, accustoms them to the predictability of risk. Often they begin the project without development of the large-scale plan, only approximately estimating the cost and budget without risk assessment forcing large amount of time, energy and money. As a Russian proverb said: "We will begin, and we will look further, we will break somehow"
Russians work impulsively which is against the ideologies of various foreign partners with the habit to work involving all hands i.e. the ability to gather, mobilize all forces and to make the huge volume of work, and then again to pass into the weakened, apathetic state at the last minute.
The internal structure of the companies also throws many foreigners in shock. They are confused by a randomness of the organizational operations and employee answerability (not clearly who for what answers), the identical level of salaries for experts with different qualification, weak motivational efforts for the employees to optimum productivity. The Russian companies are characterized by existence of a high distance of the power at the expressed collectivism of employees. Workers are strongly dependent on the administration, wait for instructions, don't show an initiative, and never argues with the chief. Thus, the collectivism is very strong in the organization which results in not only mutually aiding and sharing mutual responsibility, but also strong "equalization", love for calculating someone else's money, unwillingness to be allocated apart from the crowd.
2.4 Conclusion of the Impact of Culture
To sum up, it is crystal-clear that there are both advantages and disadvantages of each culture. However, for entrepreneurial perspective, it is difficult and unnecessary to tell
which is good and which is bad because, every culture has its unique attributes. For Chinese entrepreneurs, it is their unique way to interact with people, to take the risk.
Yoshino and Smith (2014, p. 28) believes that it is unnecessary to hide our cultural identity in order to be the same as the other members in the organization. Leaders should be authentic to defend the cultural attributes. Also, followers has the responsibility to respect the implicit rules of organizational operations. It does not mean that people have to be stifled by conventions. In other words, making the change is necessary for entrepreneurs, but it should be operated within the scope of culture (Bjerke 2013, p. 29).
3. Methodology
Methodology is the fundamental method for researchers to understand the world. It is a philosophical concept, which is a system used to solve the problem (Arbnor & Bjerke 2009). Researchers use methodology to analyze the problem, and systematically summarize the universal principles. In other words, we use appropriate method to address specific problem and use this method to analyze data and finally generate theories. In general, there are four methodology approaches i.e. Grounded Theory, Analytical View, System View and Actors' View. Whereas, System View is the main approach used in this research. In this chapter, authors gives an introduction to System View. Furthermore, authors justifies the use of System View and elaborate how it is used in this research.
3.1 Systems View: Our Way of Looking at the World
When doing research, it is inevitable for researchers to find the causal relations between objects, which are causes and effects. An eventual effect can be caused by one necessary factor, or, in most cases, caused by a set of different factors, which are independent. The analytical view (Arbnor & Bjerke 2009) puts emphasis on searching the explanations for things and the casual relations between them, after a series of research processes, theories are generated.
However, sometimes, just explaining the causal relations is far from enough.
Explanation just distinguishes the line between several endpoints, while a system involves more environmental factors, and it reveals the profound understanding of a structure or the relation between components as a whole, or, the relation and interaction between systems (Arbnor & Bjerke 2009).
By using the Systems View, the research builds a universal or specific framework to understand complex phenomena. The framework is like a formula, generated by the input of some variables (data) in some certain environments, with the output of relevant conclusions. However, it is not easy to build the system using the system view because researchers have to combine their own interpretation with metaphors (Arbnor & Bjerke 2009, p. 107). Also, Systems View is both subjective and objective. Because the system is composed by objective facts and the author's interpretation.
Arbnor and Bjerke (2009, p. 106) stated that holism is an important concept when using Systems View. A system model is consist of different components, however, as a complex totality, the system model should be determined, explained and understood as a whole, compared to the Analytical View, whose components are explained independently (Arbnor & Bjerke 2009, p. 106). Moreover, along with the interaction and relations between those components, the outcome is usually more than the sum of those component (Arbnor & Bjerke 2009, p. 109).
Environmental factors are indispensable in Systems View and they play significant roles, because different external and internal environments would probably have influence on the outcomes of the system. It leads to the result that the knowledge generated from Systems View usually is unpredictable because of the contradiction between static system and dynamic environment, which is the limitation of systems view to understand the future (Arbnor & Bjerke 2009, p. 121).
3.2 System View and Our Approach to It
Figure 1: The System View in application (Bjerke 2014, p. 29)
Systems View is the methodology approach we have chosen for this research. We chose System View because the field we study is the influence of different cultures on
entrepreneurial leadership, which is a social science. Compared to natural science, social science is more complex. There are more unpredictable situation because of the dynamic environment of the society. For cultural and entrepreneurial leadership, it is more suitable to apply a qualitative approach and to build a system to analysis them. In order to solve our research question systematically, we decided to apply System View, which is a qualitative methodology. It provides us with a channel to explain and understand the problem with a holistic point of view. By applying System View, we do not only explain the phenomenon, but also try to understand the problem by adding a metaphor. In the end we can get a systematic model to solve the problem.
From Figure 1, we can see that there are some necessary steps for the application of the System View. The first step is pre-understanding, which means we need to have some knowledge about the problem before we had the research questions. It includes the theories we have already learned and our previous experience. For this research, before we had the research focus and research questions, we discussed about the background of the study. Then, we discussed about the importance of the influence of culture on entrepreneurial leadership. Also, we elaborated our own feelings about culture and entrepreneurial leadership, and the recent study about these issues by other researchers.
The knowledge provided us with a foundation of conducting research because this knowledge helped us to have a theoretical frame to analyze the problem in consideration.
After this step, we presented our research questions. The question in the system view needs to be specific. All the follow-up work should serve for the research question, including the data collection and data analyzing. For this research, we focused on solving a problem, which is how does cultures influence on entrepreneurial leadership.
We realized that there are a lot of cultural aspects which can influence an entrepreneurial leadership, such as cultural background, education, behavior, motivation etc. Out of all these aspects we focused on the cultural background and education spheres and analyzed their influence on entrepreneurial leadership. Then, the next step is to plan the research. We made a plan for our research as following:
Thermalizing: clarifying the purpose.
Designing: laying out the process including the purpose.
Data collection: conducting the actual questionnaires survey.
Data analyzing: determining the meaning of the gathered materials
System building: understanding the problem by systematical model.
Reporting
We decided to use questionnaires as our main method to collect the data. The main research sample are the entrepreneurial leaders in Chinese and Russian cultural contexts.
By analyzing this data, we explained the influence of cultural differences on entrepreneurial leadership. Furthermore, we understood the data by adding appropriate metaphors and solving the problem by a systematical model. The last step is to report our research.
3.3 Data Analyzing
System view is a qualitative approach. It provides a systematical model to solve the problem. The main method we decided to collect the primary data is questionnaires.
Besides, we used secondary data from literatures and websites to compensate our primary data. In order to build a systematical method, we analyzed the data from questionnaires, and developed a report to present the preliminary explanation of the problem. In the end, we interpreted the data by using other data and our own experience to build holistic systems and make final conclusions.
3.4 Data collection
3.4.1 Primary Data: Questionnaire
Primary data — it is data which didn't exist earlier and which is gathered for the first time for a specific goal, for example, by means of polls among buyers.
Questionnaires are the most widespread and major form of data collection as it clarifies the positions of people or receiving the reference from them through any question.
Surveys are used approximately in 90% of researches. For improvements of the quality of our questionnaires and successful carrying out data collection we tried to:
• Observe certain requirements for the formulation of questionnaires (questions have to be simple, clear, unambiguous and shouldn't influence the answer)
• Observe certain principles of creation of questionnaires (an order of questions:
from the simple — to difficult, from the general — to special, from not binding
— to delicate)
• Increase return percent on written polls for the account: encouragement (but it is necessary to consider expenses, and also possible embellishment of answers out of gratitude)
3.4.2 Secondary Data
Secondary information is the data which was already collected (by you or someone else) for the solution of other tasks, but which can be used partially and for the presentation of the problem in the consideration.
The main advantages of secondary data are: low cost, and quick as well as easy access..
The main shortcomings are connected with that secondary information gathered for the solution of other problem. Respectively, it, most likely, will be:
• Outdated,
• Incomplete
• Not to have a direct bearing on the solved problem
• Unreliable
3.5 Research Design
The development of a technique for research represents, determination of all set of methods and subjects to carry it out. Here, also the preparation for the means of collecting information and processing it, centers. To number such means, plans of interview, the questionnaire, tests, and instructions for collection of information, etc.
can be considered. In general the method is the most important tool of scientific knowledge, the most important engine of science, means of its development and enrichment by new results. The scientific method is the uniting beginning of development of science, its synthesis absorbing in itself a history of knowledge of a subject. Now a number of the methods stimulating emergence of new ideas – generation of ideas are offered.
For research work, the general rules and methods, vary depending on the character of a branch of science and also a stage and category of research.
The method is a way of achievement of many research purposes, a set of methods or operations of development of reality.
4. How Culture Influence Entrepreneurial Leaders?
As mentioned above, we focus on two cultures which are Chinese and Russian cultures.
In this chapter, we first, give an overview of the questionnaire for this research. Then, we will analyze the data collected from questionnaire referring to two cultural categories respectively.
4.1 Overview of the Questionnaire
We designed a questionnaire (Appendix A) for this research as the main research method. The research sample of this questionnaire were entrepreneurial leaders from two main countries i.e. China and Russia. The aim of the questionnaire is to study the influence of cultural differences on entrepreneurial leadership. It is intended to find out the inner relationship between cultures and entrepreneurial leadership. We especially aimed to study how people’s education and cultural background influence entrepreneurial leadership in these two counties. This questionnaire consists of 25 questions, including some personal information, such as nationality, age, gender, education and industry.
Moreover, there are some questions about respondent’s personal experience in leadership positions and cultural differences in international contexts. For example:
• “Have you been working in international company or group?”
• “Have you ever faced the problem of cultural differences?”
• “Have you ever had your own enterprise or business?”
• "When you had leader position, how big was your team/company?"
Furthermore, there are some questions about the personal attitude towards culture, leader, entrepreneur, the main cultural barriers, the influence of education (family education and school education) and cultural background on entrepreneurial leadership, for example:
• "Please choose the best description of culture out of the list that suits you the most."
• "Please choose the best description of leader out of the list that suits you the most."
• "Please choose the best description of entrepreneur out of the list that suits you the most."
• "How important is to think about cultural differences when you are working in international team?
• "What is the main cultural barrier during work in international team or company?"
• "Can leadership be taught or is it an innate talent in your culture?"
• "Using any number from 0 to 10, where 0 is the minimum and 10 is the maximum, what number would you use to rate the extent of influence of family education/ school education/ cultural background on entrepreneurial leadership in your culture?"
Regarding personal information, there are 120 respondents in this survey, including 53 Chinese (44%) and 58 Russian (44%). 32% participants are 18 to 25 years old ,33%
participants are 26 to 35 years old, 20% participants are 36 to 45 years old and 16% are over 45 years old. The percentage of female accounts for 45. 88% participants possess the degree of Bachelor or Master.
Question: Please choose your nationality.
# Answer Response %
1 Russian 58 48%
2 Chinese 53 44%
3 Other 9 8%
Total 120 100%
Table 3: Nationality distribution
Question: What is your age?
# Answer Response %
1 18-25 38 32%
2 26-35 39 33%
3 36-45 24 20%
4 45... 19 16%
Total 120 100%
Table 4: Age distribution
Question:What is your gender?
# Answer Response %
1 Male 65 55%
2 Female 54 45%
Total 119 100%
Table 5: Gender distribution
Question:What education do you have?
# Answer Response %
1 School 3 3%
2 University (bachelor) 42 42%
3 University (Master) 46 46%
4 MBA 2 2%
5 Doctors degree 6 6%
Total 99 100%
Table 6: Education distribution
Regarding the participants' personal experience, as we can see in Table 7, nearly half of the participants have been working in international group or company. Hence, the data from the survey could show the attitude of those who have experience of cultural differences in international contexts to a great extent. 71% of participants have faced
problem of cultural differences. 45% of the participants with the experience of leading 6 to 10 people, and 27% participants has the experience of leading more than 10 people.
Furthermore, 43% of the participants has the experience of starting their own business.
# Answer Response %
1 Yes 58 50%
2 No 57 50%
Total 115 100%
Table 7: Result of the question: have you been working in international company or group?
# Answer Response %
1 Yes 72 71%
2 No 29 29%
Total 101 100%
Table 8: Result of the question: have you ever faced the problem of cultural differences?
# Answer Response %
1 1-2 persons 7 9%
2 3-5 persons 14 18%
3 6-10 persons 35 45%
4 More (please
write) 21 27%
Total 77 100%
Table 9: Result of the question: when you had leader position, how big was your team/company?
# Answer Response %
1 Yes 43 43%
2 No 56 57%
Total 99 100%
Table 10: Result of the question: Have you ever had your own enterprise or business?
In general, the survey illustrates a representative sample of participants of the two nationalities, ages, gender, and educational background. Moreover, the personal experiences of leadership positions or cultural differences in international contexts of these participants meet the basic requirement of this research.
The two categories following below will give more detailed analyses of participants' personal attitude toward culture, leader, entrepreneur, the main cultural barriers, the influence of education (family education and school education) and cultural background on entrepreneurial leadership. Furthermore, we analyzed the answers from the questionnaires to find out the influences of cultural differences on entrepreneurial leadership in two countries.
4.2 Category 1: Research on Chinese Entrepreneurial Leaders
There are 50 Chinese participants in this survey. As we can see in Table 11, 74%
Chinese participants have been working in international company or group. It means that most of participants from China have international working experience. It would contribute to the validity of this research because generally cultural differences happen in international working contexts. Besides, 18 out of 45 (40%) participants have had their own enterprises or businesses. Furthermore, there are 83% Chinese that has faced the cultural differences during their careers.
# Answer Response %
1 Yes 37 74%
2 No 13 26%
Total 50 100%
Table 11: Result of the question: have you been working in international company or group? (Category 1)
# Answer Response %
1 Yes 18 40%
2 No 27 60%
Total 45 100%
Table 12: Result of the question: Have you ever had your own enterprise or business?
(Category 1)
Answer Response %
1 Yes 38 83%
2 No 8 17%
Total 40 100%
Table 13: Result of the question: Have you ever faced the problem of cultural differences? (Category 1)
In general, from the Table 11 to Table 13, we can make a conclusion that the samples of Category 1 can represent our research objective to a great extent. The responses from those who worked in international companies, those who had their own businesses or those who faced with the cultural difference are powerful for us to find out the relations between cultural differences and entrepreneurial leadership.
# Answer Response %
1 Very important 25 54%
2 Important 19 41%
3 Not important 1 2%
4 Haven't ever thought
about it 1 2%
Total 46 100%
Table 14: Result of the question: Result of the question: How important is it to take the cultural differences into consideration when you are working in international team?
(Category 1)
