The Cultural Specificity of Management Constructs: An Empirical Examination

The management literature reports on numerous studies examining relationships among the variables of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and more recently organizational character, organizational citizenship behavior, and propensity for participative decision making. The present study empirically examines relationships among these constructs among Egyptian managers. Although general support was demonstrated for the previously validated scales, the evidence suggests that these constructs are culturally specific and must be redefined, especially in emerging countries. Further, findings support some, but not all of the conclusions typically reached in existing studies of Western managers. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.