Einfluss der Kultur auf die Wirksamkeit von Maßnahmen zur Steigerung der Arbeitsproduktivität in ausländischen Produktionsstätten – eine empirische Analyse mit Expertenbefragung

The implementation of measures to increase labor productivity in foreign production facilities encounters cultural barriers. This paper analyzes these cultural barriers and their influence on the success of the applied measures.
For this purpose, certain productivity-increasing measures at foreign production sites were empirically analyzed for their cultural suitability.
The cultural barriers encountered in the application of the measures were analyzed using a specially created model based on Hofstede's four cultural dimensions. A preliminary case study was conducted to analyze the cultural fit of selected measures in a company. The analysis of the measures using the model was then extended to different cultural regions. The findings from expert interviews were obtained and validated by means of method triangulation. This resulted in cross-cultural interpretations of the individual measures on the one hand and cross-measure findings on cultural barriers and their effect on the success of measures on the other.
The influence of culture on the effectiveness of methods and measures in increasing labor productivity was empirically demonstrated. These culturally determined barriers varied in conjunction with implementation of methods and measures depending on the cultural region studied. It was shown that different cultural characteristics have a different influence on the success of the applied methods and measures. With the generated model, it was possible to capture the multidimensional cultural barriers through the four cultural dimensions. This way of looking at the complex influence of culture in the creation of barriers in individual cultural dimensions also enabled a differentiated view of the creation of these barriers.
A future research topic could be to find out which measures can neutralize the barriers or at least reduce their influence.