Context. Scrum is one of the most common used Agile method. It is based on empiricism. Scrum only provides a framework but the detailed implementations in practice are very different. and the environment has a big influence on it. National culture is proven to have an impact on Agile methodology. The implementation of Scrum practices should be influenced by national culture as well. Objectives. This paper reveals the relationship between national culture and Scrum implementation. It explores in which aspects that national culture has an influence on the implementation of Scrum practices and how the different national culture dimensions affect the implementations. Methods. A literature review is used to build a theoretical framework. This framework includes the potential relationships between national culture and Scrum practices, which are our hypotheses. Afterward, interview is used in a company that has Scrum teams in both Sweden and China. Their implementations of Scrum practices are interviewed and analyzed based on our hypotheses. Results. A framework of deducted relationship between Hofstede’s national culture dimensions and Scrum practices is built. National culture is found to have an influence on the implementations of five Scrum practices. Conclusions. National culture is found to have an influence on Scrum implementations. National culture through power distance dimension has the most impact on implementations of no title practice, manage burn down chart practice and no interference practice. National culture differences in the aspect of individualism dimension also affect the practice like no title in teams. Uncertainty avoidance degree in different nations also has the most impact on Scrum implementation such as using burn down chart practice and time-boxed dimensions. Moreover, influence from national culture in China makes the Scrum implementations more consistency than the influence from national culture in Sweden.

L'objectif principal de cette recherche doctorale est d'examiner les effets de la culture nationale sur les comportements budgétaires, en nous appuyant sur la typologie d'Hofstede (1980, 1994). Nous nous focalisons ainsi sur une approche béhavioriste du budget. Une étude a été menée auprès de 379 contrôleurs de gestion et directeurs des banques multinationales françaises implantées en France et celles installées dans les pays du Maghreb. Les résultats montrent qu'il existe des différences significatives entre les deux types de pays en ce qui concerne quelques pratiques budgétaires étudiées, à savoir la participation budgétaire, la formalisation du processus budgétaire, la pression budgétaire et la contrôlabilité du budget. Cependant, ils indiquent que la culture nationale n'a pas d'effet direct sur la propension au slack budgétaire, et qu'elle influence sur cette variable à travers son impact sur la participation et sur la pression budgétaire. Nos résultats révèlent également que le contrôle de l'incertitude a des effets positifs sur l'utilisation des règles formelles concernant le budget et sur la propension à créer du slack budgétaire, et des effets négatifs sur la pression budgétaire. En outre, les analyses des effets modérateurs dévoilent que la culture nationale (pays) joue un rôle modérateur entre le contrôle de l'incertitude et les pratiques budgétaires étudiées. Finalement, des effets modérateurs de certains profils de dirigeants sur les relations entre les dimensions culturelles et certaines pratiques budgétaires ont aussi été démontrés. / The main objective of this doctoral research is to examine the effects of national culture on budget behavior, basing on the typology of Hofstede (1980, 1994). We focus on a behaviorist approach of the budget. A study was conducted among 379 controllers of management and directors of French multinational banks operating in France and those installed in the Maghreb countries. The results show that there are significant differences between the two types of countries regarding some budget practices, namely the budgetary participation, formalizing of the budget process, Budget Emphasis and the controllability of the budget. However, they indicate that national culture has no direct effect on the propensity to create budgetary slack, and influences on this variable through its impact on participation and on Budget Emphasis. Our results also show that control of the uncertainty has positive effects on the use of formal rules on the budget and on the propensity to create budgetary slack, and negative effects on Budget Emphasis. In addition, the moderating effects analyzes reveal that national culture (country) plays a moderating role between uncertainty avoidance and budgeting practices. Finally, the moderating effects of some managers'profiles on the relations between cultural dimensions and certain budgetary practices have also been demonstrated.

The topic corporate culture in the context of international company is the main subject of this thesis. The theoretical part introduces and describes the concept of culture and national culture, together with the cultural standards and dimensions. The study also defines organizational culture and its elements, strong organizational culture and subculture. Finally, I analyze the impact of the national specifics of the formation of the corporate culture. To demonstrate the theoretical bases in practice I have chosen the company Mars Czech Republic.

Forming and fostering B2B relationships are increasingly requiring communication between individuals in the opposite spectrum of culture dimensions such as individualism. Thus, establishing trusted and committed global partnerships involve designing communication processes that minimize differences and promote goal congruence. The behavior of business customers, in a global context, is an understudied field deserving greater attention in marketing research. This study unveils a universal and parsimonious model, highlighting the role of communication in shaping relationship quality, and including national culture as moderator. The study was conducted on a sample of managers and buyers from the USA (n=169) and Brazil (n=110). Factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied in order to validate the instrument, discover the relevant dimensions of communication and examine the relationships in the model. Four significant factors revealed the existence of a globally relevant, parsimonious and highly explanatory communication model that includes elements of quality, interaction, mutuality, and socialization. In addition, elements of social and functional relationship benefits are found to improve the quality of business relationships more than any other factor in the global model. In addition, culture was found to play a significant role on the intensity that most predictors have on increasing or decreasing buyer's trust in and satisfaction with the supplier. As a result, the model can aid both researchers and practitioners in understanding the important elements of communication and relationship benefits for buyers in the global marketplace.

yes / This study seeks to investigate how the development of e-government services impacts on cybersecurity. The study uses the methods of correlation and multiple regression to analyse two sets of global data, the e-government development index of the 2015 United Nations e-government survey and the 2015 Inter-national Telecommunication Union global cybersecurity develop-ment index (GCI 2015). After analysing the various contextual factors affecting e-government development , the study found that, various composite measures of e-government development are significantly correlated with cybersecurity development. The therefore study contributes to the understanding of the relation-ship between e-government and cybersecurity development. The authors developed a model to highlight this relationship and have validated the model using empirical data. This is expected to provide guidance on specific dimensions of e-government services that will stimulate the development of cybersecurity. The study provided the basis for understanding the patterns in cybersecurity development and has implication for policy makers in developing trust and confidence for the adoption e-government services. / National Information Technology Development Agency, Nigeria.

The theory of self-leadership is gaining credibility and support in the era of globalisation and knowledge workers. As with many leadership theories, culture has been proposed to have a major impact on leadership processes. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent that self-leadership is correlated with national culture dimensions. Self-leadership was measured through the Revised Self-Leadership Questionnaire developed by Houghton and Neck (2002). The cultural values were measured through the use of Hofstede’s Value Survey Module 94 (VSM94). Hypotheses were formed regarding relationships between national culture background and Self-leadership practice. Pearson r, Chi-square test with cross tabulation and multiple regression were used to determine the associations. The results from the statistical tests showed associations between national culture values and self-leadership dimensions. PDI and UAI showed a positive relationship with visualising successful performance but a negative relationship with self-talk both aspects of constructive thought pattern strategies. MAS had a positive relationship with self-talk while negatively correlated to visualising successful performance. IDV had positive relationships with behaviour-focussed strategies, natural reward strategies and constructive thought pattern strategies. Long-term orientation had a strong negative relationship with behaviour-focussed and natural reward strategies and a very weak negative association with behaviour focussed strategies. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / M.B.L.

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Knowledge sharing is an important element of knowledge management initiatives in organisations. It is well established in literature that cultural issues play an important role in influencing knowledge sharing practices. This research addresses cultural aspects that influence knowledge sharing within an academic environment. A single case study approach was adopted to explore the influence of culture on knowledgesharing practices within a Kuwaiti higher education institution known as PAAET. The complexity of the issues surrounding how PAAET operates necessitates the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. Therefore, this research brings together evidence from a range of data collection tools. Thus, the literature review, the findings from a questionnaire survey, interviews and focus groups, and information from existing documents were analysed in order to identify how to promote an effective knowledge-sharing culture at the selected case study organisation. This research adds to the body of knowledge on "knowledge sharing" and extends this knowledge by addressing a total of twenty different factors categorised under four main headings: individual, organisational, national, and cross-cultural issues that both impede and facilitate knowledge sharing within a culture that is very complicated and very different from the Western culture. In addition, this research provides insight into how thesei ssuesm ight be addressedb y recommendings ome actionablep roposalsf or the authorities in the Kuwaiti higher education institute. These proposals offer some issues that could be considered when investigating and implementing successful and effective knowledge-sharing strategies. This research also provides the necessary theoretical underpinning to further develop the topic of knowledge sharing within complex institutions that are influenced by a multiplicity of factors. The research demonstrates that better performance and improved productivity can be achieved by implementing a coherent and balanced knowledge-sharing framework.

Purpose This research is to investigate the effect of national culture on service provision. Hence, the researcher aims Firstly to investigate the differences in national culture between any two different countries share some attributes like language, religion or geographic location. Secondly, it aims to find whether the differences in national culture of two countries associated with differences in service provision. Finally, the researcher aims to propose a framework that shows how differences in national culture may associate with differences in service provision. Design /Methodology/ Approach This research will quantitatively develop and examine a conceptual framework that is designed to test the effect of national culture on service provision within the context of Takful industry. A total of 463 respondents completed the survey based questionnaire from two different countries (Kuwait and Egypt) which are identified as being related to the same cluster that is, the Arab clusters. The context of the research happened to be within the context of Takaful (Islamic insurance industry) due to the uniqueness of the sector to the cluster. The data was statistically tested using SPSS and AMOS programming system as the primary statistical technique to build structure equation modelling that allows testing the proposed conceptual framework Findings Results have shown that the differences in national culture of power distance and uncertainty avoidance have an effect on service provision through service delivery gaps. Results indicated that the service delivery gaps of information gap, specification gap and performance gap partially mediate the effect of national culture on service provision in terms of information flow, style of management, control, communication policy, specification driver and boundary system. The findings also indicate that there are differences in national culture between Kuwait and Egypt despite the commonality of language and religion. The findings are in contrary to Hofstede’s findings in which he argues that Arab cluster have an identical national culture dominated by Islam. Finally, results provide strong evidence that the researcher cannot disconfirm the theory after being statistically tested in which result support the validity of the theory. Limitations The research studied only two dimensions of national culture against three service gap attributed to the theory followed by the research, however they were found strongly linked in previous research. Also the research has addressed only one sector of service industry in two countries, but since the industry (Takaful) stemmed from the religion of the context to which previous research assumes homogeneity of Arab national culture based on the power of the religion. Hence, generalizability of the findings can be extended to any national culture of two countries from the similar cluster share similar attributes of religion and language. Contributions: Contribution to theory This research confirmed the findings of previous researches as to what extent national culture effect service provision associated with service delivery gaps. It confirmed previous research findings on the underlying relationships between national culture and service provision and how this might be associated with service delivery gaps. An important contribution to theory is the ability of power distance and uncertainty avoidance in predicting national culture differences in service provision between any two countries. Further, the study found that the national culture dimensions do not equally influence service provision as it varies cross culturally. In addition, the research contributes to the theory by providing a conceptual framework that can cultivates the seed in the body of knowledge to enrich the soil for researchers to study the effect of national culture on service provision. Another contribution stems from the findings that opposes Hofested’s claim regarding the homogeneity of Arab countries. Finally, the research proposes a data driven model stems from the collected data. Contribution to Practice The findings of this research assist service providers of Takaful in particular, and services sector providers in general, to improve their service quality as it identifies and explains some key insights that might help in dealing with various service delivery gaps. Therefore, it is very important for marketers to understand the effect of national culture differences on service delivery gaps which in turn effect the mechanisms of service provision. Contribution to Policy The research has contributed to the policy with which delivery processes can be systematically enhancing the excellence of service delivery for organizations. Policies of organizations can be set taking in consideration the role of national culture. Organizations may bridge the service delivery gap if they comprehend the effect of national culture on the delivery of their services. Information gap, specification gap and performance gap can be reduced or eliminated if provider understands the effect of national culture on those gaps and how they policies for Information flow, Style of management, Control, Communication policy, Specification driver and Boundary System. These polices may apply differently in different cultural settings as policies applicable in one culture may not be valid for other culture. On the other hand, differences in power distance and risk acceptance may shape provider’s policy to adapt to the pertinent environment. Hence, this research provides policy makers understand the role of culture on service provision. Contribution to method This research is significant in drawing support from cultures which is different from Anglo cultures (Hofstede, 1980) which in most researches provide evidence to the management literature. On the foundation of the literature review, the research has contributed to method by using a unique context that related directly to the studied national cultures. The method was the adoption of national culture of countries that belong to the same cluster and study the differences/similarities of this national culture with a unique context that related to the dimension to which they were clustered upon like religion and language. Moderation effect of national culture was not appropriate as the conventional methodology when using structural equation modelling in cross cultural studies. However, mediation effect has been found valid and appropriate in exploring the effect of national culture on service provision. results revealed that the method of testing mediation effect was successful in highlighting the effect of national culture drawn from similar cluster countries on service provision mediated by service quality gaps with which a new addition has been added to the body of the literature.

The focus of this study is the assessment of the performance of the Nigerian retail banks on pay satisfaction through an examination of the sector's pay satisfaction levels. This has formed the basis of the literature review which focuses on pay, pay satisfaction determinants and gender inequality in the distribution of organisational wealth. Literature such as Adam's equity theory, Maslow's needs theory and Vroom's expectancy theory was reviewed. The work adjustment, organisational justice and Herzberg's dual-factor theories were also reviewed in order to form an opinion on what could determine pay satisfaction amongst the Nigerian retail banking sector's employees. The literature review findings conclude that pay satisfaction determinants could be based on the outcome of individual comparisons or referent others, and comparison between what they each earn and what they believe they each are worth to their respective organisations. The aims of this research are (a) to describe and analyse pay satisfaction levels amongst retail bank employees in Nigeria, (b) to identify whether or not pay satisfaction levels of this sector's employees are gendered, and (c) to establish whether or not male workers are more satisfied with their pay than female employees. The objectives are (a) to empirically explore their pay level satisfaction, (b) to test for similarities and differences in their pay satisfaction levels, and (c) to compare the pay satisfaction levels for any significant differences. The research was conducted using both primary and secondary methods with the aid of 600 self-delivered questionnaires within ten selected retail banking organisations based in Lagos and Abuja. The outcomes suggest low satisfaction levels with pay amongst the sector's employees, as just 60% of the 303 usable questionnaires from the 326 who responded indicated satisfaction with their pay. This indicates that male workers were more satisfied with their pay than their female counterparts. However, no significant variations in their satisfaction levels were noted. Finally, this study recommends that Nigerian retail banks implement equitable pay structures that recognise individual efforts whatever their gender. These banks should also establish equity and justice in the distribution of other wealth, and in their policy, process and administrative procedures rather than these being based on personality or culture.