ABSTRACT
The denition of culture has been controversial in the social sciences; yet, there is considerable agreement that culture consists of shared elements that provide the standards for perceiving, believing, communicating, evaluating, and acting among those who share a language, a historical period, and a geographic location (Triandis, 1996). Culture is argued to manifest itself in terms of self-denitions, assumptions, beliefs, values, attitudes, norms, and overt behavior at the individual level and in structures, practices, and rituals at the organizational level (Aycan, 2000). As such, culture emerges as an important variable in terms of shaping the meaning, development, and implications of commitment. In this chapter, we critically review the growing cross-cultural commitment literature with a focus on methodological issues that may threaten the validity of explanations regarding the inuence of culture on commitment. The term cross-cultural refers to comparative as well as single-country studies conducted outside North America, because single-country studies often implicitly deal with cross-cultural differences as they compare extant (usually American) ndings with non-American data (Schaffer & Riordan, 2003). Next, we offer a theoretical model that seeks to delineate the ways that commitment can vary across national boundaries, and nally we conclude with future research directions.
