How Culture Shapes the Influence of Work Design Characteristics: A Narrative and Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive review and meta-analysis of the literature on the influence of cultural dimensions on work design characteristics. With our proposed work design universals typology as a framework, we provide a narrative review and analyze the influence of six cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism–collectivism, masculinity–femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence–restraint) on work design characteristics’ effects on job satisfaction and performance. In addition to running meta-analytic regressions examining the role of cultural characteristics as individual moderators of the relationship between work design characteristics’ and job satisfaction and performance, we further utilize qualitative comparative analysis to move beyond treating each cultural dimension as an independent predictor and, instead, investigate configurations of cultural dimensions as moderating variables of the relationships between work design characteristics and workplace outcomes. The present effort, therefore, serves as a test of a complex universal approach when examining the influence of culture on the relationship between work design characteristics and outcomes. Collectively, this study provides a systematic narrative and quantitative review of the work design literature to assess how cultural dimensions (both individually and through complex configurations) may affect the impact of work design characteristics on job satisfaction and performance. Based on our review, we offer recommendations for future research and continued calls for more systematic and integrative cross-cultural work design research.