Strategic decision-making in a global context: The comprehension effect of foreign language use on cooperation
- With increasing globalization comes an increasing number of people communicating in foreign languages when making strategic decisions. We develop a theoretical model in which comprehension constitutes an essential mediator for the effects of using a foreign language on cooperation in global business contexts. To resolve conceptual ambiguities, we separate information processing leading to comprehension from decision-making employing the previously comprehended information. For the first step, we demonstrate how using a foreign language can, depending on individuals’ foreign language proficiencies, trigger both lower and higher comprehension. Variation in comprehension is, as a second step and independent of its cause, negatively associated with individuals’ tendencies to cooperate. Our experimental results support our theorizing. This study provides new micro-foundations for strategic decision-making and discusses unreliable cooperation as a potentially destructive managerial group dynamic within foreign language contexts.
Author: | Diemo UrbigORCiD, Katrin Mühlfeld, Vivien D. ProcherORCiD, Arjen van Witteloostuijn |
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URL: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11575-020-00412-z |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-020-00412-z |
ISSN: | 0938-8249 |
Title of the source (English): | Management International Review |
Document Type: | Scientific journal article peer-reviewed |
Language: | English |
Year of publication: | 2020 |
Tag: | Foreign language use; Information comprehension; International management; Judgment and decision-making; Strategic decision-making |
Volume/Year: | 60 |
First Page: | 351 |
Last Page: | 385 |
Faculty/Chair: | Fakultät 5 Wirtschaft, Recht und Gesellschaft / FG ABWL, insbesondere empirische Unternehmensforschung und Transformation |