Study Finds Culture Gap With Mexico Narrowing
Management Prof’s Survey Detects Shift Among Young Professionals
September 23, 2009
The cultural divide that has existed between the U.S. and Mexico
is slowly diminishing, at least among young, educated professionals,
research by a UT Dallas professor has found.
The study, co-authored by School of Management faculty member Dr.
Habte Woldu, reveals that the cultural differences between the two
nations as a whole have remained unchanged. However, when controlling
for age, gender, education and occupation, the research indicates
that younger, more educated, professional Mexicans demonstrate more
cultural assimilation with the U.S. cultural value system.
These findings could have important implications for international
managers designing human resource and cross-cultural management
strategies, Woldu said. The study could also enhance communication
and understanding of the two cultures, he said.
Woldu’s study, “Is the Mexican Culture Becoming Similar
to that of United States in Post-NAFTA Era? Viewing Both Cultures
through Four Cultural Dimensions,” won a best paper award at
a recent International Academy of Business and Public Administration
Disciplines conference held in Dallas.
Unlike most cultural research works, which deal mainly with static
cross-cultural differences, this paper explores changes within a
country. Researchers measured cultural values based on key cultural
dimensions.
To acquire the data, Woldu and co-author Agnieszka Skuza, a professor
at the Poznan University of Economics in Poland, surveyed more than
1,100 people from the U.S., Argentina and Mexico. They conducted
the surveys in the early ’90s – before the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the U.S., Mexico and Canada
was established – and again in 2008.
Researchers found that young, educated, career-focused individuals
from both sides of the border have grown more similar culturally.
“When we looked at it even closer, we compared not only a manager,
but a manager who was young living in Mexico with a young manager
in the U.S., and we saw no significant differences between the two
of them,” Woldu said.
A professor of international management studies in the School of
Management, Woldu specializes in the dynamics of cultural change
in emerging economies. He has conducted similar research in Africa,
India and Eastern Europe.
“The story to tell from this work is that nations keep their
own cultural identity at large, but a specific group of people are
changing as the global economy influences other nations through
education and technology, and that population will continue to grow,”
Woldu said.
Woldu believes this study was needed because of Mexico’s emerging
status as an international player and its proximity to the United
States. International relations between the U.S. and its southern
neighbor will be more important in the next 10 to 15 years when
the U.S. is likely to rely more heavily on Latin American employees
as the flow of manpower from China and India loses pace, he said.
“Those nations in the next 15 years will be economic leaders
and be preoccupied with their own economic expansion, so will need
more manpower to sustain their economic growth,” Woldu said.
“China is a 2 plus 1 – two parents and one child –
demographic model, and with an aging population and few working-age
Chinese, that model plus the anticipated economic growth will demand
that China and India retain their working populations.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More Information: Center for U.S. Mexico Studies, UT Dallas, (972)
883-6401,
http://www.utdallas.edu/research/cusms/ls.htm
Media Contact: Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155,
newscenter@utdallas.edu
