A Comparative Study Between Thai and American Subordinates' Perception of Managerial Values in the Banking Industry

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to investigate and compare subordinate perceptions of managerial values in the banking industry between Thailand and the United States. The conceptual framework of this study was the Ohio States University leadership styles, which divide leader behaviors into consideration and initiating structure. Consideration refers to the behavior of managers that focuses on maintaining good relations between managers and subordinates, while initiating structure refers to the behavior of managers that focuses on the achievement of the task and work performance.  There were 217 subjects who participated in this study. These subjects were selected from employees who were working in banks located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, and the other group of employees who were working in banks located in Bangkok. Thailand. The instrument used to collect the data was Fleishman's Leadership Opinion Questionnaire.  The analysis of the data revealed a significant difference on the dimension of consideration between Thai and American subordinates. This appears to be consistent with the cultural literature suggesting that the Thai culture is more relationship/group oriented. In considering the dimension of initiating structure for Thai and American subjects, no significant differences were noted. In looking at demographic factors that may have an impact on consideration and initiating structure scores, three factors were considered. Those factors were gender, age, and work experience. The results suggested that these factors did not have significant, direct effect on the consideration and initiating structure scores of the two groups. However, significant two-way interactions were found between age and nationality on consideration scores, and between work experience and nationality (when controlling for age) on the initiating structure scores of the subjects. The significant interaction were explained by considering culture and/or employment condition factors in Thailand as compared to the United States.